The only person who can stop Rick Perry is Rick Perry
John Ellis, who among many other things is a Republican political analyst, a blogger and a cousin to former President George W. Bush, nails the state of the GOP presidential race in a Business Insider column:
The Republican “establishment,” such as it is, is quickly coming to the realization that the 2012 GOP presidential nomination is Texas Governor Rick Perry’s to lose.
That establishment would prefer someone more electable, someone more like, say, Mitt Romney. But as Ellis points out, Romney is the guy that most Republican voters will choose only if they have no other viable choice:
“Romney’s problem is four-fold: he’s politically “fungible” (to put it politely), he’s from the wrong region of the country (New England), he’s of the wrong religion (Mormonism) and he’s too closely identified with Wall Street (Bain Capital). The Republican base would prefer to nominate a strong conservative, evangelical Christian from the Sunbelt who, at the least, shares their disdain for Wall Street’s reckless stewardship of the nation’s financial system.”
Know anybody like that?
Ellis predicts that after Labor Day, the GOP establishment will launch “a sustained negative campaign to destroy Perry with the party’s base.” We’ve already seen hints of that from Karl Rove, among others. Absent some major revelation, however, that effort isn’t likely to work. Perry’s persona and background align so closely with the desires of the GOP base that it will be very difficult to drive a wedge between them. If Perry can prove that he can perform on the national stage, the nomination is all but his and there’s nothing Romney can do about it.
And as Ellis points out, Perry will get that opportunity very quickly.
“Once Labor Day has passed, there will be five debates, in quick succession, on the GOP presidential candidates’ calendars. These will be important tests for Perry. If at the end of two or three, it’s clear that he’s every bit the equal of Mitt Romney on matters of policy and politics, then the Perry juggernaut becomes all but unstoppable. Romney’s “I’m the only electable one” argument will vanish and the party’s base will nominate one of their own. If Perry stumbles badly in the debates, Romney’s campaign gets a second wind.”
I agree wholeheartedly. The only person who can snatch the nomination out of Rick Perry’s hands is Rick Perry himself.
– Jay Bookman
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1,022 comments Add your comment
Paul
August 30th, 2011
7:10 pm
poison pen
“Bro, Most of the time I agree with you, but my Wife spent 30 years with the DOD, and she can tell you stories that you would find hard to believe, and these employees were never fired.”
I’ve a long-time friend who was a civilian personnel officer with DoD. After that he spent a couple years on active duty as an Army warrant officer, tour in Afghanistan. Really knew his stuff.
Early upon meeting him I asked ‘is it really true it’s about impossible to fire a federal civilian?”
He said he’d just returned from a base where two workers were fired. Said there are procedures to follow. The main barrier, he said, is because most supervisors do not want to be SOBs in following the regulations and follow the procedures it takes to get rid of someone.
Soothsayer
August 30th, 2011
7:10 pm
Kamchak
August 30th, 2011
7:13 pm
Have a good evening everyone.
Brave Sir Robin
lynnie gal
August 30th, 2011
7:13 pm
It looks like there’s another village in Texas that’s lost their idiot.
josef
August 30th, 2011
7:14 pm
Zap
Or those who spent some time in Central America at the time…
out of the blue
August 30th, 2011
7:15 pm
“The only people who bring up that non-scandal are people who still believe that Halliburton was the cause of the Iraq War.
ZAP….. Non-Scandal? Even coming from you that is a side splitter!
Fourteen people were charged with either operational or “cover-up” crimes. In the end, North’s conviction was overturned on a technicality, and President Bush issued six pardons, including one to McFarlane, who had already been convicted, and one to Weinberger before he stood trial.
Mama Says
August 30th, 2011
7:17 pm
Anyone ever wondered why FEDERAL judges are allowed to decide if State immigration laws violate FEDERAL LAW ? I mean how can a federal employee be unbias on a issue of Federal power ?
Jm
August 30th, 2011
7:22 pm
CNN – Romney going after perry
And perry doing a fair amount of flip flopping in one sentence on foreign policy
HATE REPUBLICANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
August 30th, 2011
7:23 pm
a texan is the reason the country is in the mess its in!!!PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA..4 MORE YEARS!!4 MORE YEARS!!!!!!REPUBLICANS HAVE RUINED OUR GREAT COUNTRY!!!!
