The Rick Perry Show (Bedknobs and Bailouts)

So here’s a conundrum; Mark Hensch is a talented enough writer to land a job at The Hill, yet his article this morning, under the headline, “Perry: Americans want ‘fairness’ for Wall Street”, makes exactly no sense. Perhaps Mr. Hensch … er … um … right. You know―

Former Gov. Rick Perry (R-Texas) said on Sunday that Americans are hungry for a government that treats them the same as big Wall Street firms.

“Americans want to see fairness in that,” Perry told host Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday.”

“What is wrong is Washington bailing out companies that make bad decisions,” he added, citing the federal bailout of firms during the 2008 financial crisis.

“In today’s world, a lot of Americans are out there saying, ‘What are these people on Wall Street getting rich for?’” Perry, a GOP presidential candidate, asked.

Perry cited his rural upbringing and humble background as proof he is relatable to the citizens he meets on the campaign trail.

“Americans are ready for a great success story,” he said. “We have a social compact with one generation to the next.”

―this is Rick Perry, after all.

To wit, is the Republican presidential candidate actually suggesting a (cough!) “government takeover” of personal debt?

Sure, we can go with, “Probably not”, but still, just what in the world is going on? And, you know, we can always blame Mr. Hensch, because in reviewing headline and content we find that cuffs and collar don’t match. But still, I’m not certain that’s the problem.

Because, in the end, this is still Rick Perry we’re talking about.

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Hensch, Mark. “Perry: Americans want ‘fairness’ for Wall Street”. The Hill. 21 June 2015.

What Folks in “Middle America” Call “Family Values”

Okay, so, there is certainly a lot going in Indiana, but it seems worth checking in on this small point:

An Indiana pizzeria under fire for saying it would refuse to cater a gay wedding shut down on Wednesday after its owners said they received threatening messages.

However, a GoFundMe page set up for Memories Pizza in Walkerton has raised more than $40,000 in just six hours.

The pizzeria made national headlines this week when its owners called the business a “Christian establishment” and said the state’s contentious Religious Freedom Restoration Act would allow it to refuse to make pizzas for a hypothetical gay wedding.

That led to a flood of angry reviews on Yelp as well as the threatening messages.

“I don’t know if we will re-open, or if we can, if it’s safe to re-open,” co-owner Crystal O’Connor told TheBlaze, the news network run by conservative talk show host Glenn Beck. “We’re in hiding basically, staying in the house.”

The fundraiser was set up by Dana Loesch of TheBlaze, and Lawrence B. Jones III, a contributor to the network.

“Nobody should ever have to suffer or suffer alone for their faith, for standing up for Christian principles,” Loesch said on her broadcast.

(Mazza)

So you pick a fight on behalf of bigotry, and people send you money. This is the real face of “Middle America” and its “family values”.

Then again, this is Indiana, after all.

Eighteen Thousand

“Add it all up, and Obama’s radicalism has killed the Dow to the tune of a 171 percent return since Boskin’s op-ed.”

—Matt O’Brien

It seems something of a petty reward, occasionally witnessing the press undergoing a market value correction. Matt O’Brien recalls a 2009 op-ed, and those who recall the narrative of our American economy over the coure of the last several years might find some sort of comfort in knowing that, having passed Obama’s final electoral test, we can all admit that the tales we spun over the course of his presidency have been so much excrement.

Oh, come on. How many people are willing to admit it, now that we’re through the year-six midterm? All of that equivocation in order to pretend there really was some sort of debate to be had about not so much whether or not the wild-eyed tales of Republican horror were true or false, but just how true we were supposed to believe they were.

Admit it. Even when you were trying to be “fair”, nodding and winking at the talk over the corner table at the tavern, you knew it was all a fertilizer manufactory.

We have tried, over recent years, to redefine everything in order to keep up the appearance of a fair fight.

Ask yourself this: What do you want a President to do? And if he really does it, will you turn around and complain?

The economy is doing fine, and has been for a while. What isn’t doing fine is our business sector; was a time when civic and business leaders were often one and the same. These days, business leaders are the antithesis of anything civic save for dissolution.

It’s okay to admit you were wrong. It’s even okay to wonder why you were so determined to be wrong.

But let us face the real fact: This president was never the problem.

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O’Brien, Matt. “Now that the Dow has hit 18,000, let us remember the worst op-ed in history”. The Washington Post. 23 December 2014.