Texas Governor Rick Perry is, to this blogger, a very scary guy and the speech he gave at the Response religious event of two days ago only makes me shudder all the more. It’s not so much that Governor Perry gave the speech, but how he did it: trying to fake muster the language and intonation of a pastor, rather than speaking as a politician.
The other thing that I found annoying was Governor Perry made sure to have C.L. Jackson, the African American pastor who switched from Democrat to Republican, close by his side, and made sure to give him a big hug, too.
In short, C.L. Jackson allowed Rick Perry to use him as a tool. A tool to help bat off charges that the American Family Association, the producers of The Response, have “a long history of “making derogatory remarks about gays and lesbians, progressives, Native Americans, African Americans and non-Christians.”
Perry figured he’d better go in with C.L. Jackson, both because Jackson’s black, and because African American ministers had called for Perry to have the AFA back away from its statements – that didn’t happen.
Perry could have shown the right leadership and at least took a stand, but instead he asked C.L. Jackson to stand for him in black face that was given at birth. Well, C.L. Jackson’s certainly a friend to do that, but Perry did himself no favors by placing his friend in such a terrible position.
It makes Perry look dishonest and manipulative, and more, not less, like Mitt Rommney.
Stay tuned.
Bill Carroll