Ugh - I really didn't want to know this. You are who you surround yourself - possible bad move, Rick Perry? - Granite Grok

Ugh – I really didn’t want to know this. You are who you surround yourself – possible bad move, Rick Perry?

There are several people that I’m now starting to watch on the Republican side of the 2016 Presidential Primary (and several I have no intention of voting for as well).  Rick Perry is one of the former but there may be a lot of consideration going on after reading this news.  When I co-founded GraniteGrok, one of the things that caught my eye were the political campaign staffers, especially those here in NH that float from one candidate / advocacy group – the political musical chairs game.  Who ends up where, who are the grunt level work-a-day folks and up to the senior “strategists” and “advisors”.

Sidenote: frankly, I get more enjoyment talking with the lower level folks that tend to be much younger and work extremely hard for very little money.  And it is interesting to watch who works for who and see if principles count for something applied to who they work for (all the while knowing ya gotta earn something to support oneself).

So when RedState reported on the national senior hires that Rick Perry has just made, having noted their past words and actions, I cringed knowing that if it were up to them, folks like me would b

e kept a Texas mile away (fortunately, we have friends here in NH….!):

Let me say first of all that I like Rick Perry quite

a lot. I’ve had the privilege of meeting him personally on several occasions and I am impressed with his accomplishments as Governor of Texas. However, it’s time to confront the elephant in the room: Rick Perry has made some legitimately terrible hires during the course of his early 2016 campaign that leave me wondering what, exactly, he is trying to accomplish.

First, Perry brought McCain flunkie Steve Schmidt on board to help with his legal defense team. Schmidt, allegedly, was the brain child behind the notorious decision to “suspend” McCain’s campaign when the financial crisis hit in 2008, including the disastrous decision to bluff that McCain would not appear in one of the Presidential debates.

Then, he hired Henry Barbour, quite possibly the most despised campaign consultant in the entire conservative movement (apart from possibly John Weaver). Barbour, you may remember, was responsible for smearing conservatives in Mississippi as racist and using overtly race baiting campaign flyers in an attempt to drive Democrat votes to the polls for Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS)51% in the Mississippi primary. His actions were so egregious that some GOP members tried to get him censured.

Most recently, Perry hired Austin Barbour, another part of the despicable cadre of establishment Mississippi hacks that torpedoed the McDaniel campaign, to run his Super PAC.

From a political standpoint, it is difficult to see what Rick Perry is hoping to accomplish by hiring people who are such well-known enemies of the conservative grassroots.

I think, dollars to donuts, I would have rather seen his Texas Rangers protection squad than these folks – at least they’d keep him grounded.  With the above, I’m not sure that all their whispering in his ears that he would continue on the track he seemingly has started out on.  They will be pulling him to go Establishment as hard as they can – would Perry be able to fend that off?  Again, if they just even get him to ignore the grassroots and play to the Establishment, does he really think he could win?  Especially here in NH where the Conservative / Liberty & Freedom wings of the NH GOP have already let it be known what happens when we feel dissed?

Or would those national chuckleheads even see that tension – or override his local NH folks with an outsized ego display of hubris?  Given the names, I’m thinking no and yes to those questions.  Perry may have to upsize his listening to his potential voter universe a whole lot more.

But then again, I’m just an ordinary schlub from Central New Hampsha – what do I know?

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