August 17, 2011 6:30 AM

Will Rick Perry's Texas swagger help or hurt?

By
Brian Montopoli
Topics
Campaign 2012
DES MOINES, IA - AUGUST 15: Republican presidential candidate and Texas Governor Rick Perry speaks to visitors at the Iowa State Fair August 15, 2011 in Des Moines, Iowa. The visit is part of Perry's first campaign trip to Iowa since declaring he would seek the Republican nomination for president on August 13. (Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

The first time you see Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry, it hits you immediately: The Texas governor has the swagger of a movie star. It's there in his alpha-male confidence, his Marlboro Man drawl, his propensity for cowboy boots. This is a guy who used one shot with his laser-sighted pistol to take out a coyote that was menacing his dog during a jog last year; at the Iowa state fair Monday, as he "chomped on meat and a hard-boiled egg and struck rugged poses," the strong gun rights advocate notably declined to tell Politico's Ben Smith whether he was packing.  

Perry's swagger has helped him become the longest-serving governor in Texas history. Comments that have raised red flags among some Americans - such as his suggestion that Texas may have to secede from the union if "Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people" - have only enhanced Perry's reputation among his supporters. Perry was born in rural Texas to a pair of tenant farmers; he has discussed in interviews how he didn't have indoor plumbing when he was young, and how cracks in the walls allowed dust storms to leave a coating of dust on the couch. For many Republicans, particularly Tea Partiers desperate for a populist voice, he represents a welcome break both from what they see as the passionless, urban intellectualism of President Obama and the calculating, country-club Republicanism of Perry's chief rival for the nomination, Mitt Romney. 

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Yet Perry's off-the-cuff style - which stands in stark contrast to many of his rivals, who can be almost impossible to knock off their talking points - can get him into trouble. On Monday, just two days after officially kicking off his campaign, Perry said that if Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke decides to start "printing more money," it's "almost treasonous," adding that "we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas." 

The comment prompted denunciations, and not just from Democrats. Republicans aligned with former President George W. Bush - many of whom, it should be noted, disdain Perry - called the comment "inappropriate and unpresidential," in the words of former White House and Treasury Department spokesman Tony Fratto. Karl Rove added: "Governor Perry is going to have to fight the impression that he's a cowboy from Texas. This simply added to it."  

According to Republican strategist Mary Matalin, being seen as a "cowboy from Texas" isn't such a problem. Asked about Perry's swagger, Matalin sent an email lauding the Texas governor's "grit."

"People of all persuasions are sick, sick, SICK of mollycoddling, pandering and Edwardian (as in John Edwards) phoniness," said Matalin. "It doesn't get any more real than Perry. The elite may call it 'swagger'; I call it a real man with real convictions and the courage to stand up for them, which happen to comport with the majority of Americans. Or as they say in Texas, he is hat and cattle. And the coupe de gras, he is a spiritually anchored and philosophically happy warrior."

The risk for Perry, who has never had to compete on a national stage, is that his willingness to tell-it-like-he-thinks-it-is will prompt him to make a comment so incendiary that it sinks his campaign. There are signs that his campaign has realized as much: On Tuesday, as CBS News political analyst John Dickerson noted, Perry seemed to dial back the rough-and-tumble rhetoric, speaking in softer tones and abandoning "the preacherlike cadence" he had employed the previous day.

At left, CBS News political analyst John Dickerson discusses Perry's campaign on the CBS Evening News.

Yet Perry cannot walk away from his confrontational, walk-the-line style if he wants to win the nomination - that style, after all, is a large part of what draws conservatives to him in the first place. If Perry retreats too obviously into careful talking points and poll-tested messaging, he'll start to look to many in the Republican base like just another politician, and thus the last person they want to send to Washington.

The good news for Perry is that in the current political environment, it's tough for a Republican presidential candidate to go too far in criticizing President Obama. Asked Tuesday if the president loves his country, Perry said he'd have to ask him; in his speech announcing his candidacy, he accused Mr. Obama of "downgrading the hope for a better future for our children." Neither comment stirred any sort of real trouble.

The bigger challenge for the candidate will come in trying to draw distinctions with Romney and the rest of the Republican field. Perry needs to hang on to the charm that turned him into a frontrunner without alienating those GOP primary voters more interested in economic recovery than incendiary rhetoric. Whether he can pull off that balancing act may well dictate whether he emerges from the sure-to-be-contentious primary season as the last man standing.

