The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance hopes that the nation remembers Molly Ivins' words about Texas governors as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff notes that the Voting Rights Act is squarely in the sight of Texas Republicans as they try to get their gerrymandered maps approved.

As Texas Governor Rick Perry (R - idiculous) officially enters the race for President, Letters From Texas presents Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Perry, But Were Afraid To Ask.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson warns that a Rick Perry presidential run should not be taken lightly, because if elected he would be Bush on Steroids.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme thinks that Rick Perry (r-Dominionist) is just a puppet for the true leaders of the slow moving mob of republican fanatics.

Over at TexasKaos, Libby Shaw gives us a quick summary of Good Hair's presidential creds in The Success of Rick Perry.

Do the King Street Patriots -- via the Texas Secretary of State -- intend to turn away veterans at the polls? It looks as if they do, and Open Source Dem at Brains and Eggs has the details.

Neil at Texas Liberal posted on Rick Perry's conflicted views about gay marriage. If you read pages 26 and 27 of the hardcover edition Rick Perry's book Fed Up!, you will see that his social conservatism and his extreme states' rights views are not compatible. Both Rick Perry's far-right backers and his centrist and liberal opponents should note this dramatic inconsistency.

McBlogger takes a look at S&P and finds them wanting.

Rick Perry ads through the years

Sadly, the cowboy hat and the assless chaps went by the wayside -- along with "the best schools in America"-- a long time ago.



Update: Now we know why the camera in the very first ad is positioned at belt-buckle level:

I first met Rick Perry in 1985. He was a Democratic freshman state rep, straight off the ranch in Haskell, Texas. He wore his jeans so tight, and, umm, adjusted himself so often that my fellow young legislative aides and I used to call him Crotch.

Those first, early ones remind me of Lyle here:

Sunday Funnies

Ames to ... please?

Out of 16,892 straws drawn, Michele Bachmann won 4,823 (28.6%) to Ron Paul's 4,671 (27.7%). Tim Pawlenty, who had focused on a strong showing in the straw poll to rescue his struggling campaign, finished a distant third with 2,293 (13.6%) in a bruising setback. Bumping along behind the horses in the money, garnering in the high single digits percentage-wise, were Rick Santorum and Herman Cain.

Mitt Romney, who won this beauty contest four years ago, declined to defend his title and came in seventh with 3.3%. He trailed even a non-attending write-in candidate.

Yes. The front-runner for the national campaign lost to ...

Governor Prophet earned 718 write-ins and 4%, yet chose to make his long-anticipated entry to the GOP presidential primary from over a thousand miles away from Iowa -- in the cradle of American secession -- but at virtually the same moment the candidates in Ames began speaking.

Romney's brand of Republican moderation will play a little better in New Hampshire, but this is essentially a three-man, one-woman contest already.

Despite what The Grifter from Wasilla may interpret from the concurrent 'corn kernel' poll.

Separately, attendees voted in a corn kernel poll, which measures the support of each Republican by the number of kernels in their respective Mason jar. By late morning, the kernel level in Sarah Palin’s jar rose just above the best-known GOP candidates — even though the former Alaska governor has not declared her intentions yet for 2012.

"There is still plenty of room in that field for common-sense conservatives who have executive experience," Palin said during a fair visit. "Watching the debate not just last night but watching this whole process over the last year it certainly shows me that yeah, there is plenty of room for more people."

Yeah. Yeah!

Update: Ted with more. Oh, and Pawlenty gives up his seat in the clown car.

So long, T-Paw. We hardly knew ye.

Update II: Is Rick Perry man enough to gobble a corn dog, thereby rescuing Michele Bachmann from the vicious sexism leveled at her by the global online community?

Update III: Praise God.