POTUS PERRY!

[Teatownclown]

Rick Perry's Florida Co-Chair: Gays Cause Tornadoes

—By Tim Murphy


Does this tornado look gay? Fadil Basymeleh/Flickr

Earlier this week, Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced his leadership team for the "Presidency 5" straw poll in Florida, scheduled for October. Although most of the other major candidates have decided to skip the event, Perry is hoping a strong showing there will give him a boost ahead of the state's important early primary. So what's his strategy for voter outreach? It looks a lot like The Response, the prayer and fasting festival he organized in August at a football stadium in Houston.

Take, for instance, his new co-chair: Pam Olsen, founder of the Tallahassee House of Prayer (dubbed the "prayer lady" in her home state for reasons that should be self-evident) and a leading anti-abortion activist in the state. As Right Wing Watch notes, though, Olsen also believes that gay marriage, and its increasing acceptance among American Christians, is causing destructive natural disasters across the country. Here's what she said back in July:


God is shaking. If anybody looks at the news and has just seen what's been happening recently with the floods, the fires, the tornadoes, God is shaking. Yeah I think you have God shaking, sure you have the Enemy shaking, you have both and I don't want to say oh that's the judgment of God or that's the Enemy. But the reality is God is judging us, and I think it's going to get worse.

It's somewhat unclear why Texas, whose Governor supports criminalizing gay sex, would be punished with raging wildfires for having too high a tolerance for gay rights. But Olsen's view is wholly consistent with Perry's other allies on the religious right. The Response, you'll recall, featured a number of controversial pastors who believed that, among other things, 9/11 was God's way of punishing America for tolerating homosexuality and the blackbirds that died suddenly in Arkansas last winter were a harbinger of the End Times.

[Conan71]

Ohhhh noz!  It's teh ghey!

With DADT going into effect we are really in for some major disasters now!

[Teatownclown]

Ohhhh noz!  It's teh ghey!

With DADT going into effect we are really in for some major disasters now!

I think that's the intent...but with this group of Moe Rons in the GOP race it is getting harder to see past their sex issues.

[Teatownclown]

Interesting!

Flynt offers $1 million for proof of Perry affair
The Hustler publisher takes out ad in Texas newspaper seeking men or women who have slept with the governor

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/09/22/flynt_perry_sex/index.html

MEN or women... ha ha! Larry's so cool.

Rick Perry Rewrites His Own History Again, Claims He Never Considered Secession

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/09/22/325842/rick-perry-no-truth-on-secession/


Slow it down....we need this guy to get nominated.

[dbacks fan]

Slow it down....we need this guy to get nominated.

Yeah, let's nominate a guy who ignores science as evidence a man on death row may be innocent, and tells school children, "We teach evolution and creationism in Texas, but you know which one is right".

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0412090169dec09,0,1173806.story

[Hoss]

Yeah, let's nominate a guy who ignores science as evidence a man on death row may be innocent, and tells school children, "We teach evolution and creationism in Texas, but you know which one is right".

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0412090169dec09,0,1173806.story

I think his point is that the moderates/indies will likely not elect this guy, so they'll either vote for the incumbent, or they'll stay home.

[Townsend]

I think his point is that the moderates/indies will likely not elect this guy, so they'll either vote for the incumbent, or they'll stay home.

It would mean so much more.  Think of how the Republican party would be viewed if Perry is nominated.

[AquaMan]

It would mean so much more.  Think of how the Republican party would be viewed if Perry is nominated.

Like they would care? We're beyond what people might think about the party. That is obvious from the health care, stimulus and debt limit debates. It is about winning. If Romney can't win, they won't nominate him. If Perry can win, they'll scrub him up, hook him up with a wireless headset and print the bumper stickers.

Its already started.

[Conan71]

Like they would care? We're beyond what people might think about the party. That is obvious from the health care, stimulus and debt limit debates. It is about winning. If Romney can't win, they won't nominate him. If Perry can win, they'll scrub him up, hook him up with a wireless headset and print the bumper stickers.

