Also, his crime isn’t just making the threat, it’s carrying it out. And conveniently enough, it’s an action against the organization that from what I understand was investigating some of his dealings - it’s easy to see why he might have wanted to assign a replacement.
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If that is true, then it’s a recent phenomenon: I was on the inside in the Republican party during the '60s and '70s, and party officials were very much in control over which candidate got the nod. In fact, that’s why Reagan was not picked in 1976 despite having a strong fan base (which obviously ended up getting stronger).
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I think it’s murkier than that. She is a lesbian who is investigating one of his projects. Traditionally old white politicians with DUI’s kind of get it swept under the rug.
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It’s not as if he was a corrupt politician looking for a bribe, it’s more that he was committing a sort of political blackmail.
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Right, I very much doubt that his motivations were pure. It just looks like this is going to be one of those ugly legal/political scandals without any clear heroes.
Autostraddle has a really good article on this: http://www.autostraddle.com/rick-perry-indicted-on-corruption-charges-for-attempting-to-force-out-lesbian-district-attorney-250750/
Because of the work this woman has done, I’m going to root for her. Not that I support drunk driving, but she did do her time.
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I was waiting for it! You didn’t fail me!
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The Republicans had a serious chance, and if Romney hadn’t been caught making his “47%” remark he’d have had over 47% of the vote.
The long political circus was to convince the Tea Party and other right-wingers that they were going to have to support an Establishment candidate, and weren’t going to get one of their own, so they should get over with it and start supporting the Official Party Candidate by the time the campaign got serious. Donald Trump did the opening clown act, Herman Cain showed that, as the most serious of the conservatives, he wasn’t serious enough to have a chance, Rick Perry took the crazy-people wing away from Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul wouldn’t go away, but like Dennis Kucinich in the Democrats, he was really running to influence party platforms, not expecting to get nominated. Jon Huntsman would have been a better establishment candidate, but he was way too honest for the party machine, and Romney already had the Billionaire Mormon Ex-Governor slot filled up.
Both parties are really in trouble for 2016 - Clinton might have had a chance in 2008 if Obama hadn’t shown up, but she’ll be a tougher sell in 2016, and the Republicans don’t really have anybody charismatic who isn’t also a crazy conservative. Rand Paul’s trying hard to look like a statesman instead of a newbie, but he’s still not likely to be sellable to the corporate wing of the party, and Rick Perry still keeps making Michele Bachmann look sane, Christie got stuck in traffic on a bridge, the machine still doesn’t like Huntsman, but there’s hardly anybody left for them to sell. We’ll probably see a random governor or two.
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It’s worth noting that before Perry made a stink, the DA made it clear she would not try to keep her office. Perry wanted her to resign immediately so that he could appoint the new DA instead of waiting for the Democratically minded citizens of Travis county to select her replacement.
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He didn’t just threaten to veto their entire budget. He actually did it after she refused to resign. That office had to get their budget from the county.
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Correct. The Democrats moved towards making primaries binding on the party convention delegates after the 1968 convention. Not sure when the Republicans did the same.
Yeah he actually did it, but the count against him is for the threat before he did it. It’s a “coercion” count - he has the veto power to cancel any budget for a good reason.
Oh, I disagree. There is no danger of him winning and the laughs we get from watching the fool flounder around on the debate stage is priceless.
I have no doubt the Republican primaries will provide hours of amusement with our without Perry. It seems every 4 years they try to out-crazy themselves. People say they’ve hit peak crazy, but it is like Moores law. No matter how many times you hit what seems like an impossible barrier, they find a way to go past it. As far as I know, no actual escaped mental patients have made it on the stage yet, so there is still at least one step further they can go.
A Grand Jury indictment is further evidence of his ascension in 2016, proof that he is a contender targeted by a political elite, according to several right-leaning members of my social media bubble anyhow.
Apropos of nothing…is this guy going to run for the Democrats again?
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That’s only because Reagan closed all the state mental health facilities. 
Given the depth of their poor, I would not be so sure he can’t win. Are there other candidates you are looking at to get the nomination?
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