Rick Perry 2.0

The New Rick Perry

In an effort to stay relevant and relaunch his campaign Rick Perry plans to participate in at least five more presidential primary debates, his campaign said Saturday, dismissing speculation that the Texas governor's lackluster performances so far would lead him to skip future Republican debates.

Debates are a funny thing.  You could be the perfect candidate, but if you sound or act bad, or say something that is interpreted badly the media will excoriate you.  You begin to look poor and by association, unelectable.

A quick look back on a Rick Perry moment in a debate during which he had to defend his policy on giving in-state tuition to illegal aliens.  Trying to defend that stance Rick Perry said it would be heartless to deny young students, through no fault of their own, an education.

Unfortunately the focus was on the fact he was giving illegal aliens a break and calling his conservative base heartless if they disagree with him.  This did not go over very well.

Take Rick Perry's most recent debate where he went after Mitt Romney with so much vitriol in his voice interrupting and not letting Mitt Romney speak, it made him look unhinged like someone who is grasping for last breaths.

Rick Perry has always maintained that he is not a great debater, and has even suggested that he may skip some upcoming debates and avoid sparring with other GOP candidates.  This really didn't go over well either.  The idea that he would skip some debates to avoid verbal sparring matches brings up the thought about how well he would do against a skilled debater such as Barack Obama.

"Shoot, I may get to be a good debater before this is all over," Perry joked during a campaign stop in New Hampshire on Friday.

Problem?

Perry's chief rival Romney has not agreed to any more debates yet.  Plus do we really want see these two keep throwing jambs at each other?  It certainly does not look good if the top two GOP candidates continue to air each others dirty laundry on public television versus tell the public how they will fix the economy.  The democrats certainly would like many more debates between these two.  The more they fight the more people get turned off to either one.

Solution

I have one.  How about we forget the one on one jabbing and stick to the issues at heart, namely the economy, jobs, the national debt.  Throw in national security like the border and our national interests abroad.  Tell me how you can fix regulations that choke our economic growth and how the government can be shrunk to manageable size.  For that matter how about making sure my civil rights are not trampled on. 

Links

Tempers Flare
Attending more debates