Come to find out, George W Bush was not impressed with Rick Perry.

Former President George W. Bush didn’t have the best things to say about his Texas successor in the governor’s mansion when he called up Mitt Romney during the 2012 Republican presidential primaries, according to a new book.

“People thought I was dumb. Well, wait till you get a load of this guy,” Bush told Romney, now a Republican US Senator, about then-Texas Gov. Rick Perry, according to a rendition of the exchange in “Thank You for Your Servitude: Donald Trump’s Washington and the Price of Submission.”

And, Honey, it’s been downhill in Texas ever since. If Greg Abbott wins in November, we’ll have to go to Oklahoma to find our next governor.

Oh, I see he’s met Rick.

As the January 6th Committee focuses all its attention on TFG, the evidence presented makes it indisputable that not only is he a Giant ShitBag, he’s a criminal guilty of seditious conspiracy and other crimes.  Life for TFG is going to radically change in coming months with dozens of lawsuits and even criminal charges in his future.  Recent polls are showing his death grip on the GOP is weakening, and many Republican voters are beginning to look elsewhere for 2024.

While I welcome Trump finally facing the music, taking him out politically presents a conundrum – besides Biden, the Dems have no candidate groomed or positioned to run for president in 2024.  With Trump out of the way, the next choice for the GOP is Ron DeSantis who I would describe as TFG, only smart.  DeSantis understands what issues drive his base to the polls and he is relentless.  He’s been trying to get to the right of every other possible candidate in the last 2 years especially Abbott in their race to the Crazy Train 2024.  After TFG, DeSantis is polling stronger by multiples than everyone else on the train.  For the Dems, that’s not good.

I love me some Joe Biden, but he’s going to be 82 in 2024.  That’s simply too old, especially up against a much younger loudmouthed opponent like DeSantis.  That match up simply won’t turn out well.  The big problem for the Dems is that there is no other obvious choice; Kamala polls around 37% approval, and currently polls about even with DeSantis and her name recognition is much higher than his, at least for now.  That’s not great.  Behind her are, Schiff? Newsom? Warren? Sanders? (God, please no). Booker? Roy Cooper? (gov of NC). Klobuchar? AOC? Buttigieg? Sherrod Brown?  Of all these possibilities, Brown seems the strongest choice as he’s done well for years in Ohio which is more conservative than it is liberal.  Buttigieg is a possible, especially now that he’s a cabinet secretary, but I’m not convinced he’ll have a enough broad appeal, especially with low information voters.  The rest are either not ready (AOC) or unelectable, like Warren and Sanders.

In the end, the Dems face a tough choice.  I would vote for any Dem over DeSantis, but I’m not your typical voter, and this is the problem for 2024.  Typical voters don’t pay close attention until it’s almost too late, and tend to follow the herd.  That’s how TFG eked out a win in 2016; DeSantis has the advantage for 2024 of a strong base and coming from probably THE key battleground state giving him a huge leg up on everyone else.

Such is the problem with the Dems; unlike the GOP, the Dems do almost no grass roots growing, and that makes the party weaker.  One illustration of the difference between the two parties is that of the pyramid.  Repubs build a broad base, running for school boards, precinct chairs, and town councils. On this base is built a large population of up and coming politicians, and those who rise to the top become the leading candidates with president on the top of the pyramid.  The Dems do the opposite; there’s very little broad grass roots work so presidential candidates are on their own to get enough attention to get nominated (Obama was the textbook example of that).  Once the candidate is selected, the entire party then piles onto that candidate forming an upside down pyramid that is 100% dependent on the candidate; if he/she fails, the entire party collapses and then has to rebuild.  Relentless grass roots development is how the GOP has come to dominate in most states, and the Dems haven’t figured it out yet.

That brings us to 2024.  The January 6th Committee stands a really good chance of taking out TFG either by actual criminal charges from the DOJ or at least damaging him enough to kill his 2024 chances.  That brings DeSantis, who’s a much stronger candidate.  The Dems don’t have an answer for that.  It ain’t pretty, and I’m not hopeful.

If you’re not watching the hearing, drop what you’re doing and go watch the teevee.

