Rick Perry: The Fraudulent Conservative Has Been Exposed

"What is that 3rd federal department I'm committed to closing?"

He was thrown up by the Republican establishment as an alternative to Mitt Romney.  We were all supposed to buy the tall Texas tale that Al Gore's former state chairman and before that, one of Jimmy Carter's county chairmen, was a genuine conservative.  The Perry team spent more time in New York raising money than in Iowa telling his story because they thought enough ads could make Iowans believe what never was.  When that failed, Bill Bennett and other self-appointed elders of the Republican Party began a frantic search for a substitute.  But Newt Gingrich proved an even harder sell.  It takes time; truth is the daughter of time, but the good sense of middle America has sorted out the pretenders from the genuine, principled conservative, Rick Santorum.  As in 1980 when the Republican establishment thought George H. W. Bush would be more electable than Ronald Reagan, the establishment will be taught once again that character and principle are actually good politics.

Happy trails, good riddance and thank you, Iowa.  The news stories from a single news cycle reflect what a very cynical and insulting candidacy is Rick Perry's.  It took no more than one debate to expose this fraudulent conservative.

In Iowa, Rick Perry Is Stuck in the Second Tier
New York Times (blog)
Rick Perry of Texas. With a strong finish in the caucuses, Mr. Perry could re-emerge as a top-tier candidate — perhaps the best-equipped to compete with Mitt Romney, the presumed frontrunner, on a state-by-state basis. With a poor finish, Mr. Perry ...

Perry denies campaign collapse
Politico (blog)
Rick Perry pushed back Sunday against a POLITICO story about dysfunction and infighting within his presidential campaign. The Republican presidential candidate dismissed a statement in the Saturday article by an unnamed senior adviser that “there has ...

TEXAS VIEW: Rick Perry's run for president costs Texas taxpayers Odessa American Rick Perry's extended campaign for president. Perry has been out of the state for about 80 days so far — drawing his full salary and earning Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst about $33000 extra. There ought to be a better way to handle this situation. ...

 Rick Perry Flip Flops on Abortion... Again
Gather.com
GOP candidate Rick Perry flip flops on abortion again. Just this week, he has offered two different stances. Initially, he stated that abortion was wrong no matter what, and now he is saying that abortion is cool as long as it saves mom. ...

Perry hopes organization can get him a ticket out of Iowa
msnbc.com
By NBC's Carrie Dann and Domenico Montanaro Rick Perry hopes his money, organization, and a last-minute push can help him to a surprise showing in Iowa. A source in the campaign says it has signed up 1500 precinct leaders in preparation for Tuesday's ...

Now it's the politics of the stupid

New York Daily News
Photo by AP Republican presidential candidates, from left, Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, and Ron Paul all seem like bad choices to Jimmy Breslin. The notion was to walk around Iowa and report on the Republican candidates in ...