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It’s hard to predict what will be the dominant issues on voters’ minds a year from now, but it seems unlikely that foreign policy will be a driving factor in the 2012 presidential race. That said, for those who take the issue seriously, Rick Perry’s candidacy ought to be considered a bad joke.
In last night’s debate, this exchange was just remarkable.
The moderator asked the Texas governor, “[I]f you were president, and you get a call at 3 a.m. telling you that Pakistan had lost control of its nuclear weapons, at the hands of the Taliban, what would be your first move?”
It’s not that Perry hesitated; it’s that his response was, substantively, gibberish. “Well obviously, before you ever get to that point you have to build a relationship in that region,” he said. “That’s one of the things that this administration has not done. Yesterday, we found out through Admiral Mullen that Haqqani has been involved with — and that’s the terrorist group directly associated with the Pakistani country. So to have a relationship with India, to make sure that India knows that they are an ally of the United States.
“For instance, when we had the opportunity to sell India the upgraded F-16’s, we chose not to do that. We did the same with Taiwan. The point is, our allies need to understand clearly that we are their friends, we will be standing by there with them. Today, we don’t have those allies in that region that can assist us if that situation that you talked about were to become a reality.”
I’m not even sure what Perry was trying to say.
And as a factual matter, the governor didn’t even have his facts straight: “India made the decision to not buy F-16s and instead go with another military jet. It was not the U.S. choice. The Obama administration actually lobbied hard for the sale and the aerospace firm had assured India that its F-16s would be ‘much more advanced’ than the fighters provided to Pakistan.”
Sure, Perry is a fairly new candidate with no meaningful foreign policy experience, and maybe if he brushed up on the basics, he wouldn’t appear quite this incompetent. But at a certain level, that’s not reassuring — he’s been on the trail for over a month, and doesn’t appear to have invested any time in learning anything at all. Indeed, Perry has dabbled in foreign policy quite a bit lately, but with consistently ridiculous results. Hell, the other day, Perry blamed “instability in the Middle East” on President Obama “apologizing for America’s exceptionalism,” which is plainly idiotic.
I don’t imagine Perry is interested in my advice, but I’d recommend he take a couple of days to sit down with some books and foreign policy experts, so he can learn the basics. At this point, the notion of this guy playing a leadership role on the international stage is just laughable.
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ottercliff on September 23, 2011 9:40 AM:
Sounds like Perry is getting his foreign policy lessons from Sarah Palin.
c u n d gulag on September 23, 2011 9:44 AM:
Of course he's an expert in foreign policy.
He can see Mexico from his house!
DAY on September 23, 2011 9:45 AM:
Oh, come on, Steve! REAL men don't read "books".
rrk1 on September 23, 2011 9:54 AM:
Perry always treats questions as an imposition, and like so many other politicians, he answers the questions he wished was asked not the one he was asked. This is especially true when you haven't a clue about what you should say. This was a good question, but he obviously had no idea how to answer it. Result: gibberish.
Not that Romney is much better.
Lifelong Dem on September 23, 2011 9:56 AM:
His audience does not care in the slightest whether Rick Perry is right or wrong or knows what he's talking about. His audience, which consists of likely voters in the GOP primary, heard this: Obama's treating our friends like shit and that's going to hurt America.
The GOP debate audience is fired up and ready to go. They love hearing an answer like Perry's because it reaffirms all their suspicions about Obama and re-motivates them. The only chance Obama has at re-election is Democrts setting aside their stupid divisions and getting out the vote. Turnout is the only issue.
zandru on September 23, 2011 10:00 AM:
So, if President Perry was woken up at 3am, his immediate response would be to get a campaign going to blame the previous administration. Coulda, shoulda, woulda.
It worked for the Great Ronaldus Magnus ("Biggus Dickus" of the GOP).
Tom S. on September 23, 2011 10:02 AM:
Michelle Malkin thinks Perry is stupid. He's got a real problem.
sick-n-effn-tired. on September 23, 2011 10:05 AM:
Gee , Perry is an idiot? Who Knew?
All I can say is go Perry go .
Ye shall render the GOP a house divided against itself with the dumb and dumber factions racing for the lowest common denominator.
T2 on September 23, 2011 10:11 AM:
"couple days" - Mr. Benen, I'm sorry to have to say this, but it will take substantially more than two days for Rick Perry to get up to speed on foreign policy, or anything, for that matter. He's not too smart. That should be fairly evident by now. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure any amount of time could prepare him. He's too dumb and too uninterested. If that sounds like Sarah Palin, well, yeah. We recently suffered through eight years of a president who basically had more interest in riding a mountain bike through scrub brush than actually governing a nation. If nothing else comes of these "debates", we'll at least determine if the country has learned it's lesson hiring lazy frat-boys to be president.
liam foote on September 23, 2011 10:17 AM:
Perhaps Gov. Haley can arrange a debate between the Ponz and that Miss America contestant from South Carolina. "And South Africa ... and such as ..."
Credit where due on September 23, 2011 10:25 AM:
So the current president comes in and starts rebuilding our nation in the eyes of other nations by reaching out and being inclusive (Thank the gods) but Perry talks of building a network of allies so that he wouldn't be caught flat footed at 3am and this is the wrong answer?
