Rick Perry, presidential candidate

So, our esteemed governor, Rick ("Oops!") Perry, is deploying 1,000 National Guard troops to Texas' border with Mexico. It's unclear what exactly they are supposed to do there - other than bolster Perry's image for toughness with the radical immigrant-hating base of the Republican Party. It's that base who will select the next presidential candidate of that party, and Rick Perry is running hard for that position.

Perry just came back from a weekend in Iowa, the state that holds the first presidential primary. It was his fourth visit there in eight months. He's also making the rounds of all the right-wing media outlets, accusing the Obama administration of failing to secure our southern border, even though Obama has deported more illegal immigrants crossing that border than any other president in history and has increased the number of Border Patrol agents along the border to record numbers.

In fact, the border is most likely more secure than it has ever been, but when did a Texas Republican ever let the facts get in the way of the narrative he wants to tell? Perry is simply following the example of the master, George W. Bush, and his "Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction" lie.

In order to further enhance his image, Perry has added glasses with "intellectual" frames to make him look smarter and he's ditched the ostentatious cowboy boots in favor of loafers to make him look more...urbane and sophisticated...I guess. And the whole thing has worked brilliantly!

The Washington Post proclaims that Perry is "So hot right now." Fred Barnes of The Weekly Standard writes that Perry is "alive, well, and hyperactive as a national political figure." And Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin writes, “In 2014 we see a more mature and humbled version of Perry, one without the Texas swagger. It is that more serious figure, bespectacled and more relaxed, whom voters now see.” The television networks - and not just the predictable Fox News - are clamoring to have him appear on their programs where he can give his "expert" analysis of the humanitarian crisis at our border.

You can bet that not one of those television or print "journalists" is going to ask Perry about the fact that he has ordered more people executed than any other governor in modern history or the strong evidence that some of those people were innocent of the crimes for which they were convicted. You won't see them asking him about the millions of people in Texas who have no health insurance protection because he has refused to expand Medicaid. Texas still has the highest rate of uninsured of any state in the country. You definitely won't hear them asking about rates of teen pregnancies in the state or the fact that Texas under Perry's leadership continues to try to shut down Planned Parenthood and other such clinics that provide access to birth control information and supplies, under the pretense that all these clinics do is abortions. And they won't be asking about pervasive, entrenched poverty and the state's niggling programs to assist those (mostly women, children, and the disabled) who are trapped in its grip.

No, they will ask him about the "crisis on the border," giving him a chance to look serious and wise (thanks to those intellectual glasses frames) and to pontificate, and giving all the right wing conventional wisdom pundits an opportunity to swoon over how smart and hip and relevant Rick Perry has suddenly become.  

It is a strange, strange world that we live in when lightweights like Rick Perry are taken seriously.

Cruelty as a governing philosophy

One in four people in Texas do not have medical insurance. That is the highest rate of any state in the country. These people suffer every day because they cannot afford to go to the doctor when they are sick or their children or sick. When things get bad enough, they wind up at overcrowded emergency rooms and, ultimately, we all pay the bills for that care - if in fact the hospitals get paid at all.

The state government of Texas had an opportunity to cure part of this problem by expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, but that wouldn't fit with their philosophy. That philosophy, to sum it up in one word, is cruelty. Cruelty toward anyone who isn't a millionaire and who isn't able to contribute large sums of money to their political campaigns.

Indeed, it is not enough for Rick Perry to reject the expansion of Medicaid and deny its benefits to about a million needy Texans. No, he wants to restrict the current very limited Medicaid program in Texas even further. This is one mean-spirited son of a bitch.

The irony is that Perry goes around the country spouting about the wonderful climate for business in Texas, but his decision to reject Medicaid will cost the medical industry, one of the biggest businesses in Texas - and especially the Houston area - tens of billions (that's billions with a "b") of dollars.

We have some of the finest medical facilities in the world in this state. People come from around the world to be treated here. But failing to accept Medicaid funding will ensure that many of the people who actually live and work here will be unable to take advantage of these facilities. Their inability to seek treatment will cost each of these facilities significant amounts of funding.

Local hospital district officials, chambers of commerce, economists, and others have all pleaded with Perry to see reason on this issue. But he is a stubborn, spiteful, and, frankly, not very intelligent man who, once he has taken an intransigent position, seems incapable of admitting that he might be wrong.

