FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Now that Texas Gov. Rick Perry is officially a candidate for president, we thought it would be a good time to spin through some of his greatest hits here in the Cafferty File.
In a column for The Daily Beast, CNN political contributor and fellow Texan Paul Begala said Perry, who "threw his hair in the ring" this weekend, will say or do absolutely anything to win.
That includes calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme, and saying both it and Medicare are unconstitutional.
Perry has also flirted with secession and presided over the execution of one of his constituents who was probably innocent.
In questioning Perry's intellectual capacity for the job, Begala points to his very mediocre grades at Texas A&M, or as Begala calls it, "this cute remedial school we have in Texas."
One of the things Perry likes to talk about is how Texas leads the nation in job creation. But Paul Krugman in The New York Times calls this so-called economic miracle a myth.
Turns out the Texas unemployment rate is higher than in states like Massachusetts and New York and one in four Texans doesn't have health insurance. That's the highest rate in the nation.
Krugman writes that the idea of a Texas miracle comes from the economic effects of population growth. Because the population has been growing faster in Texas than the rest of the United States, job growth is also higher there than in other states.
And, because the rapid growth in the Texas workforce keeps wages low, lots of companies want to move production there.
Almost 10% of Texan workers earn minimum wage or less. There's a joke down there about Texas job creation that goes, "Sure, Perry has created thousands of jobs. I'm working three of them."
Here’s my question to you: Are you buying what Texas Governor Rick Perry is selling?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Doug in Miller Place, New York:
Jack, We have over 300 million people in this country. Are you telling me that the best candidates we have to offer are Obama, Romney, Bachmann, and now this guy Perry? It's a sad, sad state of affairs. My brother lives in Texas, and he tells me that Perry's intelligence makes Bush look like a Nobel laureate.
David in Missouri:
Absolutely, Jack. It’s not that I don't like Obama. It’s that I don't want to live in a socialist country crushed by a government that knows what is best for me whether I like it or not. So I will vote for Rick Perry so that I can be free.
John in Cedar Rapids, Iowa:
Of course not! But many will buy Perry's look and high energy. Substance need not apply.
Karen on Facebook:
Oh yes, let's vote him in because Texas only has 8.2% unemployment and 10% of all jobs are minimum wage. That sounds like the solution America needs to the economic crisis: "Read my lips...no new Texans"!
D.:
Judging by how much this man is hated by every facet of the left wing, including most of the comments here, I say: Yes, I am buying what he's selling. There's nothing I love more than seeing loony lefties go crazy over what anybody on the right says or does or thinks. I say to Rick Perry, "Do not back down."
Mia:
Buying? I wouldn't take it if he was giving it away!
Karl:
No thanks, Jack, I'll pass. I don't want to over-fertilize my lawn.
Oscar:
Perry is an incompetent narcissist from a backwards state. I predict he will be our next president.