It is not often that I link to an article on the Al Jazeera online outlet. It’s not that I don’t believe that they shouldn’t have a right to run news with whatever spin they would like. After all, I even link to Faux News every now and then even though I think what emanates from there is straight from the Devil’s ear.
The Al Jazeera article in question is titled: “Beware of Rick Perry, the French cuff cowboy.” That was plenty to grab my attention then after a read and finding lines like: ” He possesses slightly less gravitas than a half-eaten bowl of chili,” made me believe that this writer speaks a lot of what, at least I think, is the truth. The piece is written, by the way, not by some wild-eyed, Caliphate-espousing jihadist wrapped in a dynamite sandwich but instead is by a very entertaining and thoughtful liberal, or progressive, named Cliff Schecter.
I will let you draw your own conclusions which, if you are for Perry you probably won’t like what you read. As well I think back to a time when, perhaps, we wouldn’t even had to worry about this prospect of … I’m sorry I just can’t bear to think of it or write it in print … you know, the office that Perry seeks … had I been more insistent.
Sometime back after the war had been going for awhile in Afghanistan and Iraq I was assigned to write about President Bush on one of the several visits of his I covered at Fort Hood. As is always the case with, Bush, hell, all presidents, a little scene was set up in a particular area which if I remember correctly was assigned to the 4th Infantry Division. That division was supposed to have spearheaded the assault on Iraq from an invasion based in Turkey. However, Turkish officials refused to allow the division’s equipment to be deployed from there and ships carrying the tanks and other war material floated around for some time.
The division finally made it to war even though their leader, Gen. Ray Odierno, received a lot of criticism for what many saw as “heavy-handed tactics” once they made it to Iraq. Apparently somebody loves him though. He will be the next Army Chief of Staff.
At this set-up area in which Bush was supposed to speak were various staged tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles and other tools of war. Gov. Rick Perry showed up early in his black Suburban or whatever it was along with his Texas State Trooper plainclothes security men with their little earphones and dark glasses.
I can’t remember the PR flak who was there for Perry. He was not the head honcho but was one of the several people who were Perry “spokesmen” or “spokeswomen” at the time. We had a little time to kill so I observed Gov. Good Hair going around and inspecting all the equipment, looking like a little kid in a candy store. Of course, I couldn’t blame him. I like big machines, especially those that launch things which go “boom.” Several years before that I did a piece on new versions of Bradleys and the Abrams battle tanks that the 4th ID had just received. I was in much better shape then and they let me crawl inside both types of machines and look around at the consoles where missiles and guns cold be fired as well as where people rode in close quarters. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t let me drive one or — quite to my disappointment — fire off one the Bradley’s TOW anti-tank missiles, darn it.
If I am not mistaken, Perry had donned some type of military jacket, either a tanker’s jacket or flight jacket, I can’t remember which. That gave me an idea, of course, I kind of knew the answer I would get before I asked the question.
“Hey,” I told the governor’s PR Flak, “Why don’t you put a battle helmet on (Perry) and have his picture made inside a tank.”
That, of course, is the same pose which helped sealed the fate of failed Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis.
“No,” the flak said quickly. “I think he’s caught on to that.”
Well, I tried, but not hard enough I think today, after Perry has now been the longest-serving governor in the Texas history. Now, he thinks he can be president. Who knows maybe he’ll do something really stupid such as slapping a wounded soldier like Patton did or some other way to shoot himself in the foot. If Perry continues to go jogging with a Ruger .380 pistol while jogging, like the one he supposedly used to shoot a coyote, he is liable to shoot himself in the foot for real.
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