Made me laugh. I watched part of Rick "I Like To Compare Myself with Jesus" Perry's speech on Cspan earlier, part of the RLC. I thought I was back in an old fashioned Tent Revival, watching Rick Perry prance around with the southern accent laid on thick and the Come To Jesus inflections. If you are only reading about this, you need to go to Cspan or Youtube and WATCH Perry laying it on thick. It's pretty hilarious.

I'm sure a lot of people saw the other day where Perry compared himself to Jesus.  Looks like that is a setup for his whole campaign shtick. 

At first I thought Perry must be a frustrated Southern Baptist preacher, but then considered that he's just working the crowd Billy Graham style. At the point where the offering plate would get passed, Perry told the audience to get out their cell phones and text a set of numbers. Some who were probably put on the front row for effect had their phones out. (Reminds me, anyone remember Robert Tilton telling people to send their prayer requests and money?)

At one point, Perry asked the audience to take out their phones and text the word "Freedom" to a number linked to his political organization, capturing their contact information in the event of a future campaign

Of course, his speech was carefully created for maximum effect (Go rewatch "Leap of Faith" with Steve Martin.

The speech was carefully choreographed: When the Texas governor complained of the "runaway train known as Obamacare," the sound of a train was piped through the ballroom speakers.

A few years back, I watched the movie "Elmer Gantry" with Burt Reynolds, and was reminded immediately of that movie while watching Goodhair.

Has the Republican party really become the Party of White Christians? I guess so, and they must not get enough of their preaching on Sundays at the church.

American, for these Republicans who ate up Secessionist Rick Perry's talk (heh, how about check out his claims!) are suckers ready to be rolled by a high faluting tele-vangelist governor. You like a man who panders to the Tea Party by insinuating that Texas should secede? You like a man who thinks it's just fine to take people's private property through eminent domain? (Yeah, he lied in his speech- go look at his record on the Trans Texas Corridor). You like a man who lies about job creation?  As long as you like relatively low wage jobs! And high unemployment!  

The second pro-Perry camp consists of those voting their economic interests, and at first blush Perry might seem attractive. Texas, as the story goes, has led the nation in job creation, and as the story continues, it’s because Texas government is limited, pro-business and fosters economic development. While it's 1 that Texas has, indeed, created new jobs, it’s equally 1 that they’re relatively low-wage and that the state’s recent unemployment rates are also higher than they’ve been since the early 1990s.

The problem for Perry, in the blinding light of the national stage, is that he may ultimately be seen as the swaggering rooster who believes the sun came up because of all that crowing. Texas was a conservative, small government, pro-business state long before he was in charge, and Texas will remain so long after he's gone. Americans may conclude that Texas jobs would have materialized whether Perry was governor or not, and it might just be to Texas business’ credit, not Perry’s, that they did.

While Perry’s supporters will explain what he’s done for Texans, detractors will cite what Perry hasn’t done. Those celebrating him as the architect of our low-tax state would be forced to acknowledge that this is nothing new, and that Texas is also an extreme low-services state, with serious consequences for Texas families.

There's a reason wHe's also selling a kettle of fish with the "Loser Pays" baloney since he knows most of the awestruck who like his Preacher Talk won't check it out. If YOU want to check out whether you want what Texas has for the whole country, read this.

Perry is NOT the second coming of Jesus.