christiefan915
Catalyst
Tony Norman nails it. And for the nitpickers, the thread title is taken from the column.
Friday, September 09, 2011
By Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Whatever President Barack Obama's shortcomings, I don't believe for a second that Texas Gov. Rick Perry will be sworn in as the 45th president of the United States in January 2013.
While Mr. Obama's re-election remains far from certain, the nation isn't about to ease on down the road to national perdition with yet another swaggering, incurious Texan as commander-in-chief. We've been in this movie before, and it doesn't end well.
What Mr. Perry offers this country is a sequel to the George W. Bush years, except meaner and more Darwinian in tone. Speaking of Darwin, for someone who wears his skepticism about evolution with bumper sticker pride, no candidate has done more to put citizens in touch with the spirit of mankind's primordial ancestors than Rick Perry.
During Wednesday's Republican presidential debate at the Reagan Library, NBC News anchor Brian Williams attempted to nudge Mr. Perry into a moment of reflection about the 234 executions he has presided over as governor. Mr. Williams asked the Republican frontrunner if he ever struggled with the possibility that he had executed an innocent person.
Mr. Williams' effort to peel back a layer or two of machismo from Mr. Perry's facade backfired spectacularly when the audience applauded the executions before he'd even finished asking the question.
It was the kind of remorseless applause that should creep out every American, regardless of what one thinks of the efficacy or morality of the death penalty. Who applauds abortion or foreign wars with the kind of gusto and lack of equivocation the audience displayed that evening? For primary voters who would probably identify themselves as militantly "Christian," it was a revealing moment.
"No, sir," Mr. Perry told Mr. Williams as the applause died down. "I have never struggled with that at all."
It is easy to believe Mr. Perry when he says he has never thought much about the gravity of his powers or the morality of his actions. The fallibility of a process that has prompted other states, including a Republican governor or two, to impose a moratorium on capital punishment only reinforces Mr. Perry's belief in the infallibility of Texas justice.
"[Texas] has a very thoughtful, a very clear process in place of which -- when someone commits the most heinous of crimes against our citizens, they get a fair hearing, they go through an appellate process, they go to the Supreme Court of the United States, if that's required," he said with platitudinous certainty.
Mr. Williams asked Mr. Perry what he thought of the robust applause concerning the 234 he executed. "I think Americans understand justice," Mr. Perry said. "I think Americans are clearly, in the vast majority of -- of cases, supportive of capital punishment.
"When you commit heinous crimes against citizens -- and it's a state-by-state issue, but in the state of Texas, our citizens have made that decision, and they made it clear, and they don't want you to commit those crimes against our citizens. And if you do, you will face the ultimate justice," he said.
Although not as incoherent as what he said about Social Security and climate change in the same debate, it points to an appalling failure of imagination that would characterize a Perry presidency. His reluctance to engage weighty subjects beyond the canned responses that excite his base is rooted in his experience as a Texas pol. Appearing thoughtful, even for a second, would put his candidacy at risk.
"Galileo got outvoted for a spell," Mr. Perry said, defending his utter indifference to the overwhelming scientific consensus on climate change. It was one of the most preposterous and audacious quips ever by an American politician whose suspicions about science are notorious and well known.
The fact that the Reagan Library wasn't instantly covered with exploding heads when Mr. Perry compared himself to the father of modern astronomy is more an indictment of the audience than the governor.
They had no idea that Galileo "got outvoted for a spell" by the 17th century Roman Inquisition, which forced him under threat of torture to recant of the theory that the Earth and the planets revolved around the sun. Galileo was sentenced to house arrest for heresy, not just "for a spell" but for the rest of his life.
Given that Mr. Perry leads religious revivals, disputes climate change science and encourages the teaching of creationism in Texas schools, what are the chances he would have been on Galileo's side in 1633?
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11252/1173223-153-0.stm#ixzz1XStO8PbE
Friday, September 09, 2011
By Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Whatever President Barack Obama's shortcomings, I don't believe for a second that Texas Gov. Rick Perry will be sworn in as the 45th president of the United States in January 2013.
While Mr. Obama's re-election remains far from certain, the nation isn't about to ease on down the road to national perdition with yet another swaggering, incurious Texan as commander-in-chief. We've been in this movie before, and it doesn't end well.
What Mr. Perry offers this country is a sequel to the George W. Bush years, except meaner and more Darwinian in tone. Speaking of Darwin, for someone who wears his skepticism about evolution with bumper sticker pride, no candidate has done more to put citizens in touch with the spirit of mankind's primordial ancestors than Rick Perry.
During Wednesday's Republican presidential debate at the Reagan Library, NBC News anchor Brian Williams attempted to nudge Mr. Perry into a moment of reflection about the 234 executions he has presided over as governor. Mr. Williams asked the Republican frontrunner if he ever struggled with the possibility that he had executed an innocent person.
Mr. Williams' effort to peel back a layer or two of machismo from Mr. Perry's facade backfired spectacularly when the audience applauded the executions before he'd even finished asking the question.
It was the kind of remorseless applause that should creep out every American, regardless of what one thinks of the efficacy or morality of the death penalty. Who applauds abortion or foreign wars with the kind of gusto and lack of equivocation the audience displayed that evening? For primary voters who would probably identify themselves as militantly "Christian," it was a revealing moment.
"No, sir," Mr. Perry told Mr. Williams as the applause died down. "I have never struggled with that at all."
It is easy to believe Mr. Perry when he says he has never thought much about the gravity of his powers or the morality of his actions. The fallibility of a process that has prompted other states, including a Republican governor or two, to impose a moratorium on capital punishment only reinforces Mr. Perry's belief in the infallibility of Texas justice.
"[Texas] has a very thoughtful, a very clear process in place of which -- when someone commits the most heinous of crimes against our citizens, they get a fair hearing, they go through an appellate process, they go to the Supreme Court of the United States, if that's required," he said with platitudinous certainty.
Mr. Williams asked Mr. Perry what he thought of the robust applause concerning the 234 he executed. "I think Americans understand justice," Mr. Perry said. "I think Americans are clearly, in the vast majority of -- of cases, supportive of capital punishment.
"When you commit heinous crimes against citizens -- and it's a state-by-state issue, but in the state of Texas, our citizens have made that decision, and they made it clear, and they don't want you to commit those crimes against our citizens. And if you do, you will face the ultimate justice," he said.
Although not as incoherent as what he said about Social Security and climate change in the same debate, it points to an appalling failure of imagination that would characterize a Perry presidency. His reluctance to engage weighty subjects beyond the canned responses that excite his base is rooted in his experience as a Texas pol. Appearing thoughtful, even for a second, would put his candidacy at risk.
"Galileo got outvoted for a spell," Mr. Perry said, defending his utter indifference to the overwhelming scientific consensus on climate change. It was one of the most preposterous and audacious quips ever by an American politician whose suspicions about science are notorious and well known.
The fact that the Reagan Library wasn't instantly covered with exploding heads when Mr. Perry compared himself to the father of modern astronomy is more an indictment of the audience than the governor.
They had no idea that Galileo "got outvoted for a spell" by the 17th century Roman Inquisition, which forced him under threat of torture to recant of the theory that the Earth and the planets revolved around the sun. Galileo was sentenced to house arrest for heresy, not just "for a spell" but for the rest of his life.
Given that Mr. Perry leads religious revivals, disputes climate change science and encourages the teaching of creationism in Texas schools, what are the chances he would have been on Galileo's side in 1633?
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11252/1173223-153-0.stm#ixzz1XStO8PbE
