Of course, and I’m not interested in having my life ruined. But Rick Perry bowing out of the race — I’ll wager — was not just because he bobbled a question during a Presidential debate.

It’s a speculation. Just that.

….”Nothing in my past will embarrass you” and I don’t think people believed it. He said that to an audience of evangelicals and I don’t think they bought it. It became clear he wasn’t going to overcome the problem and he left the race.

People were being waaaay to harsh on him about the vaccination thing but nobody took my advice, apparently. Maybe they knew something I don’t.

How’s that? Rick’s problems were money and support. He was supposed to be the best Conservative candidate but somehow neither of them really materialized. He had a couple of flubs in debates but they weren’t significant in the scheme of things. So why did everything dematerialize on him?

It’s a speculative question necessarily. I’m not saying he did or did not do anything. I’m just puzzled by the fact that he *should have* been the strongest candidate in the field and then zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzsssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhh (pop) went all the air out of the balloon. It doesn’t make much sense.

But again, it’s all speculation and water under the bridge at this point.

Don’t read anything into the capitalization of my username. It was an inadvertence and I just decided not to change it because I didn’t think it mattered. Next time I’ll spell it in ALL CAPS.

The night after he had that big gaffe moment that he had to try and make light of and then became the central focus of the commentary during his subsequent debate appearances. I didn’t think his minor misfire was a big deal. I defended him during the HPV vaccine brouhaha and said that I thought it was crazy people were descending on him because he wanted to prevent STDs in a state the size of Texas. Later when Erick had his interview with him, I commented that I thought he did a great job, congratulated Erick on the interview and said something to the effect of:

“He’s great at one on one interviews and I think he wants to debate Obama, not debate all the Rest.”

I guess you didn’t read those comments.

I never said a bad thing about Rick Perry here on this blog, but I can tell you that I was *very surprised* that he just kept falling farther and farther behind and never seemed to regain any momentum. even after promising to people that he had “nothing in his background” that would make anyone ashamed. Well, the day Jeri Ryan dropped that bomb in Chicago, Jack Ryan fought the allegations “they’re all false” etc., etc. Within a few days his campaign had folded.

I guess the thing that would put all the speculation to bed (and believe me it’s going to come back again) is if he ever decides to run for national office again.

I thought Jack Ryan was a man of unimpeachable character, too. I was very hopeful he’d win that contest against Obama. And then he folded up like a house of cards and disappeared.

I’m sorry. I apologize for it, probably I should have left it as an idle thought that was rattling around in the back of my mind.

For the record, I wish Rick Perry had been able to stay in the race. If he had, and had regained some traction, he’d have been a better candidate than Gingrich, better than any of them. I never said anything except positive things about him here, although I did write a one line comment after he made that statement at Prayerpallooza: “For everyone’s sake, I hope it’s true.” I’m sorry for offending you with my speculation, but it’s been hard for me to shake the doubt.

I don’t feel great about having it. I don’t feel great about this whole primary season. I feel like we’ve all been driven around the block a couple of times and that there’s a lot more going on behind the scenes. It’s been the creepiest primary season I can remember in a long time. Look at how poorly Bachmann performed in her home state, for Pete’s sake. Look at what happened to Herman Cain. He comes out of nowhere, rockets to prominence after the Florida Straw Poll, and then it’s the drip….drip….drip…. of scandal.

I look back at this primary season and I feel like there were trap doors all over the place. The whole thing has left a lot of lingering doubts and speculations in my mind, and I think that’s why a lot of other people aren’t very enthusiastic, either.

Finally, and this isn’t meant to “undo” my apology or anything – but I think we’ve all been lied to by so many politicians who claim that scandalous sexual allegations are false that at this point it’s almost an admission of guilt. It shouldn’t be, but the list is long, and the assurances are always the same. “It’s not true, it’s categorically false, you have nothing to worry about, I did not do this, I never did that, my wife stands behind me, let’s not let this distract us, don’t you dare believe it, I never had sex with that woman, I’ll fight this and win, my Twitter account was hacked, it’s not my baby, I never solicited anyone” etc., etc., etc.