As the top heavy luxury cruise ship, S.S. Donald Trump plows through heavy seas it appears Rick Perry's craft has begun to flounder and is taking on water at an alarming rate.
It shouldn't come as a surprise. The former Texas governor was an early out in the last republican presidential contest and has consistently polled in single digits during this cycle. Last Thursday he was relegated to the 5pm, By The Way, These People Are Running Too, Fox debate where his performance was judged by most as less than impressive. Showings like those don't attract the high rollers who are needed to pay the bills. Hey, those brutes aren't stupid. If they're going to spend hard cash to buy a politician they are going to make sure he, or she at least has a chance of winning.
According to the Washington Post the calls from Perry's Austin campaign headquarters began going out the next day. The staff there and in the far flung reaches of New Hampshire, Iowa, and South Carolina were told they could either work for free, or abandon ship.
Governor Perry's troubles doesn't mean it has been clear skies and fair winds for Mr. Trump. A little over a week ago he had to fire staffer Sam Nunberg because of some overtly racist Facebook posts he made years ago. Then, almost immediately after the debate and his crude and oafish attacks on moderator, Megyn Kelly two things happened.
In no special order, first, Erick Erickson, the editor in chief of RedState.com yanked Trump's invitation to speak at a gathering sponsored by the site. Trump being Trump immediately began to ruthlessly disparage Erickson's character and past, seemingly oblivious that just 24 hours earlier he had been more than happy to share a stage with him.
Second, depending on who you believe, long time advisor, Roger Stone either quit, or was fired from the campaign. Stone claims he resigned because in, his words, "the food fight with Megyn Kelly," was distracting from the core issues of the campaign. Trump's people issued a statement saying, Stone was fired, "...because he wanted to use the campaign for his own personal publicity. He had a number of articles about him recently and Mr. Trump wants to keep the focus of the campaign on how to make America great again." It doesn't take a sophisticated interpreter to figure out that message. Quite simply it's no one, but no one around here gets press except me, Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, in Oklahoma the local tea party whirling dervishes took another one to the chin. District Judge, Patricia Parrish ruled the latest in a series of stringent anti-abortion acts signed into law by the governor is unconstitutional. The story in The Oklahoman by, Kyle Schwab reports that supporters of the law argued they were just interested in the safety of women when they passed the act. It was a law which restricted doctors to administer abortion drugs only in accordance with U.S. FDA label instructions.
The opponents of the law claimed that was prima facie bull shit. They pointed out the FDA protocols are outdated and most doctors prescribe the drugs in ways that are actually safer to women than the instructions on the bottle labels. In other words, the physicians know their patients health far better than a federal bureaucracy.
To say the arch conservative Oklahoma legislature is obsessed with the issue is an understatement. Schwab points out this is the fourth state law struck down by a court and a lawsuit challenging yet a fifth, limiting the availability of abortions, is pending.
After hearing the ruling, state representative, Kevin Calvey became so unhinged he lost track of who to hate and attacked the wrong court for the decision. He also forgot to express his deep concern for the safety of women. He was quoted as saying, "We can blame our extremist liberal state Supreme Court for this latest deadly ruling against babies in Oklahoma. Our state Supreme Court rules for the abortion industry every time, so much so that the abortion industry challenges pro-life laws in state court instead of federal courts."
The case never reached the Oklahoma Supreme Court and this latest attempt at republican sponsored big government thuggery was challenged by the Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice and a nonprofit women's clinic in Tulsa named Reproductive Services.
Some industry.
It's never easy when common sense, run amok egos, and the constitution start to roil the cold, dark, waters. At those times some poor souls always end up sleeping with the fishes, while others fight through rogue waves, and a few, driven mad by either scurvy, or syphilis rage at the wind.
Yes, in the end, that's the enormous gamble you take when you board a ship and set sail. There is absolutely nothing on the ticket that guarantees you'll get to the other shore.
sic vita est
8-11-15
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