Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s candidacy for president in 2012 was doomed by, among other things, bad timing. Another dimwitted Texas governor, George W. Bush, had recently served two terms as president and his presidency had been an unmitigated disaster.
One former Republican governor compared Perry unfavorably to Bush. “He’s like Bush only without the brains,” the former governor said.
https://www.politico.com/story/2011/08/is-rick-perry-dumb-062214
I thought George W. Bush was George H. W. Bush “without the brains.”
In 2011, during a televised debate for presidential candidates, Perry said he had “never struggled” with the question of the possible innocence of any of the 234 inmates executed to date while he was governor.
This seemed like an odd thing for a pro-life candidate to say.
But he’s not pro-life; he’s anti-living.
During another debate, Perry said he would eliminate three cabinet departments if he was elected president. “It’s three agencies of the government that when I get there that are gone,” Perry said. “Commerce, Education, and the uh, um, what’s the third one there, let’s see.”
He left out the Department of Energy.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/rick-perry-forgot-agency-lead/story?id=44163625
President Donald Trump then named Perry to be secretary of, yup, the Department of Energy.
During the nearly three years that Perry was at the Department of Energy, the lights were on, but nobody was home.
https://www.energy.gov/person/rick-perry
Perry didn’t just retire into private life when he left the Trump administration.
His best days – or not — were ahead.
He appeared on Dancing with the Stars, where he introduced himself as follows:
“My name is Rick Perry, and I’m the governor of the great state of Texas. I’m—I’m not the governor of the great state of Texas. That’s not right. I’m the former governor.” Perry was also shown doing a “butt roll” in practice, and acutely observed that “people are probably watching this and going, ‘what a dumbass.’”
https://www.texasmonthly.com/the-daily-post/rick-perrys-dancing-with-the-stars-debut/
Yes, they were.
This was something millions of Texans had already said.