Politico's piece by Jonathan Martin, "Is Rick Perry Dumb?" got them all in a tither today over at Fox News. Those gosh darn media elitists trying to get some attention by bringing up the obvious, that Governor Rick Perry of Texas is not the brightest bulb around. Megyn Kelly asks the questions only Fox can ask (with a straight face anyway), "Does it matter?"
MEGYN KELLY: I want to ask you this—does it matter, should it matter, if somebody is dumb?
Because you know, we've had—yes, there have been partisan attacks, no question, it does usually seem to focus on Republicans, is Michele Bachmann dumb, they've talked about, you know, her being on the House Intelligence Committee is a contradiction in terms, and they've anonymously sourced Republicans asking that question, now they're asking this about Rick Perry, Sarah Palin—but is it unfair, just because it's coming from some in the mainstream media?
I mean, there were questions about the number of colleges Sarah Palin, you know, attended, there were questions about, you know Perry's academic transcript and so on, does it make it illegitimate just because of who's asking it?
Michelle Malkin said of course it was an illegitimate question to ask, but not surprisingly didn't bother to defend Perry's intelligence, or lack thereof.
The Politico piece began with:
Another Texas governor who drops his “g’s” and scorns elites is running for president and the whispers are the same: lightweight, incurious, instinctual.
Strip away the euphemisms and Rick Perry is confronting an unavoidable question: Is he dumb — or just “misunderestimated?”
Doubts about Perry’s intellect have hounded him since he was first elected as a state legislator nearly three decades ago. In Austin, he’s been derided as a right-place, right-time pol who looks the part but isn’t so deep — “Gov. Goodhair.” Now, with the chatter picking back up among his enemies and taking flight in elite Republican circles, the rap threatens to follow him to the national stage.
“He’s like Bush only without the brains,” cracked one former Republican governor who knows Perry, repeating a joke that has made the rounds.
...and went on for five more pages of this.
I suspect anyone who watches the entire six minute segment above will only feel a bit stupider afterward so my apologies in advance.
