Rick Perry is every bit as crazy as Michele Bachmann. But Republicans like his hair.
(Perry photo: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters. Bachmann: Newsweek.)
Alex Pareene
explains:
The GOP "establishment" prefers this evangelical nitwit with fringe tendencies to that evangelical nitwit with fringe tendencies, sure. This Dominionist purposefully evoking some of the most radical far-right movements and ideas of the last 200 years is so much more electable than this other one!
I mean, Rick Perry may be a neo-Confederate sympathizer with a recurring tendency to bring up secession, but he doesn't look as weird in a photograph as Bachmann does, I guess.
So the biggest difference between between Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann is that for some reason, Republican insiders think he's more electable than she is. Presumably, they like his hairdo more than hers. They probably think Perry is more stable than Bachmann too. He's certainly taller.
You'd think the fact that Bachmann has never floated the idea of seceding from the United States would give her an advantage over Perry when it comes to the not-quite-as-batshit-crazy department, but she does get headaches. And as we learned in 2008, Republicans prize health and vigor above everything else when it comes to their presidential nominee.
If the GOP were a sane party, neither Bachmann nor Perry would be serious contenders for the nomination. But the GOP isn't a sane party. It's a tea party.
