In the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon debate it was widely reported that Mr. Nixon was in ill health. The result was a pale, sweating Nixon against a vibrant, tanned John F. Kennedy. Of course, Bobby Kennedy bird-dogging the thermostat didn’t help Nixon’s predicament. As they say, the rest is history (with a lot of help from alleged vote-stuffing in West Virginia, that is).
Well, Burns & Haberman have a very interesting report via Texas Monthly’s Paul Burka, who’s been watching Perry for decades. It goes like this…
Perry was clearly off his game during the tea party debate. He looked uncomfortable, his face was strained, his combativeness was muted. He looked to me like a man with back pain. I wondered if he were wearing a brace. I’ve had back surgery, and it hurt to watch him.
I thought Romney won the debate. He took it to Perry from the outset, and he went for the intimidation play, staring his rival in the face as Perry gave his answers. Perry stumbled several times. I think of him as someone who has a great feel for his constituency, but I don’t know how anyone could have had a feeling for that constituency. That was one scary audience. Perry muffed the border fence question, muffed the dream act question (though his answers were sincere and courageous, and I agree with him in both cases). I thought he muffed Bachmann’s attack on the HPV question too, saying that he raised $30 million and he couldn’t be bought for $5,000. Croney capitalism is going to stick to Perry. There are too many instances–Harold Simmons and the nuclear waste dump, Bob Perry and the Residential Construction Commission, recipients of emerging technology grants, fund managers who got to invest teacher retirement money. It is a rich lode, and it is going to be mined by his enemies.
He just wasn’t presidential. He was low-energy and the feistiness wasn’t there. That’s why I’m wondering whether the back operation didn’t go well, or whether he got irked because Bachmann got to his right on the HPV issue. Another explanation could be that Perry has been around so long and has been so successful in politics that our expectations are high, and they are hard to meet. He just didn’t seem presidential, and I think the reason was that he was hurting.
[...] The big question mark for me is Perry’s health. Tonight was one of those rare moments when the camera didn’t love him. He has plenty of time to get back on his game, assuming that his physical condition holds up. But I am beginning to wonder whether he will have the stamina to hold up to the demands of a grueling campaign if his back is injured. For now, that’s just as big a threat as Romney is.
National politics is a cruel sport. You’ve got to be 111% on your game, especially against an iron man candidate like Mitt Romney, whose entire strategy is built around out lasting the flavors of the month.
The other problem for Perry is that at the national level you’ve got to be able to talk policy, which he has proved he can’t do past vacuous quips.
Let’s hope not. I want this ignorant, ranting peekerwood as the repugnantklan/teabagger candidate. If America is stupid and racist and xenophobic…as well as suicidal enough to go for his and the repugnantklan/teabaggers gibberring I say bring it on…why put it off. And if America recognizes a psychotic maniac and votes for (and I can’t believe I’m gonna say this) Obama…maybe there is some hope.
Interesting you still consider Obama attached to “hope.”
A new poll by Ron Brownstein reveals voters tilt toward Obama’s jobs plan, but not by much:
http://www.nationaljournal.com/daily/with-doubts-voters-prefer-obama-jobs-plan-20110912
Ms. Marsh, I only use the word hope because the alternative is the deepest, darkest fever swamp of the American “soul” that will have ever happened in the history of our country. It would be as if the traitors had won the war of treason….otherwise called the Civil War in sane parts of the country and the “War of Northern Aggression” in the south.
Simply put a Perry anyone ticket would be the most racist,sexist,homophobic,xenophobic,anti science bunch of imbecilic assmonkies ever to infect out government.
AND…my deepest “HOPE” is that President Obama gets primaried by a REAL Democrat.
Burka’s piece is getting a good bit of attention, at least by people with whom I talk, here in TX. They, and I, have no idea if Perry’s performance last night has anything to do with back problems, but when people start looking for reasons your perfomance wasn’t as good as expected, that’s a problem. A few weeks ago there was a brief flurry of conversation about Bachmann’s headaches, and maybe this won’t be anything more than another blip. But someone like Burka, who has, as you say, followed Perry closely for years, raising the question means it’s now a part of the conversation and speculation.
Kennedy had plenty of physical problems and Johnson had kidney stones while campaigning for the Senate in Texas. Flying from town to town by helicopter, he spent most of the time doubled up on the floor writhing in pain. I guess we’ll have to see how tough Mr.Perry really is.
Here’s why Perry will get the nomination and win the election in ’12:
Only 4% said “The Social Security program has no serious problems, certainly none that require changing the current system.”
28% said “Social Security has minor problems that can be fixed with minor changes to the current system.”
55% said “Social Security’s problems are serious and can be fixed only with major changes to the current system.”
12% said “Social Security’s problems are so bad that the system should be replaced.”
Unlike Mr. Obama, he is able to explain the problem and a solution in a way that resonates with the average person.
Perry wants to eliminate social security though and 90% of Americans are against that.
Perhaps I’m not remembering this rightly, being that it was a decade ago, but it seems to me that Al Gore had W. lapped when it came to discussing the issues. Bush won anyway. This has never struck me as a country that was overly fond of thoughtful answers to difficult problems. It’s certainly not fond of them now.