Tag: Rick Perry

From the Slaveholders to Rick Perry: Galileo is the Key

In honor of Rick Perry’s decision to quit the race, I’m reprinting one part of this blog post from September, which discusses what I still think is the most memorable moment of the entire campaign: when, in one of the early debates, Perry invoked Galileo in defense of his position on climate change.     The most arresting moment of the debate was when Rick Perry invoked Galileo in defense of his skepticism about climate change.  Here’s what he said: The science is not settled on this.  The idea that we would put Americans’ economy at jeopardy based on scientific theory that’s not settled yet to me is just nonsense.  Just because you have a group of scientists who stood […]

It’s Good to Be the King

The media’s astir tonight over a comment Rick Perry made after the debate in New Hampshire: [The] reason we fought the revolution in the 16th century was to get away from that kind of onerous crown.” Yes, it would be nice if all of our presidential candidates were able to ballpark the date of the American Revolution within a decade or two of its occurrence. But to be honest I’m more unsettled by the phrase “that kind of onerous crown.” I mean, is there another kind of onerous crown out there more to his liking?

The Republican Debate: 5 Theses

Thesis 1: When the libertarian rubber hits the political road… Going after Mitt Romney in the first ten minutes of the debate, Rick Perry claimed that Romney had a good record of creating jobs when he was in the private sector but a terrible record as governor of Massachusetts.  Conversely, said Perry, he had a terrific record as governor of Texas.  “We created more jobs in the last three months in Texas” than Romney did during his entire term in Massachusetts.  Even Michael Dukakis, Perry added, had a better record than Romney, to which Romney replied: “George Bush and his predecessor created jobs at a faster rate than you did.” In all the back and forth, no one noted the […]