On Shooting Straight in Texas

Last April when Governor Rick Perry murdered a coyote while on his morning jog, a jog entirely within Austin’s city limits, last April when Rick Perry aimed his 9 mm handgun that he was carrying on his belt while exercising and killed that innocent beast, it could be said that Rick Perry’s aim was true and his shot was sure.

As far as discharging firearms within Austin’s city limits, that is.

But now, when questioned about the looming budget crisis and all of the issues surrounding it, Rick Perry is firing away at just about every other thing but the one thing that has been behind the budget crisis: his habit of over-spending.

Rick Perry claims that he is an “expert” in all things budgetary. He claims this because he is Texas’ only 10-year governor. Indeed, all that proves is that Rick Perry is a poster child for term limits. But he is right in one way: having to face a budget crisis is not a new thing for him. As Texas’ only 10-year governor, this is Rick Perry’s second budget crisis, the first one having taken place in 2003. You know, the one that occurred back when the economy was singing along unaware of the upcoming and inevitable Republican-inspired economic collapse of 2008.

So this is Perry’s 2nd budget crisis. Amazing how those things just follow him around, isn’t it.

And back then, if memory serves, Perry’s state comptroller, Carol Keeton McClellan Rylander Strayhorn was openly feuding with Perry who she called a “weak leadin', ethics ignorin', pointin' the finger at everyone blamin', special session callin', public school slashin', slush fund spendin', toll road buildin', special interest panderin', rainy day fund raidin', fee increasin', no property tax cuttin', promise breakin', do nothin' phony conservative.” Strayhorn kept the state’s dire straits from him making him look like the idiot that he really is.

So now that State Senator Kirk Watson has rightfully asked the present state comptroller for information on the state’s finances so that he and his colleagues could make informed decisions in next year’s budgeting process, Perry calls that “bizarre.” It seems he has learned his lesson from “Grandma” that keeping a tight lid on finance facts serves one politically very well.

But again, he shoots himself in the foot for looking every bit like the opaque truth smotherer that he is.

All of this is neatly summed up in a just-released video on Rick Perry’s press conference where he wildly shoots in all directions, leaving the best for the end, blaming all of his financial woes on that black president, Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic-led US Congress.

I tell you, if it weren’t for the fact that Rick Perry makes decisions that affects the lives of millions of Texans, I would be holding my sides in from laughter.

But this isn’t funny. Rick Perry needs a permanent vacation.