You Still Say Perry’s Not Running for Prez?

I’ve had people tell me that Rick Perry hasn’t a snowball’s chance in Houston of getting on the ballot in November 2012 to challenge Barack Obama. Republicans, they say, don’t like Rick Perry all that much.

Yeah, I say, so why have Texans re-elected the man to an unprecedented 3^rd term? Because they hate him?

Rick Perry has great hair, rugged good looks, wears a nine when he jogs, and says inane things that make people laugh and laugh. He’s also gay, but they keep that little secret because he has a great looking wife and some kids. Rick Perry is, in short, presidential material to most people who vote these days.

And what is more, he knows it even if you don’t.

So that is why, when we Texans are all hunkering down tonight waiting for an onslaught of snow, sleet and freezing rain, and while we endured rolling blackouts for a couple of days as the state struggled to put enough juice in the ERCOT grid (ERCOT is the only power grid in the country that powers exclusively one state, Texas), that is why our governor, Rick Perry is hard at work.

In California.

In Los Angeles, where temperatures are coolish, but nowhere near the sub-freezing temperatures that his entire state has been enduring for most of the week.

In California, where he will be attending a birthday party celebration honoring President Ronald Reagan on the occasion of his 100^th birthday.

Except that Ronald Reagan has been dead for some time, you will recall.

So it will be a party, but the honoree will not be attending due to a previous engagement with eternity.

So I expect that there will be a lot of Republican high rollers there, ones that look back on the days of the Reagan Administration with fond memories. And that is where Rick Perry wants to be, I think. There to show the flag, his face, and where the checks can be sent to.

Better to attend Reagan’s birthday party than, say, the Super Bowl, right? After all, the Super Bowl doesn’t have a Texas team playing this year, do they? No, it’s being played by a couple of Yankee teams.

In Arlington.

Arlington, Texas.

But, hey, they held a Super Bowl in Houston in ’04, didn’t they? So this is the second time Texas has hosted a Super Bowl in Perry’s reign. So it was fun the first time. But again? Sheesh!

Never fear though, there is a report that Perry has his hand on the throttle and things are well in hand. He is taking care of things from far off California.

From the Dallas Morning News:

“But it was Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst who was meeting with the executives of the state's power grid, ERCOT, and the heads of power generating companies. He said the shortage was a failure of some power plants to sufficiently weatherize, which contributed to 50 of the state's 550 power plants going off-line.”

Oh . . . yeah, Dewhurst has his hand on the throttle. The guy who wants to run for Senate.

Dewhurst, or ERCOT, or someone, didn’t exactly get those plants back online but they did succeed in priming the grid with juice from a friendly neighbor, priming the Texas grid with an additional 280 megawatts of power to get us through these dark (literally) days until the weather moderates. The friendly neighbor being, of course, Mexico.

“Mexico's Federal Electricity Commission says it has agreed to transmit 280 megawatts of electricity to Texas between Wednesday and Thursday night. A commission statement says the electricity will be transmitted at interconnection points in Nuevo Laredo -- across the border from Laredo, Texas -- and Piedras Negras, which sits opposite of Eagle Pass, Texas.”

Now, no one is saying how much the Mexican Federal Electricity Commission has arranged to charge Texas for this much-needed power, but I am going to guess that it is kind of like buying crude oil on the spot market: a little more dear than usual.

And I am sure that the power companies will pass that little boost in outgo on to the consumer. But that’s OK, Texans are used to paying among the highest rates in the country for their electricity, courtesy of that Republican brainchild known as deregulation.

So, in this rambling rant, what exactly is my point? I guess my point is, yes, Rick Perry wants to be your next President, and yes, Rick Perry has the tools, the hair, and the backers to make it happen. And yes, Rick Perry has run the state of Texas into a ditch that is so deep that he has to hold one hand out for a handout from Mexico while with the other hand he gives Mexican citizens the back of it with his “sanctuary city” emergency.

Now from what I have been hearing on the Weather Channel, a snowball has a pretty good chance in Houston this evening. Things change. Politics change like Texas' weather.

He’s running I tell you. And he is going to be on the ballot in ’12.