Rick Perry: GOP's New White Knight

Conservatives love him, coyotes fear him: Gail Collins
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted May 28, 2011 9:53 AM CDT
A Look at Rick Perry, the GOP's New Knight in Shining Armor: Gail Collins
Look out, coyotes. Rick Perry and a six-shooter.   (AP Photo/Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Rodger Mallison, File)

Fresh off her epic spat with Donald Trump, Gail Collins today turns her pen on "the latest Republican Party crush," Rick Perry. The Texas governor is, "in his own words," writes Collins in the New York Times, “'the kind of guy who goes jogging packing a Ruger .380 with laser sights and hollow point bullets, and shoots a coyote threatening his daughter’s dog.'” Plus, "he’s from the South, and he has great hair!" What's not to like?

Perry yesterday said he was "going to think about" a presidential run—and that's "a very intense commitment," snarks Collins, who decides to run through Perry's book, Fed Up! Our Fight to Save America From Washington. Her tongue-in-cheek findings:

  • Perry "hates Social Security. ('A crumbling monument to the failure of the New Deal.')"
  • "He wants the Supreme Court to stop its activist ways—as soon as it declares the health care reform law unconstitutional."
  • "He hates the 16th Amendment to the Constitution, which permitted Congress to pass an income tax. ('The great milestone on the road to serfdom.')"
  • "He also hates the 17th Amendment, which allows for the direct election of the US Senate because it reduces the power of state legislatures."
All in all, concludes Collins, perhaps Perry could "do for the entire United States what he’s done for Texas, which ranks first in the nation in the percentage of the population without health insurance, and 45th in high school completion." But the kicker? "The coyotes would really have to watch out," she concludes. Click for all things Rick Perry. (More Rick Perry stories.)

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