'Dead-eye' Perry shoots self in foot

I was prepared to give Rick Perry the benefit of the doubt. I planned to ignore the meme that he is George W. Bush 2.0. Silly me. Perry could hardly wait to provide fresh evidence that he is Bush incarnate. Criticizing Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke during a campaign stop, Perry brusquely remarked, “If this guy prints more money between now and the election, I dunno what y’all would do to him in Iowa, but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas.” Then he doubled down: “Printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history is almost treacherous, or treasonous, in my opinion.” Say what? This is reasonable, uber-cautious Bernanke we're talking about, the guy Bush appointed to the Fed. The ex-professor who, as a Washington Post editorial noted, helped saved America from economic Armageddon in 2008. But Perry, in full gunslinger mode, just sallied up and emptied his (rhetorical) Colt revolver into the guy. Shoot first, then let God sort out the mess. Kinda like what Dubya did in Iraq. Unfortunately for Perry, one of his fancy trick-shots ended up in his own foot. The media and the bloggerverse are all over him for the ugly comments. Given the Gabby Giffords shooting, the WaPost observed, "there was widespread revulsion at the nastiness of much political rhetoric, and widespread commitment to argue about issues without questioning opponents’ motivations or character. Mr. Perry’s presidential campaign, not yet a week old, suggests he didn’t get the message." Unfortunately, gun-slinging cowboys like Perry never do.