In Desperation Rick Perry Embraces Birtherism

As it becomes increasingly clear that Rick Perry cannot debate himself out of a wet paper bag and that his form of batshit crazy politics doesn't sell well outside of the Lone Star State, in desperation Perry has latched onto a Tea Party favorite: questioning Barack Obama's U.S. citizenship. While this many times proven false allegation doesn't resonate with rational Americans, it still has viability withing the objective reality denying Kool-Aid guzzlers of the Republican Party base who cannot abide the fact that someone who is half black is in the White House. It's ultimately an issue of racial based bigotry. And bigotry - and, of course, the embrace of ignorance - is the principal hallmark of today's GOP. The Washington Post has an editorial that takes Perry to task for this slimy ploy. Here are some excerpts:

If at first you don’t secede, try the birther movement. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who more than once has dipped his cowboy boot into the secessionist swamp, has found a new outlet for his fringe instincts. The Republican presidential candidate has revived questions about President Obama’s birth certificate.


The controversy pretty much died in the spring when Obama, hounded by “carnival barker” Donald Trump, released his long-form birth certificate confirming his birth in the United States and, therefore, his eligibility for the presidency. But Perry, in an interview in Sunday’s Parade magazine, showed that he marches to a different drummer:

Q. You don’t believe what’s been released?
A. I don’t know. I had dinner with Donald Trump the other night.
Q. And?
A. That came up.
Q. And he said?
A. He doesn’t think it’s real.
Q. And you said?
A. I don’t have any idea. It doesn’t matter. He’s the president of the United States. He’s elected. It’s a distractive issue.

But it has become distractive again thanks to its revival by one of the leading candidates for the Republican presidential nomination. Perry knows something about distractive issues.

The retelling of such stories, and the emergence of some new ones (such as the racist name long attached to the Perry ranch) have made for an unpleasant couple of months for Perry on the campaign trail. Add to that his debate performances, which have ranged from somnolent to belligerent, and you can understand why Perry’s status as the frontrunner was so abbreviated. The candidate’s wife says he has been “brutalized and beaten up” because he is a Christian. But might it have something to do with the unchristian things coming from her husband’s mouth?

[P]olitical professionals expect more from a mainstream candidate such as Perry. After Perry’s birther Parade, strategist Karl Rove lectured his one-time friend Monday in a Fox News appearance. “You associate yourself with a nutty view like that and you damage yourself,” he said. . . . Good advice, but Perry won’t follow it. Whether it’s secessionism or birtherism, he seems determined to prove that nothing succeeds like excess.

One can only hope that Perry continues to pander to the lunatics of the GOP base and in the process makes it crystal clear to everyone else that he's unfit for the presidency - or even the Texas governorship.