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Rick Perry on the campaign trail

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Add a Comment See all 447 Comments
by digdeepernow August 20, 2011 7:25 PM EDT
If Governor Perry would give at least five specific and rational actions to take to get our economy back to a healthy state, he would be taken seriously, but to mainly attack President Obama, as he has done so far, only makes him another political hack with plenty of complaints but with zero solutions. America is getting tired of leaders with only bold and charming personalities who can't tell us how, when and what to do to solve our most critical problems. America wants positive and doable answers, not postering blame-pointers who threaten our fed, while at the same time have used billions in fed money to advance their own states. Having it both ways is a common behavior by so many politicians, and Governor Perry falls into this class of politician more than most.
The 40% increase of Texas government employees during his term since the 2008 financial collapse, tells us he believes in a larger goverment, yet he rants about reducing the government as the major way to advance our economy. Governor Perry, you can't have it both ways!
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by gep1955 August 19, 2011 2:07 PM EDT
Where is the CBS article asking about Obama's swagger, outright arrogance and dismissal towards the people of this nation?
Reply to this comment
by john_chen_921 August 19, 2011 12:04 PM EDT
It's "coup de grace," not "coupe de gras," which means "cup of fat" in French, if it means anything at all. If that's Matalin's typo, then a "sic" is in order.
Reply to this comment
by Bisk1 August 19, 2011 11:12 AM EDT
by dan1511 August 18, 2011 4:21 PM EDT
Hopefully you have survival skills. The ecomomy is getting really to go into a DEEP depression. You will see MOBs of hungry people in the street. You will see tent cities. Gun's will be out. Neighbor against neighbor. I have been getting military meals MRE's and ammo. I have an exit plan to Mexico if needed. Obama and Congress on vacation while a meltdown is going on.

*****************************

What a dumb dumb Repug !!
Reply to this comment
by Drid_Williams August 18, 2011 9:09 PM EDT
In answer to the question, "will the swagger help or hurt?" In my opinion, it will hurt. I wouldn't vote for him -- that's for sure.
The U.S. needs mentality, not macho.
Reply to this comment
by texanna33 August 20, 2011 11:49 AM EDT
You are so right! I am stunned by Mary Maitlin's comments, she knows better. I gues she's just doing her job for the GOP. I am a lifelong Texan. Perry is about as genuine as a $3 bill. He's a liar who will flip flop in a minute if it will put money in his pocket. Heck. he used to be a Democrat!He headed Al Gore's committe on global warming. He, as are most republicans, is obsessed with controlling womens' reproductive rights and you would think he hated children since he could care less about education, health insurance for children or even if they are fed. It will be interesting to follow his campaign as more of these truths about him are discovered. His only explanation will be a "gritty" sound bite. He makes George W Bush look like a genious and his arrogance is beyond belief. He is all hat and NO cattle, Mary!
by ALBrainTrust13 August 18, 2011 7:06 PM EDT
OF COURSE IT WILL HURT......WHO OUT THERE IS READY FOR "W" ROUND III?
Reply to this comment
by Bisk1 August 19, 2011 11:08 AM EDT
marysan, based on what ??
by dadrees-2009 August 18, 2011 5:01 PM EDT
This idiot wears his arrogant ignorance like a suit of armor.
He hasn't even been in one debate yet and he's got all the hillbillies in a swoon.
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by noloyalisti August 18, 2011 4:37 PM EDT
That's all we need is another arrogant failed Texas governor to lead the third world nation of America. What scares me is that the Republicon Corporation that runs the country wants another Bush Crime Family in charge.
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by texanna33 August 20, 2011 12:19 PM EDT
Actually, Bush can't stand Perry. I'd bet he rues the day he ever laid eyes on Perry and set the arrogant monster in motion. I think he's a lot like John McCain who (whether he admits it or not)wishes he'd never heard the name Sara Palin. But, you are right we do not need another arrogant and basically stupid Texan in the White House.(I am not in any way saying all Texans are stupid but Perry really isn't very bright unless it has something to do with putting money in his pocket)
I was once a proud Texan but W took care of that. I just hope we get a little time to recover from what one Texan did to the country before we turn another one loose in Washington to finish the job.
by noloyalisti August 18, 2011 2:24 PM EDT
Is this lying, cheating Republicon a clone of Bushoccio? I think maybe he is much, much worse.
Reply to this comment
by konr22 August 18, 2011 12:53 PM EDT
Hey lookout! Corporate cowboys gone wild.
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