Democrats and some conservatives, too, appreciate Rick Perry's winning skill at changing costumes whenever opportunity knocks for Rick and his donor cronies.
One can understand why. Many folks consider the Governor a career politician and therefore not completely trustworthy. In Rick Perry's case he has changed his hats, suits and dresses all too often. The once Al Gore Democrat turned Republican, turned tea party darling, turned secessionist now wants to run as POTUS of the country from which he wanted to secede.
Sure, whatever Slick. Texas gets you.
Joe Scarborough, a former Republican Congressman and now host of the MSNBC Morning Joe Show, railed against Rick Perry for being a dime store conservative.
I guess the GOP has cultural and ideological contradictions and ongoing wars that continue to rage in order to win the heart and soul of whatever makes up the pathology of the former Party of Lincoln.
Naturally proud liberals in Texas across the board have nothing short of contempt for Rick Perry and we understandably deplore his right wing extremism and insanity. But, sadly for Slick, many conservatives loath the Governor as much as Democrats, although for different reasons.
I guess if one of the Governor's big time donors, such as Bob Perry, demanded for Rick Perry to sport a Green Party dress, slip on a pair of pinko/commie high heels and wear a shiny blue purse, to boot, Rick would say
"You can always count on me, Bob."
Conservatives who supported an Arizona styled immigration enforcement law in Texas were not so pleased to learn that a lobbyist for Mr. Bob Perry, the home builder, and no relation to the Governor scuttled passage of the law.
Rick Perry and the super Republican majority in Austin snapped to attention and clicked their heels to give Mr. Bob Perry what he wanted.
Oh, how I love the smell of democracy in Texas.
No voter in the state of Texas, whether one is a Democrat, Republican or Independent can recall when Mr. Bob Perry sucessfully ran for and won any office.
But hey, this is the way it has worked in Rick Perry's Texas for the last ten long and dark years.
Rick Perry's recent book Fed Up is giving the Governor a few problems along the way. It gives his less extreme rivals quite a bit of ammunition.
Mr. Perry's assault on the program in the book is not a throwaway line or two. In a long section about how the New Deal of the 1930s was responsible for "violently tossing aside any respect for our founding principles of federalism and limited government," he cites Social Security as "by far the best example of this."
He calls the program "something we have been forced to accept for more than 70 years now," and seems saddened by the fact that "its desirability is hardly questioned any longer."
He asserts that the New Deal did not bring the country out of the Great Depression and says that its social programs - like Social Security - "never died, and like a bad disease, they have spread."
He does not offer any specific plans for how the federal government might do away with the program, or what - if anything - might take its place.
But the language leaves open the door for his rivals to make political hay during the presidential campaign. It is not hard to imagine a campaign commercial that includes a somber voice saying that Rick Perry "thinks Social Security is like a bad disease."
Of course the Governor has no vision of any plan that would be a viable replacement whatsoever to Social Security. Like W. and his unfunded, exit plan free war in Iraq, Rick Perry will shoot first and ask questions later.
This is how Texas Republicans do government. They set it up as a cash cow for the likes of the Bob Perrys and Republican donors. There is little else to say about Texas Republican politicians.