Steve, sounds to me like you are calling Perry a socialist. :)
-Credit where due
POed Lib on September 23, 2011 10:39 AM:
Wow, that's an easy question: "No one would be awakening me at 3 AM to tell me something like this. I would have put the right people into the intelligence services, and they would have told me at the normal 7 AM Security Briefing."
June on September 23, 2011 10:43 AM:
@Credit where due - it's the wrong answer, because first of all, it's a pack of lies - Perry seeks to present Pres. Obama as a president who has neglected relationships in that region - which is a Big Lie. Secondly, it was an outpouring of total smoke-and-mirrors nonsense that didn't come close to addressing the actual question. The only clear answer that emerged from Perry's response is that he doesn't have a damn clue as to how he would respond. If he were to stay true to his Republican leanings, we can probably guess the answer. If Pakistan lost control of its nuclear weapons, Perry would probably attack Iran.
sparrow on September 23, 2011 11:11 AM:
I'm sorry. I missed getting the jist of what he was saying, but didn't he just look and sound so presidential standing behind that podium with that good hair?
gifgrrl on September 23, 2011 11:13 AM:
This is eerily reminiscent of W's lack of knowledge, lack of thought and lack of curiosity.
Varecia on September 23, 2011 11:29 AM:
Ewww. Some kind of freakish Island of Dr. Moreau mutation of George W. and Sarah.
thebewilderness on September 23, 2011 11:30 AM:
He is eager to supply the weapons our allies need to make war with their neighbors.
That is what he said.
Josef K on September 23, 2011 11:39 AM:
What bugs me the most about this particular issue is the whole "getting a call at 3am with a world-shattering crisis" schtick.
I mean, seriously, what can the President do at 3am with nothing more than a vague warning like "Pakistan has lost control of its nukes"? What the hell does 'lost control' mean in the first place? How many nukes are we talking about? Is it public knowledge in Pakistan or something the SIS is trying to keep quiet?
The answer I'd give: call for a strong cup of coffee so I'm awake enough to understand what's being said, then make sure my staff are already working on it. If the White House staff is so incompetent or lacking initiative they need POTUS to approve every move they make, neither they nor their boss have any business being there!
Gods help us if these idiots actually win next year. If that happens, I'll have to relocate my family to Antarctica or Mars.
DisgustedWithItAll on September 23, 2011 12:27 PM:
Just make shit up. Nobody'll ever know.
DisgustedWithItAll on September 23, 2011 12:32 PM:
I'm going to be stealing that one from you gulag. Damn funny.
JW on September 23, 2011 12:43 PM:
He should have responded: "Remember the old Randy Newman song? "Boom goes Pakistan". That's what I'd do".
That answer would have whipped the audience into an orgiastic frenzy, and Perry would have sealed the nomination.
Happiness IS a warm gun where the GOP is concerned. That party loves the mention of killing... because it feels like victory.
samsa on September 23, 2011 1:03 PM:
This clinches it for me. I have never voted for any Republican in any election - local, state or national - since I was naturalized as a US citizen on Feb 1, 1986, but this is the first time I have heard a Republican very directly called for better relationship with India in comparison to Pakistan.
No matter how incoherent you guys think he is, I am voting for him over Obama whose positions on this as well all other issues are mushier than a piece of cheap jello.
DisgustedWithItAll on September 23, 2011 1:08 PM:
@samsa: Don't be an idiot. You really want a stooge like Perry handling nuclear issues in this country and with input on others? Good grief.
burro on September 23, 2011 2:21 PM:
You just run along now Ricky. Skedaddle back to Texas, where the questions are soft and the livin' is easy. This national politics stuff is for losers. You don't need this shit. Hell, George had his dad, and his daddy's money, and that asshole Karl. And he beat you to the punch. The awe-shucks patriotic dumbass thing in a pretty wrapper is still warm and smelly. It's endearing qualities became a little vague. But it's all you got.
Git on home now. Texans are friendly folks and life'll just go on like nuthin' ever happened. And really, nuthin' did happen, did it Ricky? Same ol' same ol'. Como se, como sa. Shit, being Gov. Blowhard is cool too. Nobody ever gives you a hard time about bein' a dumbshit in that job.
Zorro on September 23, 2011 4:00 PM:
Governor Goodhair don't need no book larnin'!
-Z
Byo on September 23, 2011 4:33 PM:
The question was as idiotic,as the answer was incoherent.
What can a president do if he is woken up at 3 am and told "Pakistan has lost control of their nuclear weapons to Taliban"?
Remember, we were asleep when Pakistan developed the weapons in the first place, some say because we wanted to bloody the soviets' noses in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
The president wakes up, asks for a cup of coffee, and gets down on his knees to pray.
Crissa on September 24, 2011 12:05 AM:
I'm not sure what the President is supposed to do about being told any nation's nuclear arms have been taken by a rogue faction.
But I'm really not sure how selling F-16s to a different nation would do anything about it.
However, I do know that spending money protecting nuclear inventories is probably a good idea. Strange that Republicans always vote against it... And their Presidential candidates never mention it.