ProPublica: Our Handy Guide to the Best Coverage on Gov. Rick Perry and His Record

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, image via WikipediaMr. Media® Radio Network • Email • Twitter • Facebook • LinkedIn • YouTube

by Braden Goyette
ProPublica, Aug. 18, 2011

This is the first installment in a series of reading guides on 2012 presidential candidates.
Rick Perry has made plenty of headlines since he announced his presidential bid. But with the deluge of day-to-day coverage, it’s hard to get a sense of his actual record. We’ve selected some of the best reading on Perry to help you get oriented.

The basics:

If you want to go beyond the bio on Perry's campaign page, Texas Monthly reporter Paul Burka’s guide for Yankee journalists is a good place to start. It’s a list of eight insights gleaned from covering Perry since the 1980s, including the ways that Perry has reinvented the role of governor in Texas, and how his rural upbringing has shaped his politics.

Perry is considered one of the most conservative 2012 GOP contenders. An interesting story in the National Review details how Perry is more conservative than his predecessor, former President George W. Bush. (The piece also dishes on Perry’s tense relationship with Bush.)

Perry is also known for being among the first politicians to embrace the Tea Party movement. Perry believes that homosexuality is wrong and has written about how secular humanism is bad for society. He has expressed skepticism about many Federal government programs and has called Social Security “a Ponzi scheme.”

At a rally in 2009, Perry told reporters that Texas might secede if it got too fed up with Washington. Perry’s campaign said this week that Perry does not advocate secession.

The Texas Observer also details Perry’s ties to the New Apostolic Reformation movement, a strain of Christian belief in which politics and faith are intertwined.

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VIDEO: Christine O'Donnell walks off Piers Morgan Tonight after question on gay marriage views (CNN)

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Look out! Rick's gonna pray again

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This weekend, Gov. Rick Perry is hosting his prayer party in Reliant Stadium in Houston. According to figures earlier this week, a little more than 10 percent of the stadium will be occupied. I am hopeful this is representative of the pull Gov. Good Hair has in the rest of the country.

Prayer thingies for political causes are fine. I had the misfortune of attending a "prayer breakfast" with Ronald Reagan during the Republican National Convention in Dallas in 1984. Really, they grabbed a bunch of kids from private schools to stand behind the president in Reunion Arena and look like a massive choir.

But these religified political rallies are as common as baby kissing. Unfortunately, Rick has a whole bunch of ugly supporting him this weekend. They include people who founded organizations deemed "hate groups" by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

I've made no bones about my dislike for the man. What bothers me more than anything is what this prayer rally will do for our long-term weather forecast. We are already in the middle of a scorching drought and heat wave. Dick Perry's last call for prayer – specifically for rain – seemed to lock a dome of high pressure over the state. This weekend may cause the earth to open and have us all swallowed up by hell.

On second thought, it is a risk my family and I are willing to take to save the country from the prospect of President Rick Perry.

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