All's fair in love and politics
"The Best Little Whore in Texas": Rolling Stone takes down Rick Perry
If you're a Republican candidate for president (or a notorious Wall Street firm), getting ripped apart by Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi is just part of the job.
This month it's Rick Perry's turn.
Taibbi isn't one to pull his punches, and in "The Best Little Whore in Texas," he delves into some of Perry's most controversial projects, including his executive order mandating HPV shots for 12-year-old girls, the Trans-Texas Corridor and the aborted attempt to let UBS take out life insurance on Texas' retired teachers.
But while Perry's debate performance, college report card, former hunting grounds and secessionist grandstanding have earned more media attention of late, Taibbi instead focuses in on what he terms Perry's cronyism and payola politics that make "Texas ... run much like a Soviet protectorate."
Examining each through the prism of campaign donations by the parties who would benefit, Taibbi also looks at Perry's biggest donors, including homebuilder Bob Perry and energy billionaire Harold Simmons, and how their interests thrived under the Perry administration.
When you ask what Perry's true nature is — the first and principal thing that defines him — there's just one answer: favors. Favors are the one consistent thread running through Perry's political career. Throughout his time as governor, whenever his ideology or his religion comes into conflict with the need to give a handout to a major campaign donor, ideology and religion lose every single time."
Aside from a quick swipe at Perry's lightweight political messaging — Taibbi calls him "the Adolf Hitler of shallow" — the article is more wonkish than withering, digging up a decade of political contributions and their results.
Based on the donations Perry has collected, it costs an average of $39,354 to buy a seat on the board of a state university. Landing a state road project runs about half a million, while creating an entire government commission specifically designed to protect your business interests will run you more than $13 million."
Interestingly, someone unfamiliar with Taibbi's track record might think he's a disillusioned Tea Partier — the article spends a lot of time tearing down Perry's image as a "real" small-government conservative, with helpful quotes from Perry's Tea Party-approved primary opponent, Debra Medina.
So is Perry too conservative, or not conservative enough? What do you think of Rolling Stone's Perry portrait?
