Perry Blowing Chance To Slam Door Shut On Rivals

I said this.

But okay, here's some other people saying this.

I think the best one can say about Perry’s two debate performances is that they’ve been good enough — he is, after all, still the frontrunner in most polls. I think the worst you can say is that, so far, Perry is deeply disappointing to any Republican who wanted a presidential nominee who could naturally and easily articulate a powerful argument for conservative principles and think on his feet.

I'd put it like this: When people buy a car, they like the reassurance that this is the car for them. That there really is no close competitor. That there are no nagging doubts they'll have as they drive away, wondering about the other models. Maybe those were better?

You can close a deal with nagging consumer doubts, but it'll take a long time, and the client will never really be satisfied with his choice.

Although Perry is making a case for himself as a car that's okay, and will get you where you want to go, he's not doing the real job of making would-be buyers think, "Man, why would even look at another car?"

Very meh, okay. Not closing the sale.

On the Gardasil thing, Perry's friends come to his defense.

Video at the link, but here's the print story:

Until you've seen a special photograph, Craig Wilson says you don't know the whole story of Rick Perry's HPV vaccine decision.

"She's happy as hell. I mean, she is just unbelievably ecstatic," Wilson said. "Here she is on a beautiful ranch somewhere, riding on a motorcycle, which she's never really done, with the governor of the state of Texas."

The guy driving the motorcycle is Governor Rick Perry. The young woman on the back is Houstonian Heather Burcham, who was at that moment just 31 years old and a few months away from dying of cervical cancer.

Heather said in an interview prior to her death, "I feel like I'm not going in vain, because I can tell others about it."

When Heather was diagnosed, she set out to tell the world about her illness and the vaccine that would've prevented it. Her fear was that her pain and her death would mean nothing.

She said, "I kept thinking, 'What good can come from this?'"

After Governor Perry got in Texas trouble for signing an executive order in 2007 mandating the HPV vaccine, Heather tried to convince lawmakers to let it stand, and in the process met Governor Perry. But more than a meeting, it sparked a friendship.

Long after the order was rescinded and Perry lost the political fight, they kept talking. Heather had Perry's personal cell phone number and he invited her for a day at a friend's ranch.

Wilson, a friend of Heather's, recalled, "It was a great day, one of the great days of her life. She loved the whole thing."

Months later, when the end was near for Heather, Perry quietly snuck into Houston and sat by her bedside. No press, no statement -- just the governor and one of his 21 million constituents.

"I think he truly had a heart for this young woman," said Mary Lee, one of Heather's friends.

Sob stories don't make Perry's position right, but this does tend to demonstrate that Perry might have been motivated by more than that sweet, sweet $22,000 in Merck retardation money.

posted by Ace at 04:41 PM

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