Rick Perry: A True Gentleman Bows Out
[guest post by Dana]
Former Gov. Rick Perry is the first GOP candidate to step down from the 2016 presidential campaign. His campaign reportedly ran out of money and he never really moved beyond 1 percent in the polls. Today, in a speech announcing his decision, he reaffirmed his faith and emphasized that he leaves the campaign with no regrets:
When I gave my life to Christ, I said, “your ways are greater than my ways. Your will superior to mine.”
Today I submit that His will remains a mystery, but some things have become clear.
That is why today I am suspending my campaign for the presidency of the United States.
We have a tremendous field – the best in a generation – so I step aside knowing our party is in good hands, and as long as we listen to the grassroots, the cause of conservatism will be too.
I share this news with no regrets. It has been a privilege and an honor to travel this country, to speak with the American people about their hopes and dreams, to see a sense of optimism prevalent despite a season of cynical politics.
And as I approach the next chapter in life, I do so with the love of my life by my side, Anita Perry. We have our house in the country, we have two beautiful children and two adorable grandchildren, four dogs, and the best sunset from our front porch that you could ever imagine.
Life is good. And I am a blessed man.
Perry is an old-fashioned, true and honorable gentleman who wants the best for America and has held onto to his vision of what it would take to achieve that goal. Unfortunately the timing just hasn’t been right for Perry, both in 2012 and today.
I wish this true patriot the very best. I hope he will continue in public service working to advance conservatism and American ideals.
I am posting a bit more of the eloquent and moving talk he gave today. Read the whole thing. It’s worth it.
46 years ago I spent a summer in Festus, Missouri. I went door to door, selling Bibles. It was then that I learned what it was like to remain optimistic in the face of rejection, especially when I knew the power of the message I was selling.
It was good preparation for life in politics.
For me, this life has been a dream.
I came from a place called Paint Creek. Too small to be called a town, too remote to be found on a map, it was the center of my universe.
We had an outhouse, and mom bathed us in a number two washtub on the porch. We farmed vast fields of cotton, and attended the Paint Creek Rural School. I was a six-man football player, a proud member of Boy Scout Troop 48, and an Eagle Scout.
I experienced the bonds of family, the power of community, the meaning of faith. And I learned the high calling we have as Americans to protect freedom.
It was for freedom that I wore the uniform of the United States Air Force. I flew C-130 aircraft all across the globe. I lived in places like Saudi Arabia and Turkey. I learned how special it is to be an American.
Later I would become a state representative, ag commissioner, lieutenant governor, and eventually governor of the world’s 12th largest economy.
I would truly live the motto of the Paint Creek Rural School: “no dream to tall for a school so small.”
I continue to draw inspiration from a trip I took with my father fifteen years ago.
Dad and I went back to his old air base in England for his first visit in 55 years. Then we crossed the channel and visited the American cemetery that overlooks the bluffs at Omaha beach. That flight across the channel he had taken 35 times previously, as a tailgunner on a B-17.
On that peaceful, wind-swept setting, there lie 9,000 graves, including 45 pairs of brothers, 33 of whom are buried side by side, a father and a son, two sons of a president. They all traded their future for ours in a final act of loving sacrifice.
In that American Cemetery, it is no accident each headstone faces west: west over the Atlantic, towards the nation they defended, the nation they loved, the nation they would never come home to.
It struck me as I stood in the midst of those heroes that they look upon us in silent judgment. And that we must ask ourselves: are we worthy of their sacrifice?
America could use a whole lot more Rick Perrys.
–Dana
Hello.
Dana (86e864) — 9/11/2015 @ 5:30 pmThere’s something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can’t openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school.
happyfeet (831175) — 9/11/2015 @ 5:38 pmgood call by Mr. Perry. Hopefully our next president will find a spot in his or her cabinet for a talented man.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 9/11/2015 @ 5:46 pmHe never got past that terrible goof in 2012. Outside of TX, that’s all anyone knew about him and no amount of campaigning could change that. Jindal has a similar problem as his first out-of-state exposure was terrible, too, but the audience was smaller.
There are folks who take issue with some of Perry’s policies, but the vast majority of people never got down to policy questions here. The Dems had hit him with a “dumb” label and then we went and did something dumb. Game over.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 9/11/2015 @ 6:15 pmPerry would be a good guy to close a few departments (commerce, labor, energy, to name three).
