Criticism Mounts from both the Far Left and the Far Right – Bizarre Questions Arise About Texas Gov. Rick Perry – Timed for Iowa Announcement?

Comedian Colbert's PAC Released Iowa Ad - Image CNN



There has been a lot of hype surrounding the Governor of Texas, Rick Perry, and his pending entrance into the 2012 GOP Race, with several polls showing the Texas Governor to come in second to Mitt Romney, whose unsuccessful run in 2008, compelled him to seek the nomination a second time to the maxim: “If at First you don’t’ succeed, try, try again.”. From a Bay State perspective, Mitt Romney’s popularity among conservatives is mind-boggling, of course, they did not live in Massachusetts while he was Governor, therefore, they might want to ask the “man on the street” so to speak.

The poll that appears most conflicted in this projection is the Gallup Poll released August 9th, 2011, with Romney as Front Runner, and Perry coming in Second without having made a formal announcement. In viewing the poll graphic (Below) the projection was based on a combination of two factors; the favorability and unfavorabilty of the candidate minus name recognition. The Candidate who appears to have the highest name recognition, but does not perform overall in the poll is Sarah Palin, who also has not announced. The methodology and questions, however, available here from gallup.com in pdf apparently leave Palin off the main questions – included on question five (presumably after the demographic questions: From Gallup PDF: [RANDOM ORDER: Minnesota Congresswoman, Michele Bachmann; Businessman, Herman Cain; Former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich; Former Utah governor, Jon Huntsman; Texas Congressman, Ron Paul; Former Minnesota governor, Tim Pawlenty; Texas governor, Rick Perry; Former Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney; Former Pennsylvania senator, Rick Santorum].



poll restults graph from Gallup


Now Rick Perry, who is a third term Governor of the State of Texas (no mean feat),( and who was brought back from the precipice during the 2100 primary by one Sarah Palin, in his bid for a third term against Republican Establishment and Texas staple, Kay Bailey Hutchinson) is under attack – from the right and from the left, and these “attacks” can leave someone conflicted.

The left brings out the clowns:

First mediaite.com.

Certainly there are more examples, but these two take the proverbial cake.

From the right:

A brouhaha developed in Tennessee , when an endorsement from a State official of Perry drew fire, not necessarily for the content, but the fact brought forth in defense of Perry as he is a reformed Democrat, and in fact, had been the Texas Campaign Manager for Al Gore’s Presidential campaign. Again, Al Gore!!!

From Politico comes a piece by former Congressman Tom Tancredo (seriously, writing for Politico), who outs Perry as overly sympathetic to our neighbors from the South - The Title: “Rick Perry not true conservative” is vintage Tancredo – he makes Rick Perry sound like – Good Golly – Mike Huckabee (in part) for some of the stances Perry took regarding the Border and In-State Tuition for children of Illegal Immigrants.

Given the aforementioned, it is quite possible that Perry, according to Maddow, is the next Obama, (rather Perry is backed by crazy right-wing preachers rather than crazy old socialists and hippies). In addition, what one gets’ from Colbert’s ad is that Perry with an A, (ad running in Iowa), uses guns. (Obviously, this as is not to be taken seriously and is one of Colbert’s jokes (hopefully). As anyone knows, those Iowa Republican’s know every name there is both on and off the ballot, and no where on earth can one find that many political junkies in one geographical area.

The message sent by these two aforementioned clowns: Perry is a right wing, gun toting, evangelical nut who thinks he’s the second coming. Then from the right, Perry is “soft" on illegal immigrants and he is a “Former Gore Democrat!!”

If nothing else, Perry’s entrance into the race is at, the very least, entertaining, and with his Perry’s Gubernatorial “Savior” heading into Iowa with her Bus Tour this week, Perry’s purpose in the GOP Presidential fray may finally become clear. Perry is to Romney as Thompson was to Romney/Huckabee in 2008 – the question is; which candidate that has not yet announced will be able to capitalize at this late date? That will be left as an open-ended question for readers to ponder.

Of course, that blatantly hinted scenario would give Rachel Maddow hours of endless conspiracy theory speculation, while providing Tina Fey with employment for a few more years.