Stunning.

Oh my, my head got all congested watching the James Webb telescope this morning. Science is hard y’all. We are so blessed to have Herschel Walker make it easy for us.

Herschel Walker says America already has the cleanest air in the world, and if we put money into the Green New Deal, all of our good clean air will decide to float over to China’s bad air. And their bad air will float to America and we will have to clean it up again. pic.twitter.com/XhVmVXxCUD

— KerrBear (@MPLSKerrBear) July 11, 2022

Also, there is no reason to clean your swimming pool. If you start with the shallow end, all the clean water will quickly float to the deep end and then you have to clean the shallow end again because now it’s filled with the deep end water and it’s like really tall.

These helpful tips were brought to you by the University of Georgia and football head injuries. Head injuries: they last a lifetime. Get you some!

Okay, Alex Jones is set to go to trial in Austin, Texas, next week.  To tell you the truth, everybody here is sitting on pins and needles waiting to see what stunt he pulls next to stall the process one more damn time.

I think we have our answer. He’s decided to show how much he loves America by cutting off his own appendages. Apparently he’s going for the “I’m insane. Just look at the blood.” defense.

Mr Jones unsheathed a knife and said he wanted to cut off one of his fingers to show how grateful he was to his audience.

“And that’s why when I salute you — I’m not into self-harming, but I just actually want to take this dagger and just cut a finger off right on air to show you how much I appreciate you and what you’ve done,” he said, adding, “Giving up a finger to beat these people is nothing!”

He is not insane. He knows perfectly well what he’s doing. You’ll notice that he’s not giving up his trigger or bullhorn finger.

However, if he really wants to impress everybody, he picked the wrong damn appendage.

A few people commented on yesterday’s post. I was reminded of another event earlier in my life that might cast light on the subject. The commenter basically said that the rich don’t deserve their tax breaks and corporate welfare. I would agree except we have a fundamental problem with that line of thinking.

I remember going to downtown Fort Worth with some classmates to go watch a movie. They came upon a homeless guy and agreed to buy him a Whataburger. However, there was a string attached. He would have to accept a Bible before he would get any of the food. The bargain seemed cruel, but even worse was the assumption behind it.

See, why does he need a Bible? We are assuming that his plight is somehow connected to a lack of faith. If he had more faith then maybe he would be more successful. The Old Testament is full of these stories. Success is tied to virtue. The virtuous have success and the poor and destitute lack virtue. So, you see a homeless man that is hungry and down on his luck and it must be because he has angered God somehow. Therefore, he needs religion to get back on his feet.

Therefore, captains of industry have earned their success through virtue. They’ve earned it through hard work. They’ve earned it through doing the right thing and avoiding the wrong things. Therefore, if someone brings up corporate welfare and whether they deserve their tax breaks the answer will undoubtedly be yes. See, they do right by God and therefore they will do right if we give them the breaks. They’ve earned their reward.

What we understand is that this is really not the case. The successful people are not necessarily the best people. They may not be the most talented people. They may have just been lucky. The reverse is also true of those that struggle. Maybe they made some key mistakes or made bad choices. Maybe they were just the victims of bad luck. We have no way of knowing one way or the other just by looking at them.

Government spending can’t be about who deserves what. Government spending has to do the most amount of good for the most amount of people. Government is charged with protecting our life, liberty, and property. Government is charged with making us better people. They do that through a social safety net. They do that through public works like education, endowment of the arts, or scientific study. They do that by protecting consumers, workers, and citizens from those that would prey on them. They do that by providing security through police and our legal system.

So, the question of corporate welfare vs. welfare for the poor isn’t a question of who deserves it. It is a question of how sound an investment it is. If we help poor people escape poverty we benefit society. If we give rich people more money they usually pocket it or funnel it to stockholders. So, it is ultimately about benefit.

If we forgive college loans, offer free community college, or eliminate interest then we allow young people to spend more. They might be able to afford that first home. That first home is the start of building generational wealth. When we elevate more people out of poverty or into the middle class we benefit more. So, it is ultimately about benefit and not about being deserving.