Gov. Rick Perry took the Republican field by storm when he announced his candidacy in August. As a matter of fact, he seemed unbeatable. He did this by bringing in something the rest of the field was desperately lacking – swagger. He was a gun totting cowboy who was unapologetic about his pro-life, pro-marriage, pro-Christian roots. And when he talked, citizens in the heartland heard the voice of someone who loved America as much as they did.
However, since those first weeks following his entrance into the race Perry has lost traction and appeared at times as weak as he once did strong. But as of late, he seems to have found himself and especially this week, has come out swinging at business as usual in Washington, Obama’s failures in intelligence gathering and border security, and the ongoing saga of Fast and Furious.
Of the business as usual crowd in DC, Perry spent time in Iowa talking about “creating a part-time Congress, ending lifetime appointments for federal judges and shuttering dysfunctional agencies.” These things are in perfect harmony with what Perry was telling Americans back in August, when he could do no wrong, and when he promised to make Washington as inconsequential in our lives as possible.
The Texas Gov. has also been right on the mark in his criticism of Obama.
Regarding Obama’s refusal to allow our military and special agents (covert and otherwise) to interrogate captured terrorists in way that gets results–in a way similar to those allowed for a time by President George W. Bush–Perry said:
We’ve really failed … in our ability to collect intelligence around the world. This administration in particular has been an absolute failure when it comes to expending the dollars and supporting the CIA and the military intelligence around the world to be able to draw in that intelligence that is going to be truly able to allow us to keep the next terrorist attack from happening on American soil.
This is a crucial point. Since Obama took office, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Bush have all born witness to the success of the enhanced interrogation techniques that Obama refuses to employ for fear of offending our enemy. Perry is right on when he says that we are missing crucial intelligence at this point in time.
During Tuesday’s Republican debate, Perry talked about the need to secure the border in order to take away the chances of “Iranian-backed terrorists crossing into the United States from Mexico.” And although he also spoke of ending the flow of drugs and illegal immigrants coming across that same border, the mention of the threat from Iranian-backed terrorists struck a nerve with those who remember the Iranian-backed plot on the life of the Saudi Ambassador in the U.S.
And in an op-ed Monday in the Washington Times, Perry took Eric Holder to task:
Holder’s proclaimed ignorance [of Fast and Furious] leaves Americans to draw one of two conclusions: Either he is guilty of extraordinary bureaucratic incompetence or he is guilty of a cover-up meant to shield him from the consequences of an operation that has left at least one federal agent dead and continues to imperil many more.
Perry then added: “Either way, it is high time for Mr. Holder to step down. If he refuses to resign, Mr. Obama must fire him immediately.” (That’s good stuff coming from a governor who joins 52 House members calling for Holder’s ouster.)
While none of this means Perry is guaranteed the Republican nomination or that he’ll win in Iowa, New Hampshire, or South Carolina, what it does mean is that he’s starting again to sound the way he did in August (especially when you couple these things with his ongoing call for a flat tax). Sounding this way, he exudes strength.
Thus I’ve only one thing to say: Keep swinging Gov. Perry, you’re starting to connect with some of these shots.
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