“Tea Partiers have said repeatedly that they were nearly as turned off by President Bush and his administration several years ago as they are by Democrats in charge of Washington today. If “the Bushies” are already attacking Perry, it may help separate the new candidate further from the 43rd president and lend him more credibility with conservatives.
“A former strategist for Mitt Romney who is close to Bush’s circle suggested that the Bush crowd is nervous about how the former president’s legacy will be treated publicly with a surging Perry in the race. The strategist said the Bush team ought to relax, agreeing that their criticism will only elevate Perry and win him more attention.
“It’s easy to see why the Bush team is concerned. In 2007, Perry said that Bush was never a fiscal conservative, and today, he touts himself as the ultimate fiscal conservative.”
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“[W]hy is it that, practically on cue, odd noises are coming from Republicans such as Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, whom Rove wanted to run for president, and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who’s been admirably taking on his state’s public sector unions (with the help of hundreds of thousands of dollars of TV ads by Rove’s Crossroads GPS group)? Daniels and Walker are reportedly pushing Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin to run for president, although Walker did laud Perry on Fox News Wednesday…
“All the GOP candidates — Perry most certainly included — have yet to pass through the crucible of extended public scrutiny, but Perry’s solid record as a jobs-generating governor could be the winning formula for 2012. For Rove and other establishment Republicans to try to sabotage him on the heels of his announcement was a dream come true for the liberal-dominated media, who are only too happy to portray the GOP as disunited against Obama.
“It also shows Rove and his friends in high places aren’t putting party and country first.”
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“For years, Rove has made it a hobby of sorts to deflate conservatives more popular with the base than he is. Like any good bully, he has tended to focus on easy targets, such as Sarah Palin and Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell, piling on them as if he were hoping for a time slot next to Al Sharpton on MSNBC. So far he has (mostly) gotten away with this.
“Now he and his henchmen are undertaking their most serious gamble. Rick Perry managed to shine in Texas without Rove’s permission, and now threatens to become the current Republican frontrunner without Rove’s blessing. This, Rove has decreed, must be stopped, even if his party is destroyed in the process…
“The Bushes are usually more cautious than this, which means they must feel they have no other choice. A Perry victory would end whatever chokehold the Bushes still have on the GOP establishment. It would cut off many donors to Rove, Inc. Worse yet, Karl Rove and his compatriots simply cannot fathom the idea of having to sit on Fox News for four years defending the policies of the man who dared to cross them.”
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“Perry, who’s previously spoken of Texas seceding from the Union and who’s proposed repealing the 16th and 17th Amendments — the income tax and the popular election of senators — could have general election trouble even in marginally red states. While people may feel the country is on the wrong track, they won’t rally to someone who will take America completely off the rails. So Rove’s right: Perry’s wrong for the GOP…
“Right now in a painful economic time, the kind that has always stirred paranoia in America, Rick Perry is an updated replay of Huey Long in the 1930s, a William Jennings Bryan in reverse. In Bryan’s words, it is Perry who would ‘press-down upon the brow of labor [a] crown of thorns.’ The Texan may exploit the flame of anger to win the primaries, only to see himself and his party consumed in November.
“For Rove, who already sees that reality, I offer only half a defense; in 2012, Republicans may reap the whirlwind of what he’s sowed in the past decade. But he is smart — and he obviously does worry that it would be stupid for the GOP to settle on Perry. A secessionist is not the right candidate to run against the first African-American president.”
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