Rick Perry, who he is

[PurgedVoter]

Seems like the figure heads that are most beloved of the money that creates conservative presidential contenders have something in common. The stupid or the appearance of stupid. Don't make this mistake with Perry, he is intellectually lazy but clever and quite capable of thought.

My best analysis is that he has great endurance, high goals, and fairly bright mind. I also think that he has great intentions. On the negative side, I would venture to guess that he tips the scale a bit toward delusional narcissism. His ethics are flexible and his values and loyalties can turn with the wind.


Here is his TAMU transcript, http://www.scribd.com/doc/61684192/Rick-Perry-s-Texas-A-M-Transcript His grades are pretty much Scholastic Probation from Freshman to Graduation.

For those that do not know this, TAMU has a great tradition in agriculture. A TAMU degree in veterinary medicine is the gold standard. So don't take any of this a knock on the tradition and quality of TAMU.

The fact that Perry signed up for Pre Vet is pretty interesting. The grades he got in his first semester are enough to pretty much kill that as a career. Grades that would get you into Med. School, top rated Med. School, were not at that time and are not now, necessarily good enough to get you in as a Vet. Student at TAMU. Perry had big, optimistic dreams when he came to A&M, but the work ethic, smarts or quality of work where no where near up to the standard. No offense here, that is a very high standard. The degree he got could well be argued as being the easiest available at TAMU.


He was in the Corps of Cadets at TAMU. This means he was fit, and chivalrous. In his day and age, women, even if they were eight years old, did not open doors at TAMU. A cadet was going to make it to the door in time to open it, even if he had to burst a lung running dead out in uniform in the hot Texas sun. From his being in to Corps at this time, we also know that he could do 70 perfect push ups, several times a day. He was able to maintain boots, belts, spurs and buckles, with a constant polish. He could sing while running with a gun. If a long haired scroungy high school boy walked by, he would say howdy and treat him as a respected member of society. The Corps could take up a lot of time and was not by any means the easy path to college. The Corps life could be a bit of a distraction from grades except for one important factor. A lot of Corps members make it into Vet. School and Med. School. Especially back in the days that he went to school, the Corps has long been quite serious about grades.

They have the study halls, they have the tutors, the have the time and they check on you and you have to pretty much weasel out or be an idiot to not make decent grades. If you are serious about grades and learning, the Corps is serious, very serious about helping you to be all that you want to be. If you are a slacker, they are still quite serious about helping you to be all you want to be. They get rather intrusive into your life when you are not making the grade. They really, really want to to do well. They are paying for you to go to school after all. You are military and your sole mission is to become a more useful member of the military and our society.

It is easy enough for a smart person to manage to make poor grades like this in the Corps at TAMU, a lot do, but they have to work at it. They have to figure out the ropes and maintain a whole slew of stories to pass on to their Commanding Officer.


These grades appear to be the grade of someone who did pretty well in High School and then slid the rest of the way. His Eagle Scout Badge and High School grades tell you he is not without wit. His grades tell you that he is not the sort to let homework get in the way.


Perry is one of the many politicians who switched from the Democratic to Republican Party and then turned ultraconservative. He was a successful and ardent supporter of education and health care, before he became an enemy to both. He has taken credit for wonderful financial status that Texas has maintained. Sadly Texas has not maintained wonderful financial status.

Rick Perry Sold books during the summer for the Controversial Southwestern Company. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southwestern_Company He was one of the ones that liked it. This again shows emotional resilience, stamina, and charisma.

When you think of Perry, don't think of him as a genius, idiot, politician, con man or an idiot or a zealot. All of these images have a good chance of leaving you vulnerable. Yes in a way he is all of these.

Think of him as a salesman. Think of him as a salesman that desperately wants your signature on a long, large series of payments.

He will smile warmly and look you square in the eye while he gets your money. He probably thinks he is doing you a favor. The product may be a Bible, a subscription to Playboy or huge debt disguised as 'The Texas Miracle.' Sadly, at the end of the day you were either an easy mark or a total bastard, depending on whether he made the sale. Sadly, that is a very common mindset among the successful door to door salesmen.

[Flying Dream Blues]

1. Good analysis, except I really think you give him too much credit

for having "good intentions." Unless, of course you mean intending to sell everyone out in favor of big business, the wealthy and his own pockets.

I think he is a toxic narcissist with sociopathic tendencies. I see he aspired to be a veterinarian; the animals were spared, while we were not.

[blkmusclmachine]

2. Perry pals around with the Dominionists/Hard Right Theocrats:

Which tells you everything you need to know about him.

