No Miracles from This Hypocrite

Molly Ivins labeled him “Governor Good Hair”.  That may be the only good thing about Rick Perry, even if millions of autos have to go without lubrication due to the shortage of grease his hair care causes.  Since it became apparent that he is seeking the presidency, he has tried to sell America one con job after another.  Two are the so-called “Texas Miracle” and the image of Perry the pious one.  There really is a Texas Miracle.  It’s a miracle that Texas has survived his reign.  On piety, he is a hypocrite of the worst order.

I think Rick Perry is going to get eaten alive in this campaign. If being an Al Gore supporter hasn’t already doomed him with the tea partiers, and if his dull, glazed-eyes George Bushian demeanor doesn’t doom him with everyone else, then his own record ought to do it.

We can thank Perry for one thing, though: yet another demonstration of how crazy/scary/controversial/liberal Keynesian economics actually works in practice:

Despite being one of the loudest critics of President Obama’s stimulus, Perry used billions of dollars of federal money to patch Texas’ budget shortfalls, and was thus able to create and maintain lots and lots of public sector jobs. In fact, if you look at net job creation between 2007 and 2010, it’s clear the only thing keeping Texas buoyant was government jobs.

Check out the below [above here] chart from Jared Bernstein — a fiscal policy expert at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and former chief economist to the stimulus bill’s top cop, Vice President Joe Biden. It shows pretty conclusively that the recession cost Texas 178,000 private sector jobs — a fairly small share for a populous state, when you consider that crisis cost the country many millions. But in the same period, it added 125,000 public sector jobs — nearly half of all government jobs created in this period nationwide. Put together, the Texas has only lost 53,000 jobs total during the downturn.

For all of Rick Perry’s whining about wanting more federal aid (when he wasn’t threatening to secede from the union rather than take it, that is), Texas made out like a bandit when it comes to government-supported job creation. Nearly half of all government jobs nationwide were added in Texas? Talk about federal stimulus!

Note that if those government jobs hadn’t been added—or worse, if they not only hadn’t been added, but further government jobs had been cut—the Texas unemployment situation would look even more dismal than it is… [emphasis original]

Inserted from <Daily Kos>

There you have it.  Even Perry’s apparent success is based on hypocrisy.  He did everything he is now campaigning against.  But beneath the veneer, Texas under Perry is in terrible shape as Keith Olbermann demonstrates with Nia-Malika Henderson on Countdown.

I’m so glad Keith is back!

On the morality front, Perry has been pushing Dominionist Theocracy, disguised as Christianity, which it is not.  He presents himself as a prayerful minister, called to fight against the terrible moral decay he sees in our society.  Here is the real Rick Perry.

When Rick Perry entered the presidential race, he immediately challenged Michele Bachmann for the role of the preferred candidate of the Religious Right. This old story might come back and make some trouble for him on that front. It seems that Perry invested several thousand dollars in a movie rental chain that made most of its money on porn with titles like Teens with Tits Vol. 1, Teen Power Vol. 4, Teens Never Say No, Bisexual Barebacking Vol. 1, and Big Tit Brotha Lovers 6:

Forbes reports that pornography increases Movie Gallery’s profits enough to lowball the prices on regular, non-pornographic rentals. Pornography is a unique product that many stores are reluctant to sell. Movie Gallery’s practices have forced small, locally owned rental chains out of business.

The story just resurfaced on site PoliticusUSA, and they’ve taken it a step further by suggesting that Perry might not be the strongest candidate when it comes to women, linking to this Statesman story:

Gov. Rick Perry’s outgoing director of the Texas Film Commission has been allowed to stay on the job despite being disciplined for sexual harassment in 2009 and after a subsequent investigation found similar behavior again this year.

The latest investigation of Bob Hudgins also raised new concerns about gender discrimination in hiring practices.

… [emphasis original]

Inserted from <Portland Mercury>

Don’t get me wrong.  If someone wants to produce and/or watch porn, I defend their right to do so under the First Amendment.  The only reason I am condemning Perry is his hypocrisy, demanding a standard of behavior for others, while exploiting the exact opposite for profit.

As much as Perry claims to be different, he is just another Republican liar and hypocrite.