Perry, New Religious Guy, Will Not Play In Peoria

My favorite part of this is Perry being hot on the heels of Romney, who can't distinguish humanity from the mass of corporate bullshit we confront every day. He's against abortion and gay marriage and he doesn't like Obama.

Interesting that he doesn't take George Bush to task. Almost as if he had never been President at all, and he's from Texas too. Hmmm.

Perry is a strong fundraiser and can outpray the field. He wants to be President and he prays for America. Me too.

Republican Rick Perry, the conservative governor of Texas, on Saturday declared himself a candidate for president with a blistering attack on Democratic President Barack Obama.

"I realize that the United States of America really is the last great hope of mankind," Perry said, as he accused Obama of imperiling America's standing in the world with "disastrous economic policies" and the "incoherent muddle that they call foreign policy."

Delivering a speech to about 700 conservative activists in South Carolina, Perry, 61, touted his job creation record in Texas and promised to reduce taxes, business regulations and the overall role of government in people's lives. He said leaders in Washington have lacked courage and Obama's policies have "prolonged our national misery, not alleviated it."

"Mr. President, let us tell you something. You cannot win the future by selling America off to foreign creditors. We cannot afford four more years of this rudderless leadership," Perry said.

Perry's entry shakes up the race for the Republican nomination to face Obama in the November 2012 general election. Opinion polls indicate Perry already is close on the heels of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, the early Republican front-runner.

The announcement by Perry, who has made his deep Christian faith a big part of his public image, came one week after he led a seven-hour religious rally in Houston to pray for America, a nation he described as "in crisis."

The three-term Texas governor is an opponent of abortion rights and gay marriage. He is considered a strong fund-raiser.

[Reuters]