And so the people of Texas continue to suffer under his overweening pride and his governing philosophy of cruelty to anyone who doesn't have the power to help his political ambitions. His governorship has been and continues to be an unmitigated disaster for the ordinary people of this state.

The paternalists continue their attack

Most revealing tweet of the day: 

Bills regulating women's bodies in 2013 alone: 624.  Bills regulating men's bodies since the dawn of time: 0— @AuthorKimberley

A Republican party dominated by middle-aged and elderly white men continues its attacks on women and women's rights. This week alone Alabama, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, South Dakota, and Ohio all passed and/or implemented new restrictions on abortions. All of these laws were passed by Republican legislatures (again mostly white men) and signed by Republican governors (ALL white men). And all of the laws were based on false premises and unscientific "facts" such as that an abortion puts women at high risk for breast cancer or makes them infertile and unable to bear a child later in life.

Most, if not all, of these laws require doctors and abortion providers to lie to their patients about the effects of abortion on the fetus and on the woman. The laws require medically unnecessary ultrasounds, in most cases invasive vaginal ultrasounds. Just try to imagine for a moment what it would be like if a medical treatment needed by a man was required to be preceeded by an unnecessary, invasive, and sometimes painful procedure or if doctors were required by the state to give obviously false information to the man about his treatment.

Moreover, many of these new laws require additional waiting periods for a woman seeking an abortion. Thus the hypocrites who claim to be appalled by late term abortions are forcing women to wait longer and longer into the pregnancy to have the abortion performed, assuring later term abortions.

If you ask a Republican, he will tell you that all of these restrictive and draconian laws are simply meant to "protect" the poor little incompetent woman and make it possible for her to make an "informed choice." You see, in Republican World, women don't really understand what pregnancy is all about. It's doubtful that they even know how it happened! And if they can just be made to stop and think about the consequences of their actions, they will be willing and eager to continue the pregnancy regardless of whether or not they can afford it, even if it was started by rape or incest, regardless of how many other children they may already have, regardless of how it may disrupt their plans for their life.

As for making these laws, well, women shouldn't worry their pretty little heads about that. Men know what is best for "the ladies." As Rick Perry helpfully explained a few days ago, "The louder they scream, the more we know that we are getting something done."

Perry made unbelievably condescending, insulting, and vile personal remarks about Texas State Senator Wendy Davis who became a national political star with her filibuster against Texas' proposed paternalistic restriction on women's rights to control their bodies. (Except it wasn't really unbelievable because this is Rick Perry we're talking about.) Most ironically, he made his remarks at a National Right to Life(!) conference where he opined that "Texans value life." His remarks came on the same day that his administration executed a 52-year-old woman, the 500th person the state has executed since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty.

Yes, Texans like Perry, that is to say paternalistic Republicans, "value life" as long as it's in a woman's womb. Once it's born, they couldn't care less about it. Especially if it's female.

There is a cure for all this condescension and paternalistic government. It is called women voters. Women make up more than one-half of the electorate and we do vote. Now if only women will vote their interests, we will finally see an end to paternalism. Yes, even in Texas.

Governor Goodhair heads home to Texas (with update)

Rick Perry was finally able to read the handwriting on the wall and so he gave up his campaign for the presidency today. It was a campaign that rates as perhaps the most gaffe-prone in the history of presidential politics, marked by one stupid, inane remark after another. The campaign could be summarized by that word that Perry uttered on that unforgettable occasion when, during one of the debates, he forgot the name of the third agency he wanted to get rid of: "Oops!"

So we won't have Rick to kick around anymore, at least not on a national level. Unfortunately, now he's headed back to Texas where we'll still be stuck with him until the end of his term. And who knows beyond that? Texas voters are not known for being discerning. They might very well give him their votes again.

Anyway, considering Texas' recent history, once he's gone, we'll probably just elect someone even more embarrassing to be our governor. Then we'll find ourselves longing for the good old days of Governor Goodhair.

UPDATE: Read Campaign Stops in The New York Times for another Texan's take on the ignominious Perry campaign.

