Given what Jim DeMint* signaled yesterday on This Week about the topics he wanted to pursue with Rick Perry tonight at DeMint’s “Forum,” is it any surprise that Perry is all of the sudden interested in the wildfires in Texas? For us long suffering Texans, his decision to skip DeMint’s “Forum” is just par for the course.
And with this Perry decision, doesn’t that change the light on the whole dispute over the timing of the president’s address to Congress? Here’s The Chronicle last week when it all got started:
President Barack Obama will make his long-awaited speech about jobs Wednesday night to a joint session of Congress at the same time that the Republican presidential candidates are scheduled to debate at the Reagan Presidential Library in California.
While the debate isn’t the first Republican debate of the cycle, it is the first since Gov. Rick Perry entered the presidential contest, and polls have shown him taking a commanding lead in the race for the GOP nomination. Political observers have said that the debate could provide crucial insights into how Mitt Romney’s and Michelle Bachmann’s campaigns plan to deal with Perry’s surging candidacy.
Rush Limbaugh spent the whole day last Wednesday telling John Boehner to refuse the president’s request because this debate was important, especially since it would be the first since Perry, as the new front-runner had gotten into the race. And that’s exactly what Boehner did. And the White House said, ok, we’ll do it on Thursday.
Well now. Perry is up to his old tricks. Does anyone really think that Perry will show up in California on Wednesday? Will the wildfires be under control by then? (The state has been burning all this spring and summer, and Perry made a big stink about a disaster declaration in May.)
I predict that the GOP debate on Wednesday will just be the same old boring candidates that have participated in the previous debates, and they will say the same old things. The only news will be if one of the candidates slips up and lets out the n-word.
I also predict that all of the usual suspects will be making excuses for Perry about why he skipped DeMint’s “Forum” and the debate. They just are that predictable.
*The despicable DeMint: “Frankly I am so tired of his speeches, it’s going to be hard for me to watch.”
calle viena 