Now I’m not saying that Rick Perry is a sleazy politician who would do something really slick to get what he wants …. oh hell, that”s exactly what I’m saying.

Here’s the deal.  September 17, 2004:

Gov. Rick Perry today announced the appointment of Dan Shelley, a former state representative and state senator from Houston, as the new legislative director on his staff.

“Dan Shelley will be a strong addition to my administration,” Perry said. “His eight years in the Texas Legislature and the relationships he has developed with legislators over the years will be valuable during the 2005 legislative session.”

Shelley, an attorney who most recently has worked as a government consultant and lobbyist, previously served as legislative director for former Gov. George W. Bush.

July 14, 2011.  Veterans for Rick Perry is formed.  The treasurer?  Bernadette Shelley, the wife of Dan Shelley.  Cripes!  That’s got more Astroturf than any football field in America.

Everybody who believes that this new Super PAC will be operated completely independently from the nascent Rick Perry presidential campaign please raise your hand.

Yeah, I didn’t think so.

By the way, Perry’s non-campaign started running ads in Iowa today.

Thanks to Alfredo over at the Dairy Queen for the heads-up.

Oh, Louie.  Oh no.  Not again.  Please tell me you didn’t sell your soul to the devil again.

Even you folks from foreign states know Texas Congressvarmint Louie Gohmert as the craziest man allowed to walk around outside Casa Ratcrap Crazy.

He’s made headlines again.

Here’s the picture.

And here’s the story:

I would only note that the person Rep. Gohmert is standing next to, David Halvri, is someone I met in the 90s when he still called himself David Axelrod (no relation, as far as I can tell, to the other David Axelrod), and when he was a leader of the Kach movement, founded by the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, and of Kahane Chai, the successor organization to Kach. Kach men, of course, are fascist fundamentalists. HaIvri was arrested in Israel for celebrating the death of Yitzhak Rabin; he was also jailed for six months for desecrating a mosque. He has also been associated with groups that have been included on the State Department list of terrorist organizations. Just noting this for the record.

I haven’t seen Louie look that happy since …. well, since the last time somebody slipped a dollars in his pocket.

And the folks from New York had fun comparing Louie to Leon Trotsky.  Please let me assure them that Louie has no idea who Leon Trotsky is.  The only Leon he knows is Leon Frontage over at Big, No I mean REALLY Big, Leon’s Pulled Pork Emporium in Lufkin.

Thanks to David for the heads-up.

So, it ain’t just the ladies at The World’s Most Dangerous Beauty Salon, Inc. who wonder which Rick Perry will take to the campaign trail.

As Texas’ governor laces up his presidential running shoes, you might wonder which Rick Perry will hit the campaign trail.

There’s the Perry who said same-sex marriage is an issue for states to decide, and the one who emphasized his support for a U.S. constitutional amendment specifying that marriage is between a man and a woman.

There’s the Perry who’s promoted a focus on abstinence in sex education and gladdened social conservatives by pushing for abortion restrictions, and the one who tried to require preteen girls to be vaccinated against a sexually transmitted vi