Kevin M (25bbee) — 9/11/2015 @ 6:16 pmRick Perry is a good, honorable man. I admire what he has accomplished but I’m also glad he is no longer running for several reasons, the most petty of which is that he misspelled a word in his school motto. Details matter.
DRJ (521990) — 9/11/2015 @ 6:17 pmAgree with Kevin M than Perry’s ill-considered late entry into the 2012 race really affected his ability to gain traction this time around. Which is sad because I think there is a lot about him to like. Frankly though, the Democrats and their media allies would have a field day going after another ex-governor of Texas, in the same way that we would be dumping all over a Democrat candidate who was a first term Senator without any substantive accomplishments. The stars just didn’t align for Rick Perry this time around.
JVW (ba78f9) — 9/11/2015 @ 6:33 pmI say this with all sincerity: These statements are really, really inspiring. I was moved. Good on Perry. Like Bush: for all of his flaws, I see him as a fundamentally honorable man. That is far rarer than it should be, and worth commending.
I like Texans.
Leviticus (2da0c5) — 9/11/2015 @ 6:34 pmAgain, I’m missing something here. Perhaps it’s the Republican candidates who are running or maybe it’s us Republican voters but one guy refuses to vote for Trump, one refuses to vote for Bush and I’m sure if we keep going somebody will refuse to vote for __________ fill in the blank. Yet, Perry quits the race garnering a whopping 0% of the vote and man what a gentleman! What a nice guy. He had that rare quality of honor. But, he did misspell a word so….. Frankly, if it weren’t for spellcheck between my poor spelling, lousy typing and my dyslexia I’d misspell my own name. Anyway, being from Texas redeemed him. The big problem is Perry never stood a chance. Can we please concentrate and agree on the person who can actually win the nomination and beat whatever democrat the enemy nominates.
At this point in the race with Hillary! being identified as “LIAR” the democrats should be in panic mode but they’re not I believe for two reasons. First, the media is of course giving them aid and cover and all these BS polls showing her at 30-something percent are straight up lies. Every dem I know is in a marathon running away from Hillary! so I got that feeling those polls are BS. Second, the Republican voters and the Republican candidates are ripping each other new ones. Every time one of ours attacks one of ours the dems win a little bit. When asked about a fellow Repub, every single Republican should say “He’s/she’s a great guy/lady” then ask where Hillary’s! emails are. Every damn time. Because it doesn’t matter which of US win as long as SHE doesn’t!
Rev. Barack Hussein Hoagie (f4eb27) — 9/11/2015 @ 7:12 pmDe mortuis nil nisi bonum.
nk (dbc370) — 9/11/2015 @ 7:17 pmnd all these BS polls showing her at 30-something percent are straight up lies.
Rev. H, you are not thinking like a LIV.
The media tells them the issue of classified documents is bogus (when they mention it all) and Hillary using that private server was after all just a natural consequence of being targeted by the GOP for the last two decades. Yeah, it is all the fault of that VRWC.
kishnevi (9cb6b5) — 9/11/2015 @ 7:42 pmDon’t forget the clincher, kishnevi: that old Clinton stand-by, “Everyone else does it too!”
JVW (ba78f9) — 9/11/2015 @ 7:54 pmthe trans-texas corridor was a neat idea
he couldn’t sell it
but he tried, which is more than the slothful and penile Jeb Bush ever did
happyfeet (831175) — 9/11/2015 @ 7:55 pm12.
Of course. For instance here is the list of charges agsinst Jeb!
http://mediamatters.org/research/2015/09/09/fox-amp-friends-helps-jeb-bush-whitewash-his-re/205449
[I know it is Media Matters. I am just amplifying JVW’s comment.]
kishnevi (28fa9f) — 9/11/2015 @ 8:30 pm“Everyone else does it too!”
Unless you’re a Republican. Nixon was restrained compared to Johnson or FDR. Fat lot of good it did him. Obama does the same and *crickets*
Kevin M (25bbee) — 9/11/2015 @ 8:44 pm13. Jeb didn’t need to. Florida already is a corridor.
kishnevi (31ba4e) — 9/11/2015 @ 9:05 pmhttp://www.miamidade.gov/portmiami/cargo-facts.asp
That is in addition to the almost 5 million cruise passengers last year, and in addition to to the ports at Tampa, Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, and what goes through the airports.
