Major Garrett Writes: Texas Gov. Rick Perry is losing and acting like he’s got nothing to lose — skewering fellow Republicans running for president as wimpy job creators and congressional Republicans who spent to much money long before before President Obama was elected.
When asked if current front-runner, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, was electable, Perry said: “I look from here down to Rick Santorum, I see insiders. Individuals who been big spending Republicans in Washington, D.C.” (Perry was exempting former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who stood to Santorum’s right).
By the end of the debate, Perry had clashed with Republicans on stage as unelectable, with Republicans in Congress who spent too much, and with the party nominee — John McCain — who said Obama was a patriot worthy to lead America.
In ways he hasn’t tried before, Perry also tried to tap into the tea party movement that first rattled the GOP establishment in 2010 through primary challenges and then changed Congress by helping propel Republicans to power in the House (though tea party-fueled Senate candidates failed in Delaware, Nevada and Colorado).
