As Rick Perry moves forward in his potential 2016 bid for the White House, he recently gave liberal political commentators plenty of fodder when the Republican Texas governor told an MSNBC correspondent that running for the presidency was not an IQ test.
Liberal pundits are generally trivializing the governor’s efforts and his record. Here’s a sampling of what some are saying about Perry now and what they’ve said in the past:
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Robert Sobel: "Once again, Perry has let the slip of the tongue put himself in the line of fire for his critics."
Errol Louis, host of "Inside City Hall" on NY1, following Perry's indictment this year for abuse of power after a Texas district attorney was caught drunk driving: "It may not be much comfort to his supporters, but from the standpoint of presidential politics, Perry is pretty much the same candidate he was before the legal papers got served: a long shot with a tough road ahead of him."
Sam Levine: "Perry has been trying to remake himself as a more humble, wonkier candidate than the one who stumbled through the debate three years ago. As he considers another campaign, Perry has not shied away from addressing his gaffes, but has said that he sees them as a learning experience."
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Brian Beutler: "Perry is helping to establish a theoretical baseline — militarized border, maximum deportation of low-priority offenders — that will become policy if a Republican manages to win the presidency in 2016."
Hrafnkell Haraldsson: "Rick Perry has left Texas in ruins. He has planned for a while now to visit the same destruction on the entire country, and those plans are coming to fruition."
Donna Brazile,
on Perry's new-look eyeglasses: "The second look is not going to make Rick Perry look any better. The problem is his record is still out there. His record as governor. The record on healthcare, on education. He’ll be judged by that, not by the size of Texas and its electoral votes."
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