JABbering Stooge

So Ricky “The Model” Perry put in an appearance at the California GOP state convention a couple of weeks ago. And boy did he work the crowd.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has championed “post-partisan” cooperation, issued a bold call for a return to Reagan’s “big tent” and moderation during the opening night of the GOP gathering of 1,400 Friday. He warned conservative party activists who dominate the GOP to take the conciliatory middle of the road - court independents and address issues such as global warming and health care - or watch their party “dying at the box office.”

Minutes later, conservative Texas Gov. Rick Perry shattered that mood with an incendiary address deriding Schwarzenegger-style moderation and decrying California’s “bankrupt, liberal political philosophy”- exhorting Republicans to stand their ground on social issues such as abortion and gay marriage. And without ever mentioning the California governor’s name, Perry launched a blistering attack clearly aimed at his direction.

And just what did Governor Goodhair have to say about Herr Governator that drove “Cullyforneea” GOoPers wild?

“It’s a sad, sad state of affairs when liberals campaign like Republicans to get elected, and Republicans govern like liberals to be loved,” he said, getting whoops and repeated standing ovations from the 400 delegates at the opening dinner that put Schwarzenegger’s polite reception to shame.

That’s right. Here we have a moderate Republican governor, having been chastened by major losses in 2005 and 2006, looking to actually put the state’s interests ahead of partisan politics, and he’s being slapped silly by a Governor that believes in Joe Lieberman-style bipartisanship.

Contrast that with the Texas GOoPer presidential straw poll, where Perry phoned it in:

Perry’s speech wowed the California crowd six days after his videotaped message to Texas Republicans at their presidential straw poll in Fort Worth generated moderate applause.

Governor Goodhair gets much cache with his partisan sniping in California. Texas? Not so much. It’s seen as pandering by an insufficiently conservative governor:

Perry spent much of the legislative session this year fending off proposals to weaken his authority. In turn, he may have lost some appeal to members of his own party.

“Talks a good game,” said Bill Hocutt, president of the Hunt County Republican Club. “He doesn’t have the actions to back it up.”

Sandra “Sam” Criswell of Galveston said, “He’s a little too cozy with Mexico.”

Chris Howard of Houston agreed, offering her take on a border barrier to prevent crossings: “Walls have been proven to work from the Mongol hordes to the Palestinians.”

Maybe that’s why he’s been shlepping around the globe so much lately:

Since January, Perry has been to the Middle East thrice, including a trip to Istanbul, Turkey, to speak on state-federal relations at the Bilderberg Conference, a top-secret international meeting of corporate, media and political players. In August, Perry went to Mexico, where he talked up energy projects and talked down a fence between the United States and Mexico.

This from the man who famously said:

When I take my hand off the Bible, I’ll be 100 percent governor. I won’t be 39 percent governor. I’ll have 100 percent of the authority.

Now THAT’S what I call arrogance!