Poor Rick Perry

Poor Rick Perry.  And I never in a million years thought I would type those words!  But, honestly, as a human being, I can completely empathize with his "Oops!" moment last night.  In the middle of telling a story or making a point and suddenly your brain freezes up and you can't remember what that point was?  Yes, been there, done that.  But I'm not running for president.  I want anyone that I vote for for president to be smarter than I am and certainly better able to speak in public than I am. And that person is not Mr. Perry.

Long ago, the sainted Molly Ivins dubbed Perry "Governor Goodhair," the implication being that that's all he was - all hair and no ideas.  Nothing under the hair.  It's something that a lot of Texans have known throughout Perry's charmed life in public office.  Now the rest of the country and the rest of the world is learning that, too.

Rick Perry will never be president.  But will he now concede that point and get out of the race and stop embarrassing himself, his family, and Texas?  "Shoot, no!" he says.  So, as the interminable Republican debates continue, we can all look forward to more cringe-worthy moments like this:

 

It's going to be a long, long presidential campaign.

Parrying the truth

Did you watch the Miss Republican Beauty Contest Wednesday night?  No?  Neither did I. Consensual self-torture is not my thing.

Since the event though, I have read about it and have seen some of the comedians' takes on the performance of the various contestants.  The pundits and the Republicans in attendance at the Reagan Library were all slavering over the appearance of Rick Perry in his first debate.  He did not disappoint them, which is to say that he said a lot of crazy things that don't stand up to scrutiny but are the kinds of things that tea partiers love to hear.

I was bemused and appalled by the observation that the strongest applause line of the night was when one of the questioners - I forget which one - started to ask Perry about all of the executions he has overseen as governor.  More than 200 men have died under his watch.  When that number was read out in the introduction to the question, the Republican crowd broke into wild applause!  It's likely that at least some of those men who were executed were innocent of the crimes of which Texas juries had found them guilty, and it is almost certain that one of them was completely innocent, but little details like that do not bother Republican audiences.  Any more than they bother Rick Perry.

Of all the ridiculous statements made by Perry during the debate, though, surely the most ridiculous was equating global climate change deniers with Gallileo.  Somewhere, Gallileo must be shaking his head over that one.  As was pointed out to me, Perry was exactly 180 degrees away from the correct analogy.  In fact, the climate change deniers are in the tradition of Gallileo's persecutors, the pope and the Catholic Church of his time.

I thought that Stephen Colbert had by far the best commentary on Perry's performance.

The late night comedians must be thanking their gods for sending them Rick Perry.  The jokes almost write themselves.

What if the answer to your prayer is "No!"?

"I think it's time for us to just hand it over to God, and say, 'God: You're going to have to fix this.'"
                                                          - Rick Perry, Governor of Texas 

Our esteemed governor has announced that he's going to announce that he's going to run for the presidency, so I think it is fair for the country to take a look at how he would handle the nation's most serious problems.  Based on all the evidence that we have, he would handle them with prayer.

In April of this year, Texas was suffering from a six-month-long extreme drought and thousands of wildfires that had been brought on by that drought.  Perry decided it was time to pray.  He issued an official proclamation that the three day period from Friday, April 22, to Sunday, April 24, would be "Days of Prayer for Rain in the State of Texas." The governor then ostentatiously prayed, publicly and often, rather like the Pharisees of Jesus' time.

It's now four months later and Texas has gone from an extreme drought to an exceptional drought which may prove to be the worst in the state's history.  Not only is it dry, but for the last couple of weeks, we have suffered through daily triple-digit temperatures.  Lakes, creeks, and ponds have dried up.  The landscape is littered with dead, brown trees.  Farmers are unable to produce any usable crops.

But Perry hasn't lost his faith in prayer to solve our problems.  Last Saturday, he led a prayer-fest of some 30,000 evangelicals in Houston's Reliant Center.  Among other things, they prayed for economic recovery for the country.  Two days later, on Monday, the stock market suffered its worst one-day collapse since the 2008 crisis, dropping by 635 points.

Perhaps next Mr. Perry will attempt to pray away Texas' pollution for ours is one of the most polluted states in the country. The prevalence of dirty air and dirty water everywhere in the state has serious implications for  public health.  (And, oh, yes, our state has more people without medical insurance than any other state.)