Brosephus
August 30th, 2011
7:23 pm
poison pen
Google the number of employees in those agencies and compare those numbers to that of TSA, CBP (both CBP Officers and Border Patrol Agents), and other agencies that have far more employees who commit acts worthy of being terminated. I read that article when USA Today put it out. They picked agencies to highlight that have very little turnover. Most of those agencies also require the workers to be highly educated and highly specialized in their work fields.
The 1,800-employee Federal Communications Commission and the 1,200-employee Federal Trade Commission didn’t lay off or fire a single employee last year. The SBA had no layoffs, six firings and 17 deaths in its 4,000-employee workforce
If you want facts, there’s probably more CBP Officers in the Atlanta Region than in any one of those agencies right there. I could go find private sector companies that have a few hundred workers without firing someone and make the same specious claims.
I’ve seen quite a few UNION employees fired right here in Atlanta, so I don’t have to fear facts because I’ve seen them with my very own eyes. Unlike you, I don’t have to rely on a news article to obtain them.
Jm
August 30th, 2011
7:24 pm
Lynnie gal
That is one of the stupider things I’ve heard hear in a while
And that’s saying a lot
Care to recycle more stupid slogans?
Fred the Farmer
August 30th, 2011
7:25 pm
You can bad mouth illegal immigrants all you want but I hired 150 of them this year to harvest my crops in Salinas, Calif. They are good, hard workers who are grateful for the work. I have hired white workers but they last only a few days, then walk off the job. They claim the work is too hard. You should all thank your lucky stars that illegal immigrants are picking the food you eat. If not, I would charge you $5 per apple — if you could get one. You ignorant people. Talk is cheap, and so is your food, as long as illegal Mexicans care enough to support relatives back home. Grow up and get real!
Jm
August 30th, 2011
7:25 pm
Hate
Aren’t u the model of tolerance….
Paul
August 30th, 2011
7:29 pm
“Anyone ever wondered why FEDERAL judges are allowed to decide if State immigration laws violate FEDERAL LAW ?”
Nope. At least, not since government class in high school and a discussion of Article VI, Clause 2, the supremacy cause was the topic..
Kamchak
August 30th, 2011
7:29 pm
If not, I would charge you $5 per apple — if you could get one.
Charge as much as you like, sport.
And watch them rot in the baskets.
Jm
August 30th, 2011
7:31 pm
Jay this post of yours is bringing out even more left wing nutters than normal. Wow
Jm
August 30th, 2011
7:34 pm
I’d place some $ on Fred the farmer being a fake
poison pen
August 30th, 2011
7:36 pm
Bro,
” I’ve seen quite a few UNION employees fired right here in Atlanta, so I don’t have to fear facts because I’ve seen them with my very own eyes. Unlike you, I don’t have to rely on a news article to obtain them.”
Bro, I have belonged to the UAW and ISST for many years and I can tell you for a fact that it’s damn near impossible to fire them.
You probably aren’t aware of it but you can’t fire a UAW employee for being in jail and missing work. We had union employees come to work with Teathers on their ankles.
The post may have hit a sore spot with you, but it’s a fact. There isn’t anything you can tell me about unions, I was in a real Union, not the kind that most fed employees have which don’t have any teeth.
Brosephus
August 30th, 2011
7:38 pm
I’d place some $ on Fred the farmer being a fake
I’d place money on many here being a fake.
Just sayin’…
Kamchak
August 30th, 2011
7:38 pm
I’d place some $ on Fred the farmer being a fake
Can’t get nothing past you.
A regular Thomas A. Einstein.
Jm
August 30th, 2011
7:39 pm
Rick perry sounds like a different version of Ron Paul
Just different packaging
Jm
August 30th, 2011
7:41 pm
Kam ah never mind. No point in arguing with crazy
poison pen
August 30th, 2011
7:42 pm
Fred the Farmer
” You can bad mouth illegal immigrants all you want but I hired 150 of them this year to harvest my crops in Salinas, Calif. They are good, hard workers who are grateful for the work. I have hired white workers but they last only a few days, then walk off the job. They claim the work is too hard. You should all thank your lucky stars that illegal immigrants are picking the food you eat. If not, I would charge you $5 per apple — if you could get one. You ignorant people. Talk is cheap, and so is your food, as long as illegal Mexicans care enough to support relatives back home. Grow up and get real!
