Rickie and Lucy on the Republican Presidential Primary Trail

Amongst likely Republican voters Rick Perry seems to have a 28 to 20 % lead over the better qualified candidate Mitt Romney. It may be Karl Rove’s political genius that initially groomed the cotton farmer for higher political office, yet Rove in the Bush political school of Presidential politics has also reckoned on the fundamentalist vote as a factor of ‘Lucy’ loyalists always devoted to their strong man Rickie in turn devoted to drilling oil, defending oil depletion allowances and securing new supply.

Rick Perry notably made his appearance at a Texas fundamentalist convention this year. Only Franklin Graham might make a better candidate. We can hardly wait.

It is important not to underemphasize the comparative ineffectiveness of both major political parties these days in managing Americas economic and foreign affairs. I recently read a book by the Iranian scholar Hooman Majd on Iranian culture and recent history. He described President Amadinijab’s visit in 2007(?) to speak at the U.N. at which the U.S. delegation walked out. This week, President Amadinijab returned to speak at the U.N. and the Hillary Clinton led delegation walked out. U.S. taxpayers pay these diplomats to listen to all that political verbiage and they just walk out and go for pizza and beer. Since the Iranians released the two American hikers it had locked up for espionage just before the U.N. mission Iran had already spent about the only coins it had for improving relations-did we ever consider returning a little courtesy to the Iranians?

The fact that there is little difference between Bush II and Obama-Clinton diplomacy isn’t surprising. Like attention deficit disorder children they must leave off from intellectual affairs and go drill and oil well. Like the dysfunctional partisan congress at loggerheads on the budget perennially the Clinton U.N. team just walks out and finds it easier to learn nothing and send the bombers. Blasting things all to hell is better than understanding why Amadinijab wears cheap suits made in Tehran’s poorer districts and no tie, or how Iranian Shia historically have a martyr complex, have sought populism a couple of hundred years and have struggled through difficult historical experiences to emerge with a present neo-populist clerical leadership class and a nation with little trust in powerful foreign concerns for good reason. Hopefully Mitt Romney could out desert and puritan the Iranians and yet reinforce Israel at the same time. Yet wait a minute, I hear the call of the loon this morning on the distant lake.

Mitt Romney is far more electable in the general election than is Governor Rickie the polls say. Mitt Romney is also the better candidate. The Lucy factor however is quite real however, and a real possibility exists that The Lucy factor will assure the election of another lemon in the succession of lemons following the Reagan administration. Getting over the Mormon religion of Romney enough to let a separation of church and state allow the other Native American religion to not disqualify an otherwise fine candidate will be difficult; Lucy likes her man.

Gov. Rick Perry can play the ‘I hate Washington’ card with Lucy. Lucy is entranced by scorn for her potential rivals…

Washington D.C. wastes money on relief for the poor, federal building construction, civil rights enforcement, environmental protection and education. Rickie would cut all that and just invest billions in foreign war outlays to defense contractors. Cutting through the yellow tape Rickie will get rid of the minimum wage and wilderness transforming the U.S. ecosphere into a West Texas image of desolation.