I believe that very little happens in politics by accident, so I feel certain there’s a reason that Rick Perry picked this week to tell us all about that coyote he killed in February. Something like this:
WildEarth Guardians, a wildlife protection group in Denver, offered to pay for a class in assertiveness training for Perry because of his “slaying of a song dog.” The group also offered the governor an alternative to the pistol.
“With all due respect to his manhood, 90-pound women in tennis shoes effectively scare 30-pound coyotes away with a sharp shout,” said group spokeswoman Wendy Keefover-Ring in a news release. “We’re sending Governor Perry a plastic whistle so he can leave his gun at home.”
[Perry spokesman Mark] Miner responded, “With a name like that (WildEarth Guardians) we’re pleased that they’re against us.”
Am I the only one who thinks that Rick Perry would like nothing more than to get into a high profile fight with a bunch of out of state environmentalists? Talk about your red meat. Perry’s already touting his varmint-vanquishing abilities in Google ads, and being lauded for his valor by Sarah Palin. I guess the only thing that should surprise me about this is that it took him so long. BOR has more.
I wonder if he reported it at the time, like when you hit a deer you are supposed to call to report it. It seems like something that should have been reported since it involved a gun and a reportedly aggressive wild animal.
Rick Perry is above the law.
Rick Perry is milking this dead coyote for all it’s worth. It excites his base, antagonizes his opponents, and leaves him LHAO.
His tack-away from the AZ bill (“not right for Texas”) is another strategic maneuver this week on his part; this time he chooses to piss off his base — whom we all know will never actually leave him — while extending an olive branch to Tejanos as they prepare to march tomorrow and celebrate Cinco De Mayo next week. A very effective both-ends-against-the-middle play.
Anybody seen the White campaign’s response yet?
When locals in Texas wonder why people from around the world think Texans are all a bunch of Jerry Springer guest-types…point to this and the fact that this kind of thing actually HELPS Perry with the typical Texas voter.
I dunno… I am pretty much a city person, but I have spent enough time in the brush to know that you don’t need a gun to defend against a coyote. They spook pretty easy.
I think if the story was pressed hard enough the bullshit factor would sooner or later show brightly, but I don’t expect much more than the offered quotes.
sad really, I would not hesitate to protect myself against an animal I thought was a threat to me, but that has to be a last resort. Most wild animals fear humans for good reason and as he said the coyote wasn’t even looking at him, maybe if he waved his arms and yelled it would have noticed him and run away.
The Guv probably plinks at rocks and stop signs when he thinks nobody is looking, too. Poor Coyote just happened to be a moving target for that fancypants laser sight on his pistol.
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Does anyone believe he really did shoot a coyote? That there would not have been a dead coyote somewhere, and people in his subdivision would have noticed a gun being shot?
Next up: how Rick Perry saved us from the flying saucer people. Sadly, there were no witnesses.