Fred, Wasn’t it just a couple of Months ago that Jay warned us about all the crops rotting in Georgia because these companies ( farmers ) couldn’t use illegal immigrants anymore.
It never happened, I’m in Publix & WallyWorls at least twice a week and the prices are still stable.
Jay, Just wanted to slant his blog to suit his views, and that’s ok because it’s his blog but he has to expect some flack when it’s not true.
md
August 30th, 2011
7:43 pm
“They are good, hard workers who are grateful for the work. ”
So are their legal counterparts………..work ethic isn’t restricted to “illegals”.
Schrodingers cat
August 30th, 2011
7:45 pm
Paul and Perry are miles a part…Paul is a pretty sharp fella..
Brosephus
August 30th, 2011
7:45 pm
The post may have hit a sore spot with you, but it’s a fact. There isn’t anything you can tell me about unions, I was in a real Union, not the kind that most fed employees have which don’t have any teeth.
Didn’t hit a sore spot at all. Times change is what I’m trying to tell you. The things your wife saw probably would get someone fired on the spot. As far as unions, you’re talking to someone who grew up around steelworkers and rubber workers. I do know a good deal about unions from growing up around it’s members.
There isn’t anything you can tell me about unions, I was in a real Union, not the kind that most fed employees have which don’t have any teeth.
IF that is the case with fed unions, why are conservatives so damned afraid of them?
Schrodingers cat
August 30th, 2011
7:47 pm
Can we do the math backwards to get to $5 an apple?
Jm
August 30th, 2011
7:47 pm
Cat debatable
Jm
August 30th, 2011
7:49 pm
SC debate is gonna be innerestin
md
August 30th, 2011
7:49 pm
“Tropical Storm Katia has formed and is slowly strengthening as it moves across the Atlantic.
Katia has maximum sustained winds late Tuesday morning near 45 mph (72 kph). The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami says gradual strengthening is forecast and Katia is expected to be near hurricane strength by late Wednesday or early Thursday.
The storm’s name replaces Katrina in the rotating storm roster because of the catastrophic damage from the 2005 storm.”
Don’t know about the rest of you, but removing 2 letters still leaves it eerily similar………..
Kamchak
August 30th, 2011
7:50 pm
If a cat in a box is given an apple, we can assume that the apple is both eaten and uneaten until we open the box
Schrodingers cat
August 30th, 2011
7:50 pm
heck, I can’t figure out wow they sell salt and make money…but $5 apples…are they grown by GM?
getalife
August 30th, 2011
7:51 pm
Enter your comments here
getalife
August 30th, 2011
7:52 pm
I agree with the guy that does not like the gop.
Jm
August 30th, 2011
7:52 pm
Kati a
Sounds like a Russian stripper name
@@
August 30th, 2011
7:52 pm
And people who speed on the road! They are criminals! They should all be locked up or deported for their insolence!
On the day I appeared in traffic court, the judge made it clear to everyone in attendance, that we’d be locked up unless we had cash to pay our fine.
I was prepared for a BIG’N!!!
Brosephus
August 30th, 2011
7:53 pm
Don’t know about the rest of you, but removing 2 letters still leaves it eerily similar………..
I’m with you on that one. I’ll probably follow the track of this one just a wee bit more than I follow other storms in the beginning.
getalife
August 30th, 2011
7:54 pm
@@,
What was the charge?
Schrodingers cat
August 30th, 2011
7:55 pm
Kam – Amazing how it (”modern physics” from the 1930’s?) mimics Dr Suess..huh?
Jm
August 30th, 2011
8:03 pm
Nice rehash on cnbc of when NYC almost went bankrupt
The dangers of debt are real. U were warned
Jm
August 30th, 2011
8:08 pm
Ah unions…..