I once read that in terms of economics, the biggest city in Latin America is Miami.
It is sad to note that Perry got nowhere, and a crude, pompous, narcissist leads the polls. Everything you need to know about what is wrong with America right there.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 9/11/2015 @ 9:12 pmNice guys finish with a lobbyist job from an oil company.
sickofrinos (31009b) — 9/11/2015 @ 9:58 pmGood Luck
I would have voted for you in 2012.
It is sad to note that Perry got nowhere, and a crude, pompous, narcissist leads the polls.
A bunch of Generation Y and Millennial wannabe politicians are probably starting to figure that having your own reality TV show is the best way to get your name out to the low information voter. Sic transit gloria Americaerum.
JVW (ba78f9) — 9/11/2015 @ 10:13 pmPerry is representative of another time. There is a whole swath of voter uninterested in proven, unsexy successes like Perrys record on massive job growth in Texas.
But at the same time, there are genuine voters who are buying into Trumps bluster and mouthiest because he speaks what they want to say to the disappointment that is our current GOP. I spoke to one such voter this week, and he explained that he doesn’t trust the insiders (and asked why should he?) and at least Trump isn’t afraid of the political class. His actual stand on the issues seem secondary. I think that is representative of a lot Trump supporters. They are so angry and frustrated, payback takes precedence over policy.
Dana (86e864) — 9/11/2015 @ 10:22 pmDo you blame them Dana?
sickofrinos (31009b) — 9/12/2015 @ 12:02 amKevinM:”Perry would be a good guy to close a few departments (commerce, labor, energy, to name three).”
I agree in specific and in general. Whoever the Republican nominee might turn out to be, there would be vast virtue in entering the general election by announcing that various “also rans” and “former rivals” had been named to slots in the presumptive Republican administration to be formed. Perry for Energy — with a mandate to break it up and assign out the few useful branches to, say, Commerce. (I can’t in good conscience agree with Kevin so far as to close Commerce if Dept of Education stays open.)
A plan of what cabinet departments close or merge, and what happens after, would be a good thing all around. Labor and Agriculture should be part of Commerce, as well, IMNSHO. Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security can go back under Defense. Housing and Urban Development should be abolished altogether — a state and local responsibility, not federal. Various “cabinet rank” sinecures reporting directly to the White House instead of thru the chain of command also need to be reined in: Ambassador to the UN should report to Sec’y of State, for instance, or chair of the EPA (to the extent that agency survives) should report to Sec’y of Interior.
Pouncer (d90bef) — 9/12/2015 @ 6:22 amOh, To revise and extend my remarks: Let the record append after the words “Housing and Urban Development” the inserted words “and the Department of Education” before “should be abolished altogether”.
Thank you.
Pouncer (d90bef) — 9/12/2015 @ 6:25 amTrans Texas was a horrible idea. Toll roads and vaccines killed Perry for me. I never would have voted for him in a million years.
BradnSA (2312b5) — 9/12/2015 @ 6:58 am???
Gerald A (949d7d) — 9/12/2015 @ 7:20 amAs others already have said, it pains me that the 15-year governor of the nation’s leading job-growth state is bowing out at 0% polling, while the Kanye West of the party who can’t even keep a casino afloat is polling 35%. God help us.
Mitch (bfd5cd) — 9/12/2015 @ 8:04 amWe live in interesting times. One party has largely completed its historical realignment from social democracy to crony socialism the other is still battling internally as it transitions away from traditional American principles to crony populism. Perry couldn’t overcome the well documented inertia against his candidacy in this cycle. The sooner the race narrows the sooner Trump will have to offer more than comic book qualities and Bush will have to do more than sit on establishment connections. If republican voters continue to support Trump through Super Tuesday than we’re in for really interesting times.
Perry deserves our thanks for trying to run as a serious candidate even if he made a few mistakes along the way.
crazy (cde091) — 9/12/2015 @ 8:43 amGerald A,
BradinSA is talking about the Trans Texas corridor (a Perry-sponsored toll road project that some saw as cronyism and that would have used eminent domain to take a lot of land) and the HPV vaccine (in which Perry supported a law to mandate that all teen girls get the vaccine). Both failed because they were seen as unpopular big government mandates that hurt Perry in Texas.
DRJ (521990) — 9/12/2015 @ 10:05 amPerry is representative of another time.