[klook]

3. "He could sing while running with a gun."

:rofl: That is just outstanding! Thank you!

[sadbear]

4. Despite the Corps' code of conduct

It has always been associated with sexism and racism, even to this day. I can't imagine that that has worn off of him. His conversion to the republican party only lags much of state of Texas' conversion by a few years. There was a time, not very long ago, that a republican could win in only some parts of the state. That seemed to change largely overnight. So even though we was a Democrat then, so was most of Texas. Remember, when Bill Clements was first elected governor of Texas in 1979, he was the first republican elected to that office since Reconstruction. He happened to be the second republican governor as well, when he was elected in 1987. Two years later, when it was apparent that most Democrats in Texas had changed party allegiance, Rick Perry did, too.

[Taverner]

5. He always reminded me of a character from 'Glengarry Glenross'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVQPY4LlbJ4

[lonestarlib]

6. Snake oil salesman is more like it. He's also the #1

recipient of Koch money.

[MilesColtrane]

7. I think of him as a mean, lazy, narcissist with decent political chops and...

no core beliefs that he's not willing to compromise for the sake of winning.

[PurgedVoter]

8. That's the thing about convenient ethics

I am quite sure he sees himself as a highly ethical being who makes decisions informed by his faith. I doubt he even notices that he has betrayed everything he believes in. As an eagle scout, he knew that a good scout leave the campsite a cleaner and better place than when he arrived. Now he is in bed with the worst polluters. As a Christian I am sure he knew that just as you treat the least of these, so you treat Jesus.

The end result of convenient ethics is in fact no ethic at all. But as a narcissist he can get past that easily. I suspect the he means it quite sincerely when he prays.

The feedback loop of narcissism, coupled with enough power to insure a constant support group for their weaknesses, has done a good job of turning many a self serving, if well, meaning success story into a nut case with power and money.

Personally I think Perry has the potential to do amazing and wonderful things. Sadly he has demonstrated that that potential never quite comes together unless is directly and fairly immediately rewards him.

I suspect that he really, really wants to support education. But how can he when his good buddies, the ones that hand him tons of money, want to destroy education. The cognitive dissonance of all the things he currently supports can only help push him further into his lunacy.

I would love to see someone ask him, "Why is the State of Texas supporting the Gulan run Harmony Science Academy? Are the people who support you, Governor Perry, comfortable with taking public funds and supporting Islamic educational programs with little real overview or accountability?"

This has got to be one of the most conflicting things he has taught himself how to justify. This is just the sort of issue that can entirely destroy his political dreams, and yet the folk that are for this have so much delicious money!

[MilesColtrane]

9. Insightful

[Dad Infinitum]

10. Perry is dangerous

Especially his charisma, which draws Republicans in like nothing else (Reagan, Palin, Bachmann, Bush...etc).

He will be their nominee. It is never about electability with these people because they win by cheating. It is about picking the easiest person to control.

[Ilsa]

12. I also think he'll be easy to control, based on PurgedVoter's description.

I received a forwarded email supposedly written by a GOP party leader, and it droned on about superficial items, like his appearance, Perry being married to his high school sweetheart, having a son and a daughter, coming from a ranch, etc, as if procreating and a marriage license and good hair prepare a person for the presidency. It was truly one of those vacuous emails reminiscent of the W. era.

I don't know why Americans want to listen to four years of a west Texas drawl and relive the Bush years.

[MilesColtrane]

15. Perry's not nearly as wealthy as Romney is.

Romney's probably going to kick in some of his own money into his campaign at some point, especially if outside funds begin to dry up.

Perry will be more beholden to those that finance his campaign. (as you pointed out, "easier to control")

A staggering 24 billionaires on the Forbes 400 list – that’s 6% of America’s richest people – donated to Perry’s last gubernatorial campaign in 2010.

They will say jump, and he will say, "How high?".

[Proud Liberal Dem]

11. Didn't he discuss secession back when Obama was first elected

Now, he (maybe) wants to be head of the big bad tyrannical federal government????

:wtf:

That ad practically writes itself!

[Ilsa]

13. Yes, he did. But he wants to go to Washington to destroy central government.

These people are all about the Tenth Amendment. Except when it comes to women's uteruses.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

14. Right

So, he wants to go to Washington so that he can essentially put himself (and a whole lot of other people) out of a job. Can't he just keep doing his uterus-sniffing stuff in Texas and let the rest of the country keep moving into the 21st Century? :shrug: