Parts of his state did look like a war zone.
Rick Perry
makes his case.
Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, in New Hampshire for the first of a two-day swing, told business leaders in Bedford today that if runs for President, he will stress executive experience and record of job creation, cutting regulations and diversifying his state’s energy supply.
He specifically has a lot of executive experience in explaining to people that he's very sorry the factory blew up, but following regulations would have made them sad and we can't have that.
The former 14-year governor said that if he does run – a decision he said he will announce in May or June – he will stress that even as a governor he has a background that lends itself to making difficult foreign policy decisions.
To be honest, I can't recall a single significant (i.e. non-rote, even somewhat-different-from-the-other-guy) Rick Perry foreign policy position. I know he firmly believes refugee children are a menace to us all, but other than that the only "foreign policy" stance I can remember Rick Perry leading on is to suggest that maybe his state should be foreign to the rest of the United States.
It's also a bit discomfiting that two of the supposed best Republican presidential choices this time around will be George W. Bush's brother and the guy who took George W. Bush's old office—apparently Republicans believe leadership skills are communicable diseases, and you can get them from sitting on the same toilet seats—but I also just don't think "I was the governor of Texas" is the selling point it was sixteen years ago.
“Rhetoric is fine,” Perry said, referring to President Barack Obama. “Nobody loves a barn burning speech any more than I do, but if you don’t have the record to back that up – if you’re not road-tested – then I think there is always a concern.”
See, again with this: Rick Perry is "road-tested" in the sense that he tried this before and quickly blew a tire and skidded into the crowd. That counts as "road-tested" now? This is the same dynamic that keeps Bill Kristol employed; sure, every single time anyone has ever tried out one of his supposed ideas it's been a terrible wreck, but the guy sure has been road-tested!
I don't know, I'm just not feeling the Rick Perry momentum this time around. He may indeed work his way into being a primary player, but that's almost entirely a statement on the weakness of the field. Republicans are going to have to put several someones up on the debate stage with Jeb! Bush, and of the options Rick Perry may be among the least embarrassing.