Can Rick Perry Make A Comeback?

by JASmius

Dick Morris seems to think so:

Of the defeated candidates left over from 2012, Santorum is probably too focused on social issues to win.

Doesn't matter.  The GOP "next in line" dynamic applies to nomination runners-up, not all "defeated candidates".  As Santorum was the runner-up in 2012, he will be the Republican nominee in 2016, provided the same dynamic holds (which it usually does), he runs (I'd be surprised if he didn't), and there actually is a 2016 election (you know my thoughts on that).

Cain and Bachmann can be dismissed as flashes in the pan, and the problems that knocked them out of contention have not gone away.

Their problem is that they weren't serious candidates.  And that's putting it bending-over-backwards charitably.

Romney probably won’t get a third chance. Even Nixon only got two.

Besides, why would he want to win two elections in a row and never get to be president?  Once is enough, I would think.

Newt inflicted too many wounds on others and on himself.

He had the same problem as Cain and Bachmann.

That leaves Rick Perry. Acceptable to Latinos based on his Texas record. Draws strong Tea Party support without being defined by it. A Southerner, he is clearly ready to play on the national stage. A big state governor whose record on jobs has only gotten better. He can’t be dismissed.

The aforequoted advantages were all present for Governor Perry the last go-round.  Yet he can be dismissed and will be, and we all know why:



Morris' best analogy is Bill Clinton's 1988 Democrat National Convention keynote speech, which was indeed a snoozer.  But the difference is obvious - Bill Clinton was a Democrat.  That "disastrous" convention speech wasn't endlessly replayed for years in the media and ridiculed relentlessly by the talking heads until Sick Willie was a national laughingstock drowning in public scorn.  But Rick Perry?  That fifty-three second brain fart is like Gerald Ford stumbling down the steps of Air Force One, Dan Quayle's "potatoe" debacle, Dubya's DUI, Mitt Romney's dog on the car roof.  The press will never, EVER let anybody forget it if RP takes a second crack at the metaphorical ten pounds of gold.  He would be treated, covered, and regarded as a joke anyway since he's southern and Bush43's successor; the "blank for the ages" would just run up the score.

So no, Dick, don't keep your eye on Perry; keep your eye on Scott Walker.  Provided, you know, that Rick Santorum doesn't run.