GOP in a panic, scraping the bottom of the barrel

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

In the wake of the GOP presidential primary debacle, two more names are now being floated as possible contenders, both of whom are polarizing figures.

Chris Cillizza reports that Texas state's rights secessionist "Governor Goodhair," Rick Perry, is now getting a second look. Will Rick Perry run for president in 2012? – The Fix:

In the aftermath of Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels’ decision not to run for president in 2012 over the weekend, one name is drawing lots of attention as a possible late entrant who could fundamentally re-shape the Republican race: Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

“Daniels’ decision, coupled with [Mike] Huckabee’s and Newt’s [Gingrich] implosion, will create a tornado-size draft for Rick Perry,” predicted Mark McKinnon, a GOP media consultant who worked with President George W. Bush. “He’s tanned, rested and got nothing else to do for the next two years.”

Matt Dowd, who handled polling for Bush’s campaign, made a similar prediction on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday. “I actually think that Governor Perry in Texas is probably going to reconsider,” Dowd said.

And, conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh has been touting Perry’s “potential to light this up” of late.

Sounds like a GW body double, doesn't it? To his credit Governor Goodhair, so far, is having none of it:

Perry has expressed not only a disinterest in running for a president but a disdain for Washington. “You won’t see me there,” Perry said about Washington in a 2009 New York Times profile. And late in 2010, Perry pledged to serve out his full four-year term; “I may not be alive in four years,” he said. “I plan on being alive and I plan on being the governor of Texas.”

And, Perry [who] has built a career on the necessity of returning power to the states (he once seemed to threaten that Texas could secede from the union), a platform that might make it somewhat awkward for him to declare that he wants to come to the capital city to run the government. [Ya think!]

Another Texas Teabagger, the titular head of the Koch brothers' FreedomWorks, Dick Armey, says it's 'Time to start drafting Paul Ryan' for president. Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX) is unimpressed with the remaining Republican candidates:

"We have about 2 million activists across the country, and frankly we're disappointed," Armey told CNN's Candy Crowley Sunday. "Now, obviously, we'll have to start looking, and I was just saying this morning maybe it's time to start drafting Paul Ryan."

"We understand the fiscal crisis of this nation and this nation's government faces is so acute that somebody's got the stand up and take on the big issues. Paul Ryan has done that."

Armey was joined today by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), who threw his support behind a presidential bid from his friend and fellow political ally, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI). Cantor Backs Rep. Ryan 2012 Presidential Bid | TPMDC:

Ryan in the past 24 hours has become the focus of a political chatter about a potential presidential bid as other prominent Republicans bowed out of the race and former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) campaign stumbled right out of the starting gate over his criticism of the Ryan Medicare plan.

Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," Ryan repeatedly denied he was running, although he didn't rule it out.

Riiiight. The guy who wants to kill Medicare, a plan overwhelmingly rejected by the American public, is who the Tea-Publicans want at the top of their ticket. Can you say "electoral blowout"?

"Cantor also told reporters that candidates for the Republican presidential nomination should embrace the Ryan budget, including the Medicare proposal," i.e., now the GOP litmus test.

Please, I am begging you! I would love for Tea-Publicans to be so foolish as to make this Randian bedwetter their presidential nominee and make every Republican walk the plank with a litmus test pledge to kill Medicare. It will be the biggest Democratic victory since 1964.