Hot Dogs on a stick
by digby
First the Codpiece:
And now “Crotch”:
I first met Rick Perry in 1985. He was a Democratic freshman state rep, straight off the ranch in Haskell, Texas. He wore his jeans so tight, and, umm, adjusted himself so often that my fellow young legislative aides and I used to call him Crotch.
I guess it’s a conservative Texan thing. Or maybe it’s just a conservative guy thing …
G. GORDON LIDDY: Well, I– in the first place, I think it’s envy. I mean, after all, Al Gore had to go get some woman to tell him how to be a man. And here comes George Bush. You know, he’s in his flight suit, he’s striding across the deck, and he’s wearing his parachute harness, you know — and I’ve worn those because I parachute — and it makes the best of his manly characteristic. You go run those, run that stuff again of him walking across there with the parachute. He has just won every woman’s vote in the United States of America. You know, all those women who say size doesn’t count — they’re all liars. Check that out. I hope the Democrats keep ratting on him and all of this stuff so that they keep showing that tape.
“Check that out” indeed.
Honestly, as much fun as I’m having with Perry, who is just so …. Bushie, he’s a scary dude.
Perry has flaws, huge flaws. Not the least of which is that he presided over the execution of one of his constituents, Cameron Todd Willingham, who was probably innocent. But I’m not sure that’s a liability in today’s Tea Party–obsessed GOP. There’s a legend in Lone Star politics that one of Perry’s Republican rivals in Texas tested the Willingham issue in a focus group. One Republican man, the story goes, squinted and said, “Well, I like that. Takes a lot of balls to execute an innocent man.” At that moment, folks say, Perry’s rival knew opposing him was fruitless.
Back in 1985 the Texas Legislature was crawling with ambitious young politicians—as was every legislature in America. Why would one man—albeit a handsome man with great hair and serious political skills—rise above the thousands of others? Not because of brains and not because of bipartisan appeal. Because he has the most important quality of all: the willingness to do whatever it takes.
(Oh God that comment about it taking balls to kill an innocent man is so sick I hardly recognize that person as a member of the human species.)
Unfortunately, I think a whole lot of Americans, specifically conservative white men (and the conservative women who do what they’re told) are all about the codpiece, crotch and balls and this guy’s one of them. Bachman and Palin are cute and all, but these boys love a man wearing cowboy boots and a great big gun more than anything.