While he's at it, he might also pray to God to fix our educational system - an educational system that doesn't serve the interest of actually educating children, but only teaches them to pass the standardized tests on which schools and teachers are judged.  Relying on standardized tests as the sole indicator of whether "our children is learning," as George Bush would say, is a relic of the Bush era in Texas government but the torch has been carried forward and relit repeatedly by Mr. Perry.

I do not mean to mock anyone's faith in prayer.  Perry, in his private life, is certainly free to pray how and as often as he feels the need, but as someone who wants to lead this diverse country, his insistence on "Jesus prayer" to the exclusion of all other beliefs is troubling to say the least.  There are many ways of praying in this country and it is inappropriate for anyone representing the government to favor one of them over another. The country was founded upon the principle of separation of church and state and the day that it forgets that principle and elevates one religion as the designated state religion will be the day that the idea that was America begins to crumble.  

Anyway, it seems that God is not too impressed with public, ostentatious, and self-serving (to enhance one's bona fides with the religious right) prayers either.  So far the answer to all of Perry's very public prayers has been a resounding "NO!"  I suspect he might receive the same answer to his prayers to become president.

(For more on "Rick Perry's Unanswered Prayers," read Timothy Egan's excellent column in today's New York Times.)

But...but...but I thought you wanted out!

The governor of our state, who was last heard from threatening to secede from the United States, is suddenly doing what he has made fun of other states for doing: He's asking for federal assistance to handle our drought and wildfires.

Of course, the truth is Texas has been getting federal assistance of one kind or another all along and will continue to get it no matter how much of a hissy-fit the governor and legislature throw. But to hear Rick Perry tell it Texas stands alone with help from no one.

Today, Perry stuck his foot in it even more by complaining about President Obama showing concern about Alabama and the other states so hard hit by this week's tornadoes - states that have lost over 300 lives as well as inestimable property damage. How come he's concerned about all those states and not Texas, Perry wonders? He sounds like a jealous fourth grader.

Really, how petty can you get? Pretty damned petty, not to mention clueless, if your name is Rick Perry.

Stupid Texans!

Don't you just love polls? They tell us such interesting things about ourselves. Of course, everything hinges on the way the poll question is worded, and, for that reason, one has to look at who conducted the poll and consider what axe they have to grind before deciding whether to take the results well-salted. But I really doubt that the University of Texas and the Texas Tribune newspaper have any desire to make Texans look particularly bad, so I tend to believe that their poll is on the level.

Here are just a few of the "facts" that the pollsters found that Texans believe:

- 38 percent agreed with the statement "God created human beings pretty much in their present form about 10,000 years ago."
- 22 percent said life has existed in its present form since the beginning of time.
- 51 percent disagreed with the statement, "human beings as we know them today, developed from earlier species of animals."
- 41 percent were aware that humans did not live at the same time as the dinosaurs.

The poll also found that Republicans were more likely to believe the above-stated "facts" than Democrats and that supporters of Kay Bailey Hutchison for Republican nominee for governer were even MORE likely to believe them.

When I casually mentioned the findings of the poll to my husband, the born and bred Texan who refuses to live anywhere else, his response was, "Not surprising - there are an awful lot of stupid people in Texas!"

In that case, we've certainly got the right governor. Rick Perry is now suing the EPA - on our dime, by the way - over its intent to regulate greenhouse gases as a pollutant. Never mind that the Supreme Court, which Perry probably loves, has said that the EPA has that right and responsibility. No, ol' Ricky, you see, doesn't believe in all that global warming, human-produced greenhouse gases crap, and he's going to prove to the world that we don't need no stinkin' EPA telling our oil refineries what they can and cannot emit!

Of course, I'm sure that the fact that Perry, who apparently wants Texas to secede from the United States of America, is trying to fend off Kay Bailey Hutchison and tea party darling Debra Medina in the Republican primary in a couple of weeks has nothing to do with this. He would not be so cynical as to spend perfectly good state money on a quixotic quest meant to appeal to those tea partiers and far-righters. Oh, by the way, let me introduce you to my pet dinosaur.

I wonder if the UT/Texas Tribune pollsters polled our esteemed governor. Even if they didn't, I'm sure he would strongly endorse the poll's results - especially if it would win him a few votes.

Poor Texas.