RAMZAD
August 30th, 2011
8:20 pm
People who are thinking about the future of their children, the prospects for their business
and the prospects for America must be very frightened by the field of candidates presented
by the Republican Tea Party.
If we exclude John Huntsman for his sense of decency and his organizational sanity we are
left with a pool of right wing lunatics. Can anyone see Herman Cain, Michelle Bachmann, Rick
Santorum or Newt Gingrich as President of the United States?
Mitt Romney is little more than a resume on starched paper, and Rick Perry is a Texas gunslinger
who can’t find the difference between food and dirt. Just the pool of candidates presented by the Republican Tea Party is enough to make it clear that none or these right wing nut cases should not
be allowed to even walk on Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.
RAMZAD
August 30th, 2011
8:21 pm
should be allowed…
moonbat betty
August 30th, 2011
8:21 pm
I’m glad I have no choice.
Obama.
The one and only choice for America’s future.
moonbat betty
August 30th, 2011
8:24 pm
My life and the republic lie in the hands of Obama.
Obama knows the average American and how America has risen from nothing into something…
Obama forever!
Schrodingers cat
August 30th, 2011
8:24 pm
FWIW the left is being out flanked by Rubio…but let’s talk about Perry
Jm
August 30th, 2011
8:25 pm
I don’t know if Andersen Cooper is gay or not
But he unequivocally a better and more balanced reporter than Rachel maddow
Jm
August 30th, 2011
8:26 pm
Cat
Romney can beat Obama
Gotta beat Obama
moonbat betty
August 30th, 2011
8:26 pm
Jm, you have a fine way of rubbing a cat the wrong way!
Kudos.
moonbat betty
August 30th, 2011
8:28 pm
oops ..Not Schrodinger’s.
dimsum
Jm
August 30th, 2011
8:29 pm
Moon bat you’ll have to decipher that cryptic post
Mick
August 30th, 2011
8:29 pm
cat
What is this obsession with rubio? Ever listen to him speak? He’s duller than my lawnmower blade…
Jm
August 30th, 2011
8:31 pm
NYC, a city almost destroyed by unions
wet wiccan
August 30th, 2011
8:32 pm
Close the borders and deport anybody not three generations born here…here being defined as the Mason-Dixon-Ohio River-36 30 to the north, Rio Grande to the south
Well darn! I guess you’ll have to boot me out then. My grandmother was 15 when she came to America so I just missed that three generation thing.
Can I get a special dispensation?
Mick
August 30th, 2011
8:33 pm
jm
Correction – a city built by unions!!!!! You are an anti-union hater, get off it and stick your head in the right to work state sand..
Good Little Liberal
August 30th, 2011
8:37 pm
RAMZAD
Perry’s a gunslinger. Hmmm. Like Butch Cassidy? Does he rob banks?
Here’s a good question. Doesthis gun slinger take his children to the church of a racist? Does the gunslinger belong to a gang that has no regrets about trying to blow up American soldiers?
Your post shows a combination of hysteria, just flat out lying and fear that the Republicans will produce a candidate that is as far right as Obama is far left.
Jm
August 30th, 2011
8:38 pm
Mick I learn from what I see
It took the federal government to break the back of NYC unions, even while the city was literally burning
Jm
August 30th, 2011
8:39 pm
Ed Koch
U can’t spend money u don’t have
Word for word
Jm
August 30th, 2011
8:40 pm
Riots in Harlem
Jm
August 30th, 2011
8:41 pm
Looting and burning in Harlem
Jm
August 30th, 2011
8:44 pm
Koch
We beat the union. They thought they were going to destroy us but we beat them
Good Little Liberal
August 30th, 2011
8:46 pm
NY Unions. Man that is a sweet place to be if you have the connections.
I’ve done some work in NY and it cost a lot to pay off the union thugs so I could use the Georgia crew that I brought with me. But it was still cheaper than paying union wages and dealing with the nonsense.
But I’d really like to thank the NY Unions because for several years, a very big company located in Jersey was a client. They would fly me to NY, put me up is some very nice digs and treat me like a king. I would do the gig and they would still spend less money that what it would have cost to hire a NY union guy, and of course, with me, they got quality.
But thanks NY Unions. Yoiu’ve been very good to me. .