Yes, or the current (and same-old, same-old) era of Nidal-Hasan-istic political correctness, which infects wide swathes of modern society, including the US military, no less.
If the way Perry spouted off several weeks ago had occurred during the age of “Operation Wetback” (Dwight Eisenhower’s non-PC-labeled initiative in the 1950s to forcibly remove illegal immigrants from the US—which was so widespread that even some American citizens were caught in the round-up) — during the age of blatant dejure and defacto segregation, during the age when NBC censored Jack Parr for saying “water closet” on late-night TV, during the age when Hollywood, no less, ostracized a famous actress for having a child out of wedlock, during the age when proposed laws to ban lynching were controversial — I’d see him as placing things (or people, be they Trump or others) in their proper context. But in the Age of Obama, I judged his following remarks as clumsy in their own right, as merely thumping Trump for not tip toeing around the lunacy of political correctness gone off the deep end.
Mark (dc566c) — 9/12/2015 @ 10:31 amGov. Perry made the right decision at the right time for the right reasons. Good for him; good for the GOP; good for America.
I doubt he’d turn down a cabinet spot in a new GOP administration, especially SecDef.
Beldar (fa637a) — 9/12/2015 @ 8:32 pmyou know I’m such a fool for rick
he’s got me wrapped around his fingerererererrrr
but does he have to let it linger
**insert lovely parting gifts here**
happyfeet (831175) — 9/12/2015 @ 9:10 pm17.It is sad to note that Perry got nowhere, and a crude, pompous, narcissist leads the polls
Issues matter. Trump is the only (if there are others they are sure keeping quiet about it) Republican candidate who is against illegal immigration. Naturally that makes him attractive to voters like me who consider opposition to illegal immigration to be important.
James B. Shearer (fe81ca) — 9/12/2015 @ 9:14 pmmight as well jump
that’s the sublime aztec camera cover
i can’t find it on amazon
“i can’t find it on amazon,” happyfeet spat bitterly. “My cloud is bereft of this song and it makes me very angry and it’s wrong.”
happyfeet (831175) — 9/12/2015 @ 9:15 pmNeeds more cowbell.
Perry never had a chance. Not this time, not the last time, not the time before last.
nk (dbc370) — 9/12/2015 @ 9:19 pmI blame ‘dr. evil’ and ‘chip’ barbour, who had focusing on the wrong spot,
narciso (ee1f88) — 9/12/2015 @ 9:35 pmdamn them!
Dr. evil you just a big stupid and chip is dumberer than a luke bryan song.
“damn them both to hell,” happyfeet said cheerfully.
baby you’re so supersupremelydi-boppity-oh
happyfeet (831175) — 9/12/2015 @ 9:44 pmRick Perry was a caretaker who did little to shrink government during his long tenure. When it was convenient to be Democrat, he was Democrat. When it was convenient to be a Republican, he was Republican. Not what we need.
ErisGuy (76f8a7) — 9/14/2015 @ 3:00 amyeah his biggest accomplishment was not getting in the way
plus he has really pretty hair and sharp-looking glasses what make him look super-smart like a businessman or a doctor
happyfeet (831175) — 9/14/2015 @ 4:21 amhappyfeet, you must love this election. People with character who care about social issues are failing, while people like Trump and Sanders who don’t care about either one are surging.
DRJ (521990) — 9/14/2015 @ 11:04 amyeah you would think
but I hate it
i was all geared up to accept Mr. Governor Walker lifeydoodle warts and ssm hangups and all why cause of i trust him based on his record
i was gonna embrace him and say okey doke buddy just do your best
i hope he hangs in there though
i don’t want to get to the end like last time when at the end it was pretty obvious Pawlenty had bailed too soon and we got stuck with willard
but it’s Trump’s to lose
he has all the energy
but isn’t weirdo Ben Carson in like the top 3? Maybe just in Iowa. They love them some weirdos those iowa people.
happyfeet (831175) — 9/14/2015 @ 11:10 amWhy is Carson weird?
DRJ (521990) — 9/14/2015 @ 11:23 amprobably cause he’s a doctor
they tend to be more than a little neurotic them ones
happyfeet (831175) — 9/14/2015 @ 11:23 amYeah, TTT and HPV mandate were big government and not the will of the people. I have never been a Perry supporter, although I wouldn’t have objected very loudly had he won the nomination.
John Hitchcock (eeea4b) — 9/14/2015 @ 1:13 pm