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The
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Monday, October 08, 2012
News
Published September 24, 2011-Updated October
18, 2011
“Mitt Romney-Mr. What You ’Bout to Say
Pretty Rick?’
by Nathan’ette
Burdine-Follow on
Twitter@nbnylemagazine
During his younger years, Rick Perry was considered a handsome man.
Hence, the name “Pretty Ricky.”
Even today, some comment on his qualities by noting how "Downy"
soft his
hair is. But to Mitt Romney, Rick
Perry is an opponent who’s trying to steal his crown as the Republican
presidential nominee. Mitt Romney
knows the press is headlining the Republican presidential race as a Romney vs.
Perry bout. And for the first two
debates, the former Massachusetts governor walked in with a glaring “What you
’bout to say Pretty Ricky” stare, making it clear he will not be pushed
over.
During the first debate, the moderator asked Romney about his job record
as the governor of Massachusetts. Romney
stated that he was able to bring unemployment down to 4.7% and was able to
create 48,500 jobs between 2003-2007. After
Perry was asked to respond, Romney turned towards Perry and stared at Perry as
if to say, “I wish you would say something bad about me.”
Perry accommodated the thought that was being conveyed through Romney’s
stare by stating that Romney didn’t create jobs.
Perry went on to gloat about how his tenure as Texas governor has seen
job growth that has contributed to the modern day “Great Southern Migration”
people are making from the north to the great state of Texas.
Romney stared at Perry as if to say, “I know this …just didn’t.” After Perry finished praising himself for Texas’
contribution to the modern day “Great Southern Migration,” Romney turned
towards Perry and proceeded to crack on him by stating that Rick Perry didn’t
create jobs no more than Al Gore created the internet.
Basically, Romney painted Perry as a delusional RepDem (a
Republican-Democratic) whose thought pattern is similar to the former Democratic
Vice President. For Rick Perry, it
also didn’t help that he supported Al Gore’s 1988 presidential campaign and
was a Democrat until 1989. This
just gave more support to the belief that Perry is really a blue shirt Democrat
wearing a red coat.
Perry, however, tried to take the attention away
from his previous relationship with the Democrats by painting Romney as a
hypocritical Republican whose actions suggested that he was more Democratic than
Perry could have ever thought to be. Wolf
Blitzer, the moderator for the second debate, asked Perry about Romney’s job
record. Romney turned towards Perry and gave him a stare that said,
“I dare you to say something bad about me.”
For a moment, Perry seemed to be up to the challenge.
A smile came across Perry’s face as he began to link Romney with the
Republican’s favorite Democrat, President Obama.
He stated that Romney used the federal stimulus money to stimulate
Massachusetts’s economy and gave the Obama administration the template for the
unfavorable Health Care Reform bill. However,
there was a central problem with Perry’s argument.
President Bush was the president when Romney accepted the federal
stimulus money. President Bush,
like Romney, is a Republican. And
just as it is not a political sin for a Democratic president to give money to a
Democratic governor, it is not a political sin for a Republican president to
give money to a Republican governor. Nevertheless,
Romney shot back by painting Perry as a nimpkopoo who didn’t understand how
politics works.
Romney
proceeded by giving Perry a crash course on Politics 101 by telling Perry that
each state functions differently because each state has its on issues.
Hence, Texas is not Massachusetts and Massachusetts is not Texas.
Therefore, Texas functions differently from Massachusetts because Texas
has different issues than Massachusetts. In
terms of the health care issue, Romney emphasized how his model was specifically
made for the people of Massachusetts. Romney
pointed out that unlike many Texans, many of the citizens in Massachusetts have
health care. Romney sealed his
point by stating that Rick Perry has been given four aces a Republican
legislature, Republican supreme court, zero taxes, and oil.
And even with the four aces Rick Perry has, he hasn’t been able to
capitalize on them. Basically, how
is Rick Perry going to have the presence of mind to be the President of the
United States when he doesn’t have the presence of mind to capitalize on his
four aces he’s been given as the governor of Texas?
Unfortunately
for Perry, he is not the “I’m so pretty” Muhammad Ali of politics.
Romney has successfully used his glaring stare and political wit to
reduce Perry to the bumbling “pretty boy” by taking Perry’s strengths and
making them his weaknesses. Take for instance how Romney used Perry’s gloating of his
job creation as a way to paint Perry as delusional by linking him to former Vice
President Al Gore. Political
pundits have noted that Rick Perry’s problems stem from the fact that he has
not debated as much as the other candidates.
As it stands, Rick Perry’s lacking debating skills may be his Achilles
hill on his way to the Republican nomination for president.
Email-nathanette.burdine@thenylemagazine.com
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