Mick
August 30th, 2011
8:46 pm
jm
Sorry dude, ignorance in this case is no excuse. I lived up that way and all those great buildings were built by union sweat and blood. So don’t go tarring something in a city, you show, to know nothing about…
Jm
August 30th, 2011
8:46 pm
Ed Koch was a democrat
What has happened to democrats? Democrats are beholden to special interests over the taxpayer and consumer
moonbat betty
August 30th, 2011
8:48 pm
Jm. Democrats got tough:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwH4quvjRQg
Jm
August 30th, 2011
8:48 pm
Mick go fly a kite
I worked on building 4 buildings in manhattan
EAt it
oldguy
August 30th, 2011
8:50 pm
Hey moonie,
We have no future if Obozo is our only choice!!
Get doesn’t like the GOP???
In the words of Gomer Pyle “Well, surprise surprise !!”
Mick
August 30th, 2011
8:51 pm
jm
Yeah – real intelligent retort there, what did you do, work on the sandwich truck?
Jm
August 30th, 2011
8:52 pm
Koch
No paid snow days for unions
Closed inefficient city hospitals
Broke the back of the transit union
No pay if union workers don’t work
Balanced budget 1 year ahead of time
City starts to turn around
If deems won’t fix things, vote republican
1811/0311
August 30th, 2011
8:54 pm
md :
When is there going to be a hurricane Mohammed ?
Just sayin’.
Brosephus
August 30th, 2011
8:54 pm
“What has happened to
democratspoliticians?DemocratsPoliticians are beholden to special interests over the taxpayer and consumer”That’s an eight lane superhighway you’re traveling on, homie. Just thought I’d truthen it up a bit.
1811/0311
August 30th, 2011
8:55 pm
……………………… or Shawnequia ?
Just sayin’.
Kamchak
August 30th, 2011
8:55 pm
NYC, a city almost destroyed by unions
The bankers have unions?
Jm
August 30th, 2011
8:55 pm
No Mick
I built a condo in battery park
Another on bond street
Renovated a condo in midtown
Renovated an office building in midtown
Not alone obviously
Arrogance can make u look silly
Good Little Liberal
August 30th, 2011
8:55 pm
Mick
Unions built those big buildings. No doubt about that. And the workers made great money. I don’t have a problem with that. Walking beams 60 floors up should be a well paid job.
But the problem is how they paralize most of the other businesses in NY. Lots of broadway plays pack the house every night but can’t pay the union royalties for the guys who did the original lighting and staging, sometimes having to pay for that single setup for years. That has put a lot of the smaller theatres out of business and of course, put a lot of promising actors on the street.
And as we both know, there is no negotiating with the unions.
Schrodingers cat
August 30th, 2011
8:56 pm
Jm…I think you’re right, but I don’t see him getting the nom
getalife
August 30th, 2011
8:56 pm
jm slobbering all over con ideology is sad.
oldguy,
I think they should follow whig party.
Mick
August 30th, 2011
8:57 pm
Why are you talking about ed koch? He hasn’t been mayor for decades, nobody talks about or misses him, except you. Maybe you should start a fan club, you can be president…
Jm
August 30th, 2011
8:57 pm
And as to what I did, I found the money and made the projects come in on budget
And watched u ions put up blow rat dolls
Granny Godzilla
August 30th, 2011
8:59 pm
There’s some Bill O gossip on the wires.
Gawker.
Mick
August 30th, 2011
9:00 pm
ggl
You conveniently leave out the fact that a lot and I do mean a lot of crummy plays put those actors out on the streets. You also contradict yourself, if there is no negotiating with the unions, how come you did so well? See, the problem here as always is the painting done with the broadest of brushes. It is the cons one trick pony….
moonbat betty
August 30th, 2011
9:01 pm
“There’s some Bill O gossip on the wires.”
rut roh. fodder for Bookman!!!
Kamchak
August 30th, 2011
9:02 pm
There’s some Bill O gossip on the wires.
Seems Bill thinks his wife is eating another man’s falafels.
Midori
August 30th, 2011
9:03 pm
Howdy folks – how’s it going?
