Rick Perry: You can’t fix stupid
Listen to this articleSo Rick Perry has finally decided to “suspend” his presidential campaign today after realizing people have long stopped taking him as a serious presidential candidate. Why candidates use the term suspend rather than just admit it is over is in itself a sure sign they do not have a good grasp on reality.
The fact is, the American voter can reconsider a presidential candidate who has previously failed to secure the party’s nomination. Unless something strange happens, Hillary Clinton will be the Democrats’ choice after her failed run in 2008. Ronald Reagan came up short in 1976 only to be his party’s choice four years later. Richard Nixon lost a close national election to JFK in 1960 and came back eight years later to win the White House. In between, he lost a governor’s race in California.
However, in the case of Perry, he made a political mistake that the others never made; he looked stupid on national television. Even worse, he did it during a debate while attempting to look smart. Nixon sweated under the TV spotlights, but no one accused him of being stupid when he debated Kennedy.
When Rick Perry was unable to remember the third federal agency he would do away with if he became president, voters decided he was more than just a few brain cells shy of someone who should have access to our nation’s nuclear launch codes, when the truth is, he just had an ill-timed brain fart, something all of us have experienced.
When a candidate runs for higher office, they can survive a good bashing over the soundness of a proposed policy, a poor choice of words, and even an inappropriate statement or lie, but when you give the impression you are stupid, your political career is effectively over. Rick Perry’s career ended when he couldn’t remember something he should have known as well as his own name.
This time around, Perry made it clear he was not himself four years ago due to trying to campaign for office too soon after having back surgery. He promised to show the voters who he really is and rise up to the top ranks of Republican presidential contenders. With his polling numbers in the toilet and his staff leaving him to work for a guy named Trump, even Perry could see he was finished.
Sorry Rick, but you are stupid! At least that is how 99 percent of the Republican voters view you and don’t think you are fooling anyone with those glasses. They do not make you look smarter, especially when we just have to go to YouTube and see your debating skills from four years ago. You can’t fix stupid.
This is not meant to be a slam against Perry. The fact half this country supports a candidate they admit they do not trust or a growing segment of our population is falling for another one who on his best day is rude and obnoxious is a sign the American voter can tolerate a lot of things in a candidate; stupid just is not one of them.
But don’t feel bad, Rick. You may be stupid in the eyes of the American electorate, but you are not the dullest knife in the Republican presidential kitchen. You can at least see and comprehend it is over for you, something guys named Santorum, Jindal, Gilmore, Graham, Huckabee, Pataki, or Paul are too stupid to grasp.
Jim is a life long resident of California and retired school teacher with 30 years in public education. Jim earned his BA in History from CSU Chico in 1981 and his MA in Education from Azusa Pacific University in 1994. He is also the author of Teaching The Teacher: Lessons Learned From Teaching. Jim considers himself an equal opportunity pain in the ass to any political party, group, or individual who looks to profit off of hypocrisy. When he is not pointing out the conflicting words and actions of our leaders, the NFL commissioner, or humans in general, he can be found riding his bike for hours on end while pondering his next article. Jim recently moved to Camarillo, CA after being convinced to join the witness protection program.