» That’s Rick Perry’s calculus: A total of five Republicans won’t appear (also including Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum and Jon Huntsman) on the ballot in Virginia’s presidential primary, having failed to collect the 10,000 signatures required by state law, but Rick Perry is the only one to react with a lawsuit (so far). He’s suing the Virginia Republican Party, and the state board of elections, claiming that the state’s signature requirements — in particular, the provision that bans out-of-state circulators from gathering signatures — are unconstitutionally restrictive. Of course, he’s seeking retroactive change in the law, one that would allow him to appear on Virginia’s March 6th ballot after all. We agree with Talking Points Memo that suing one’s own party, even at a statewide level, isn’t normally the best move for a presidential candidate, but then again, what does he have to lose?
Rick Perry, jockeying for the anti-gay vote: This ad, called “Strong,” has the Texas governor promising to end the Obama administration’s “war on religion” and touting his commitment to Christianity. “Something’s wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military,” Perry says, “but our kids can’t openly celebrate Christmas, or pray in school.” It’s unclear what policies President Obama has put in place to deny kids the right to openly celebrate Christmas. As of this writing, the video has 675 likes and 26,650 dislikes. source
It’s always important to look at who you’re quoting before you quote them. It could happen to anybody, though. One writer here at ShortFormBlog, who shall remain nameless, once mistook this Onion article for the real thing up until about halfway through.
A very, very energetic Rick Perry: In this case, “energetic” is a euphemism for “dangerously over-caffeinated, perhaps to the point of requiring medical attention.” We’re not quite sure what to make of this bizarre speech Perry gave to New Hampshire Republicans a couple of days ago. He’s not just unusually expressive; he looks like he’s about to burst (fast-forward to 2:30 or so if you’re feeling impatient). His frantic performance might make slightly more sense if he were speaking to an ultra-conservative crowd in South Carolina or something, but was a room full of New Hampshire moderates. Color us baffled, but at least he didn’t come off as over-prepared. source
» All aboard the Cain Train! Republicans in North Carolina, Nebraska, and West Virginia want Herman Cain as their nominee—he leads all of his opponents in a new PPP poll. A Washington Post/ABC poll released today showed Cain tied with Perry for second nationally, and two polls last week also showed evidence of Cain Fever sweeping the nation. This seems to be at the expense of Rick Perry, who’s collapsing just as fast as Cain is rising (in North Carolina alone, more than half of his supporters have abandoned him, and a Fox News poll last week showed him losing ten points in a month). Romney is still the (perpetually-endangered) frontrunner, but there’s a plausible argument to be made that Cain is now in the top-tier of candidates. Of course, the same thing was once said of both Donald Trump and Michele Bachmann, so take that as you will.
Hey everyone, let’s play “no expectations!” This game is common in presidential campaigns, and usually commences just before quarterly fundraising totals are announced. Here’s how it works: Each campaign works diligently to convince the press that they’re not going to bring in very much money; this is accomplished by saying things like, “We are going to raise considerably less than what we did in our first reporting period.” Then, once the numbers come in, it’s a win-win. If the totals are robust, the campaign looks surprisingly potent; if the numbers fall short, the campaign can just say, “I told you so!” It’s also acceptable to play this game prior to debates and straw polls. source
Treasurer of Steven Colbert’s SuperPAC resigns, now serves as Rick Perry’s campaign treasurer
Not the Onion.
We had to click twice to be absolutely convinced that this wasn’t The Onion. It’s not.
I got tickled by watching Governor Perry announce for governor, for president. He’s a good looking rascal.Bill Clinton • At a firefighter’s conference in New York. He went on to illustrate the hypocrisy of someone like Perry, whose political career has hinged on hatred and mistrust of the federal government, running for president; “I mean, this is crazy,” Clinton said. But that’s boilerplate Perry criticism; as far as we’re concerned, the real story is that he called him a “good looking rascal.” We’re now going to utilize every resource at our disposal to try and find video of this. source (via • follow)
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