Texas Gov. Rick Perry
Texas Gov. Rick Perry was supposed to be one of the hottest properties of the 2012 Republican presidential primaries, until—
oops!—his chances dissolved in a series of gaffes. Now, he's fighting to make himself seem politically relevant for 2016, but facing an uphill battle with the media obsessed with another Texan—Sen. Ted Cruz—and another governor—New Jersey's Chris Christie. So what'a a macho Texan to do? Why, snipe about them.
Appearing on ABC's This Week, Perry dropped this little bit of innuendo about Christie's conservatism:
"We're all different states," added Perry, also a 2016 hopeful. "Is a conservative in New Jersey a conservative in the rest of the country?"
In today's GOP, them's fighting words. But Perry also faces a challenge from his right and it's coming from his own state. While Perry has been a viciously conservative, anti-woman governor, next to Ted Cruz, he runs the risk of looking like a staid, establishment candidate. He's been combating that
by poo-pooing Cruz as well:
“No one has come up to me and even said the word ‘Cruz’ — no, not once did I hear that,” Perry said of his time in London and Israel. A spokesman later downplayed the remark, saying the governor thinks Democrats are to blame for the shutdown.
In an Iowa interview with the Dallas Morning News, Perry was asked how he felt about Cruz’s role in the shutdown, and he seized the opportunity to draw a contrast.
“Everybody gets to go out and do their thing,” he said. “That’s his thing. My thing is governing.”
Oh, snap. Except it's not particularly clear that having governing be your "thing" is going to be a major benefit in a Republican presidential primary, given the way the party and its base are going.
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