There has been been a lot of squawking from the media but if you get past the fact that they both talk with a West Texas accent they have very little in common. For one thing it is Perry's native accent and not one he acquired. Bush was a privileged son who acted the part of west Texas cowboy. Perry was a dry land farmer who grew up without in door plumbing and is a West Texas cowboy. Bush went to Yale and Harvard while Perry went to Texas A&M. Bush joined the national guard pilot while Perry flew in the real air force. Bush was a moderate who was almost as interested in social programs as a democrat. Perry is a conservative who is more concerned with cutting taxes and spending than he is with leaving no child behind. The press won't like him but hey when is that new for a republican? Perry's hard social conservationism is a going to be a bigger draw back than his accent and since most of the people shallow enough to judge a person by their accent live in hard blue sates I think how much it will hurt him is over rated. The left will hate him every bit as much as they hated Bush but again what does that matter? They will hate anyone who doesn't think like them.

Perry is going to be a strong primary candidate who appeals to the tea party and social conservatives enough to stump Bachamnn and if he can do well in the debates and no skeletons come tumbling out I think he will edge out Romney and it will be so close he might end up making him his running mate though I think Pawlenty might be a goos choice as well. He will be weaker in the general for the exact the same reasons. He will make a weaker general election candidate but in many ways he does contrast well with Obama. He is a charismatic populist that knows how to give a inspiring speech compared to Obama's speeches which sound like commencement addresses heavy on big ideals but light on vision. In a lot of ways Perry reminds me of Clinton. Not policy wise but back ground and personality wise, well he does screw anything that sits still long enough but you get the idea. Like Clinton Perry is a natural politician who can spin out of controversy and twist a question into an invitation to talk about what he wants to to talk about.

Like most of Texas I don't particularly like Perry but I think the press in their echo chamber world are underestimating him. In troubled times people want a strong leader with vision even if they are not 100% behind that vision. Obama has proven he is not that guy. Perry is skilled at selling himself as that guy. In fact Perry's biggest weakness may turn out to be that his not willing enough to temper his position for mass consumption.