Rick Perry vs GWB?

I am a dedicated Bushie, with a Rovian loyalty to George W. Bush and his causes. So with the whole Rick Perry vs. George Bush thing exploding, you can bet I am rooting for Dubya 100%! I know that some people take issue with his "compassionate conservatism" but he is a man of strong morals and will do what he can to help people (PEPFAR, banning partial abortions, reconstruction efforts in war zones, No Child Left Behind, faith-based programs, saving snowflake babies, etc), even if that means striking a deal with Democrats. You may not agree with his decisions but you can tell that he genuinely cares about freedom and democracy; about the spread of AIDS and malaria; about the culture of life. He is a good Christian man and I will always root for him.


I still remember when people used to label him a right-wring extremist, not only because he championed liberty for struggling civilizations, but because he took the fight to the enemy as well (now it seems everyone's a defeatist and anti-war). He made his strategies as in-your-face as possible but with good reason. In Bob Woodward's book The War Within, the author ridiculed GWB for keeping count of America's dead enemies in Iraq. (At one point, according to General Petraeus, dozens of enemies were being killed per American soldier.) To the author, this was just GWB being dense and "not getting it"- after all, in counterinsurgency, enemy KIA doesn't really matter. But according to GWB's explanation in the book, that kind of information had to get out there, because the American people deserved to know that the enemy was suffering too. He wanted the enemy dead and he was itchin' to brag about it- I don't see Perry ever doing such a thing.


I'm just a little miffed that so many Conservatives are mowing him down now- some of their comments sound so Ron Paulian, or even Rosie O'Donnell-ish, you'd think they had all gotten together one crazy-ass night just to get high and drunk on Bush Derangement Syndrome. Everyone is rooting for Rick Perry now, but in my eyes, the former Democrat and No Child Left Behind supporter has got nothing on GWB. /endrant

Mr. Perry has broken politically with Mr. Bush, questioning his credentials as a fiscal conservative, accusing him of going on “a big-government binge” and playing down some of Mr. Bush’s accomplishments in Texas in light of his own.

Mr. Perry’s public statements exposed a long-simmering rivalry that had been little known outside the political fraternity here but underscores the rightward drift of the Republican Party since Mr. Bush was president. More acutely, Mr. Perry’s criticism holds potential peril and benefit for him should he decide to mount a presidential campaign, allowing him to establish an identity distinct from Mr. Bush but risking a guerrilla campaign against him by the former president’s inner circle.

Has anyone here read Dead Certain? It's by Robert Draper and features lengthy interviews with President Bush himself and his A team. It's a good read, I swear to God. And the author's pretty witty. Bet Perry's team ain't half as fun. :P

Tee-hee.

UPDATE: MacKinnon: Don't believe the anonymous chatter about a Perry-Bush feud