Mighty Righty
August 30th, 2011
9:04 pm
Obama has permnently lowered the standard for president. Each of the Republican canidates for president is more experienced, more intelligent, more professional and has a background of success. We will never again settle for the inexperienced invompetence of a Barack Obama. We have had enough of 15% unemployment, destruction of our health care system, and destruction of our financial system. We have had enough home foreclosures. We have had it with his refusal to enforce our laws refusing to file charges against criminals who have endangered our citizens. His policies have caused our states to defend themselves while he has done everything in his power to stop our states from protecting themselves. More than 20 of our states have filed suits against his policies. He refuses to punish criminals in his administration, He refuses to comply with “open records” laws in violation of his oathe of office. His administration is the most dishonest and deceitful in history, He deviously used bookeeping tricks to hide the true cost of his Obamacare health destruction system. He has passed hundreds of new regulations which are strangling the future of this country. All of this while squandering 3 trillion of our dollars. This idiotic and nonsensical administration must be replaced for the good of our children and for the good of their children.
Jm
August 30th, 2011
9:04 pm
Mick we didn’t use union labor in a variety of places
It’s a dirty business Dealing with and avoiding unions
And yeah, the union crap would come in over budget, but we could offset that with savings from non union, most of the time anyway. We weren’t perfect
Midori
August 30th, 2011
9:04 pm
Kammie,
Seems Bill thinks his wife is eating another man’s falafels.
just saw the report on Current
Midori
August 30th, 2011
9:05 pm
Mrs. G — he only wanted to get to the “heart” of the matter
Kamchak
August 30th, 2011
9:07 pm
Shorter Tighty Whitey: Boo-hoo-hoo.
Good Little Liberal
August 30th, 2011
9:08 pm
Mick
Lots of bad plays went down for being bad. No doubt, but a lot of plays have packed the house two times a day and three on the weekend and can’t pay the royalties.
I wasn’t negotiating with the unions. I was bribing a union hiring boss. The union specs said that we had to have 30 people on the job. We had more than that, but they weren’t union. We paid him to hire ten guys and none showed up, in other worrds he just kept the money and left us alone. It was convention work and if you have really been associated with the NY Unions, you know that I am telling the truth.
The unions smell of crime and thuggery. Some of them are good and get things done but most are just plain crap.
Jm
August 30th, 2011
9:09 pm
Dick Cheney is the real deal love him or hate him
Kamchak
August 30th, 2011
9:10 pm
Hiya Midori!
Mrs. O was playing hide the loofah with a cop.
Midori
August 30th, 2011
9:11 pm
can you blame her, Kammie
Jm
August 30th, 2011
9:11 pm
GLL my wife had to deal with Chicago unions at a convention
She wasn’t allowed to plug anything into a outlet, they had to do it
After they didn’t show and she was running out of time she obviously said F it and did it herself
And they chewed her out later. The gall
Jm
August 30th, 2011
9:13 pm
Mrs. O was playing hide the loofah with a cop.
Michelle’s playing games with the secret service, tired of barack too?
No surprise there
Jm
August 30th, 2011
9:15 pm
Was renovating a chicagobuilding without union labor
They had the gall to cut the power cables to an occupied building. Unbelievable
AmVet - Read my lips. No new Texans!
August 30th, 2011
9:15 pm
Dick Cheney was the real deal.
If by real deal you mean a consummate ____ up.
The only man who could ever make Spiro Agnew look a competent VP and a decent human being in comparison…
Kamchak
August 30th, 2011
9:17 pm
Michelle’s playing games with the secret service, tired of barack too?
No.
Mrs. O’Reilly.
Please try to stay awake in class.
Maybe you can get the notes from someone who was paying attention.
getalife
August 30th, 2011
9:17 pm
I did not think he was married after hearing he liked vibes up his kazoo.
Good Little Liberal
August 30th, 2011
9:17 pm
Jm
I had a little thug chew me out in The Garden for doing exactly the same thing. I worked a concert for a year and we did a show there. Our setup was normally 4 hours but there it was over 12 because of dealing with the union crap. This was years ago and we played by the rules. I was a camera jib operator. I was payed a rate and a union guy set in a bar and drank beer and had no idea what a camera jib was or did. I think I made 300 and he made 600.