I'm not a fan of Perry chiefly because of Cameron Todd Wilingham, but for consideration I would like to offer this in the business persons defense.

http://mises.org/daily/1884

So?
Who should he give the money to - his enemies?

Democracy minimizes this crap, and makes it transparent - it doesn't eliminate it.

Perry is a Federalist - which means he wants most such decisions to happen at the state level - opening them to closer scrutiny.

Unlike the Dems, we've never claimed messiah status for our politicians.

It's still amazing. This sort of thing is why the Governor of Texas cannot stop an execution. Jim & Miriam Ferguson were apparently selling clemency from the Governor's office.

I am shocked...shocked to learn that Perry has been doing the same thing that all American politicians have been doing since 1776.

There has to be a reason someone will spend millions of dollars to run for an office that pays 250,000 yr.

If I weren't at work and had more time, I could prep you a paper (with footnotes and references) covering DOZENs of things about Perry that would piss you off. I'd still rather have him as president than Obama, though.

Well, there's always the write-in option...

It's not just pay-to-play, sometimes it's extortion:
http://www.followthemoney.org/press/ReportView.phtml?r=405&ext=1
(The Perry-appointed head of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission was soliciting money for the governor's campaign from bars and restaurants.)

There has to be a reason someone will spend millions of dollars to run for an office that pays 250,000 yr.

And you're wrong. To understand most politicians and many of the rich, you have to understand that money itself means little to them beyond it buying access and power. This is a big reason politicians are so tone deaf to arguments about campaign contributions--they simply don't see it as greed and for them it really isn't; it's simply a means to get power. Another example are junkets--it's not the perk that these people enjoy, it's that they are hobnobbing with the other rich and powerful people.

(I should add that I'd rather have direct, blatant payoffs to donors than insidious backdoor things like agricultural subsidies to pay of ADM or passing laws changing how union votes are held. Moreover, I'd also prefer that quid-pro-quos stick--GE got favors and paid us back by moving a chunk of their x-ray business to China. As they say, if you are bought, stay bought and that goes both ways.)

I'd still vote for Perry. He has his problems, but I'd happily vote for him over Obama, and him over Mitt Romney. He is electable.

Palin has her problems too, but I'd rather her than Perry because at least she's worked her way up from the bottom, owned her own business, knows the value of a dollar and sent people to jail in her State who were pretty brazen about their dealings with dirty political money (both Republicans and Democrats). But it probably won't happen because she has been tarnished, in some cases necessarily.

You can't always get what you wannnnt.....

Rick Perry is a bilious knave, the vile excretum from a newly unblocked southern portal of Texas, now plopped down on the national stage for our coast-to-coast revulsion.

Besides advocating the execution of Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke, Perry set up $675 million in Texas state "funds" that give taxpayer money to selected businesses. He has also tampered with funds inside the Texas States Teachers' pension system.

So far, Rick Perry looks like George Bush jr., minus the IQ or common decency.

Perry is corrupt, most pols are. BUT, he is swayable. He'll pass what his voters tell him too because he wants to keep his power. I'd take him over Obama any day. Or Palin, Or Bachmann. Or Paul. I rather wish we could have a governing council instead of a Pres. My dream team only, of course.

And Perry has never lost an election. The man can campaign like nobody's business. That's a big plus after McCain's incompetence.

I rather wish we could have a governing council instead of a Pres.

The British tried that. It didn't work out.

Parliament turned out to be as rapacious and incompetent a ruler as any king ever was.

Britain ended up with a dictator (although Cromwell called himself the "Protector") and eventually the country brought back the monarchy.

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Rick Perry is a bilious knave, the vile excretum from a newly unblocked southern portal of Texas, now plopped down on the national stage for our coast-to-coast revulsion.

Seriously? Again with the bodily fluids and anal obsession.

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You can't always get what you wannnnt....

...but if you try sometimes....

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There has to be a reason someone will spend millions of dollars to run for an office that pays 250,000 yr.

Name the CEO of a Fortune 500 corporation in 1940. Name the president in 1940.

All incompetence aside, "Barry" will go down in history and all the schoolchildren will learn about him. Hugh McColl will be forgotten by all but the BofA historians in another 10 years.

And that power thing Joe mentioned.

Don't get lost in the "how do you get businesses to re-locate to your state" arguments... while they are true to a certain extent... how much does it vary from state to state? Is that the way most states do business? How much has Perry himself influenced them, or is there some kind of sub-group under him that looks at who to give money to? These are all valid questions...

what is unfortunate in my mind is that we are way early into this thing, and already I kinda feel like we 're at that: "this person sucks less than the current person" blah, blah, blah.

I'm looking for a person I can vote FOR, rather than voting against someone, though I would certainly vote against lil' o... I don't think we need a guy like Herbert Hoover again...

I'm looking for a person I can vote FOR, rather than voting against someone....

I don't know ... the vote against is looking pretty good.

From the LA Times:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2011/08/obama-national-debt.html

"That means the debt that our federal government owes a whole lot of somebodies including China has increased $4,247,000,000,000 in just 945 days. That's the fastest increase under any president ever."

and

"The nation's debt increased $4.9 trillion under President Bush too, btw. But it took him 2,648 days to do it. Obama will surpass that sum during this term."

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I don't think we need a guy like Herbert Hoover again...

While not the greatest president we ever had, Hoover is unfaily maligned by revisionist historians seeking to put FDR in the best light.

In fact, FDR led the Hoover bashing in order to better sell his New Deal ("look at the mess I inherited") and implement sweeping social programs. Sound familiar.

Prior to succeeding him as president, FDR was one of Hoover's admirers, full of praise for the man who fed the starving poor of Europe and managed US agricultural output during World War I.

I'm actually in the middle of reading a biography of Hoover. I haven't reached his presidency yet (I just reached his appointment as Secretary of Commerce under Harding).

"I'm looking for a person I can vote FOR, rather than voting against someone...."

Suicidal and Quixotic.

Chicago politics are nothing like Texas politics.

I'm not surprised by this news. There are a lot of ways this game is played.

Re: "I'd still vote for Perry. He has his problems, but I'd happily vote for him over Obama, and him over Mitt Romney. He is electable."

Last week, Perry expressed doubts about the human influence on global warming, and touted the fact that Texas allowed its schools to present creationism alongside evolution in its schools. In doing so, Perry put himself at the front of the pack of Republican politicians who've shown themselves to be poorly acquainted with the laws of nature. But that's also true about a sizeable segment of Republicans these days. They - and Perry - and Bachmann - believe things which aren't true and don't believe things which are. Neither is qualified to be the next president.

"Palin has her problems too, but I'd rather her than Perry" Now there's someone even less qualified than Perry to be Prez.