"Dumb" is a relative term. At least in my family. I've got lots of dumb relatives! But, that's neither here nor there because I'm going to be writing about dumb politicians, one in particular.
It has become even more obvious in recent years that you need not be smart to be a politician. You can be tall or short, fat or thin, hairy or bald, male or female (although it's easier to get elected if you're a male), educated or uneducated, and you can be smart or dumb as a cow pie.
I mention cow pies because Rick Perry, the erstwhile governor of the Lone Star State, came from the farm and knows all about cow pies. I'd bet money he's stepped into many of them. His shoes may still contain remnants of his farming days.
Some farmers are very intelligent, very smart. I worked for a few of the smart ones when I was a kid. Others are dumb as cow pies. Perry is in the latter category. Maybe he was farm-schooled?
He's got other problems, too. He somehow contracted the religious right wing disease. And because of that he believes all kinds of crazy stuff like there is a god up in the sky who he can talk to and get directions from and the world as we know it was created 6,000 years ago, and everything in the Bible is the "word" of his God and true, true, true.
That's probably why Perry, in spite of the fact that he's a governor and governors are not supposed to endorse any religion, endorses the fundamentalist Christian religion, helps organize and attends prayer meetings and religious rallies, and loves to pray "in Jesus' name".
He also against gays, gay marriage, abortion. He just doesn't understand why public schools can't lead all the kiddos in prayers to his god.
Being a right winger, he thinks the Soviet Union is really bad. Well, he might know by now there is no Soviet Union anymore, but he sure as hell hates Russia and that big bear, Putin. Like so many other Repugnican politicos he doubtless thinks President Obama is a Commie Muslim and Democrats are just Commies in disguise. He's so far right that not long ago he suggested Texas might have to secede from the Union because the federal government was being mean and dictatorial (he neglected to mention that Texas receives more money from the feds than any other state).
Perry did go to college. Texas A&M. He didn't learn much.
Considering all of these things, I was surprised, no, devastated, to read that the Board of Regents at Texas A&M voted to name the "main academic building at A&M after Governor Perry." (Full disclosure: I am an Aggie!)
Perry said this gesture was "a great honor."
Oops. The Regents, not being very smart themselves, forgot to take a gander at Perry's academic record. Not so good. He almost didn't graduate and strained to make a 2.5 grade average. Yikes!
Students at A&M decided that they didn't want their main academic building named after a dumbass who barely graduated and to whom "academic" is a swear word. So, over 7,000 of them signed a petition circulated by the student Senate asking the Board of Regents to reconsider their ill-conceived plan.
So, the board of Regents reconsidered. Perry, hearing about the brouhaha, requested that the building not be named after him. Heh, heh. Maybe he's not so dumb, after all.
Well, yes he is. He's currently under indictment for political chicanery.
h/t to Crooks and Liars.