Its already started.

Same mechanism that gave us Obama only he prefers a teleprompter over a headset.

[AquaMan]

I knew that was coming, just wasn't sure who was up next.

Obama went through the process and a lot of folks didn't think he could beat McCain or in fact any republican. The final two candidates, Clinton and Obama, both polled well enough as capable AND able to beat any republican candidate among moderates, independents and progressives to encourage the party regulars. Either one would have sufficed. That's why the primary race was so close. It then became a battle of rules, recruiting, politicking and money.

You have to admit, that combination does not exist for republicans this year. Romney may be able to win the general but he's not acceptable to a large % of the hodgepodge of the rest of the party. The regulars could force Romney through but at the risk of losing the passionate voters. The fringes really like Perry, Bachmann et.al. but the party regulars and independents believe they are unelectable. Gotta' love the ying/yang of it.

It'll all work out.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Will anyone be surprised if Hillary runs??  I didn't think it could ever happen, but the last couple of months it is starting to look more and more real.

Romney would get the nomination if it were done within the next few months.  He will have to shoot himself in the foot pretty bad, I think.  As for the idiots attacking him for being Mormon...well, what can you say?  They are ignorant.  Of course.

[Conan71]

I knew that was coming, just wasn't sure who was up next.

Obama went through the process and a lot of folks didn't think he could beat McCain or in fact any republican. The final two candidates, Clinton and Obama, both polled well enough as capable AND able to beat any republican candidate among moderates, independents and progressives to encourage the party regulars. Either one would have sufficed. That's why the primary race was so close. It then became a battle of rules, recruiting, politicking and money.

You have to admit, that combination does not exist for republicans this year. Romney may be able to win the general but he's not acceptable to a large % of the hodgepodge of the rest of the party. The regulars could force Romney through but at the risk of losing the passionate voters. The fringes really like Perry, Bachmann et.al. but the party regulars and independents believe they are unelectable. Gotta' love the ying/yang of it.

It'll all work out.

Other than Reagan's second election, I really can't think of a GOP candidate who has really gotten the entire party pretty fired up in my life-time.  We've got a habit of nominating somewhat less charismatic, even boring candidates.  Bush I was fortunate because we were on a pretty good roll in the economy and he was seen as a component of that success.  Basically, we voted for Reagan's third term.  I didn't care for Bush I as he was a rolling gaffe machine himself when he was the VP.

Ford in '76.  Yawn.  There's a reason he was our first un-elected president.
Reagan was nominated with a fair amount of skepticism in 1980.
Dole in '96. Are you kidding?
Bush in 2000?  Another Bush?
Bush in 2004? No one to oppose him in the primary, things were rolling along well economically by then and the war had not really become an issue in his own party.
McCain in 2008?  What a pathetic pick.  Most GOP's I know blame open primaries for this happening.  He doesn't have a charismatic bone in his body.  Plus he was in his mid-70's.

[nathanm]

McCain in 2008?  What a pathetic pick.  Most GOP's I know blame open primaries for this happening. 

Perhaps they should blame themselves for feeling bad about Rove claiming in 2000 that he had an illegitimate black baby so as to exploit racism in South Carolina and throw the nomination to Bush. After that, McCain was seen by many as deserving the nomination once Bush was done. He got his chance, and maybe even could have pulled it off if not for the boneheaded move of selecting Palin as his running mate. Had he chosen a moderate Republican (possibly all the way to RINO territory to try to sway moderate Democrats his way) with strong business credentials he would have had a much easier time of it given the economic uncertainties.

I guess the whole Obama = hyper-liberal lie/meme hadn't taken off yet, so perhaps he still wouldn't have been able to do it.

[nathanm]

Damn Obama's uppity DoJ: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/09/doj_rick_perrys_texas_redistricting_plan_purposefully_discriminated_against_minorities.php

[heironymouspasparagus]

Just another tweeker....