No, seriously.  He said that.  Out loud.

“Running for the presidency is not an IQ test. It is a test of an individual’s resolve, it is a test of an individual’s philosophy, it is a test of an individual’s life experiences,” he told MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt in an interview that aired Thursday. “And I think Americans are ready for a leader that will give them a great hope about the future.”

And then as if to prove the whole bottoming IQ thing and providing hope to people, Perry explains that God wants you to be poor so shut the hell up about it.

Outgoing Texas Gov. Rick Perry shrugged off wealth inequality, saying the Bible showed poverty could never be eliminated.

“Biblically, the poor are always going to be with us in some form or fashion,” Perry told the Washington Post.

Okay, so Texas is the fifth-highest level of income inequality in the U.S but Perry says that’s okay because God said it was okay.  Besides, there’s this ….

He said a young man who dropped out of high school in South Texas could make more than $100,000 a year as a truck driver.

Perry acknowledged that the richest Texans have experienced the greatest amount of earnings growth, but dismissed the notion that income inequality is a problem in the state, saying, “We don’t grapple with that here.”

Where?  Where are truck drivers making $100,000 a year?  Maybe they are, if they are hauling drugs.

Okay, so maybe half that. But, Perry says you could hope your wage would double.  Expect no help from him, though, because he is admittedly dumber than a sack of hammers.

Now here’s the sad part, he said all this butt crazy stuff after he “has been working with speech coaches from a Republican firm run by a former actor with the Royal Shakespeare Company.”  Well see, that’s the problem right there.  They should have gotten a cast member from Dumb and Dumber.

Thanks to everybody and their Aunt Betty Lou for the heads up.