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April 26, 2010

Perry Should’ve ‘Cowboyed Up’

Statesman.com’s John Kelso dishes out some tough, Texas-style photo analysis in response to the Rick Perry Newsweek cover.

He writes:

Texas Gov. Rick Perry should have taken a tip from NASCAR legend Junior Johnson. When asked how he was fixing to run an upcoming race, Johnson said something like, “I’m gonna run it flat-out.”

Sadly, when Perry appeared on the cover of the April 26 edition of Newsweek, he didn’t run it flat-out. He didn’t fly his Texas flag high enough. He should have called a fashion consultant to give him some tips on how to really Lone Star State it up.

He looked just a little too, as Sarah Palin might say, Wall Streety. Now, the black cowboy boot sticking out of the leg (on the right, I might add) of his conservative, dark suit was a nice touch. And so was the message showing toward the top of the boot: “Come and Take It.”

Trouble is, only Texans — and certainly nowhere near all Texans — will know the slogan comes from a battle flag flown by Texians in 1835 near Gonzales when they battled Mexicans to keep their cannon. (A small cannon, by the way, that you might could legally take into the Texas Capitol.)

Reading the rest of the piece, Perry gets taken to the woodshed for the absence of a gun, string tie or cowboy hat.  But yes, Wall Streety, indeed.  These guys could look the part, but the comparison still holds.

  • Megan

    That’s a very strange picture, although I don’t know what it means. It looks like those children’s books, where you can assemble people from three parts, legs, torso and head by flipping to different people.

    You’ve got freestanding legs against a beige backgroung.

    You’ve got the middle obliterated by shouting yellow text.

    You’ve got a very different head, of a used-car salesman against an empty sky.

    What’s going on with all that? Why isn’t there any content in the backgrounds? Why is the text dominating the picture of the man? Are they saying that slogans obliterate the middle, in Texas? Words are polarizing the options into above (slick, business-y) and below (cantilevers anchored by boots)? I don’t get it.

  • http://jrsutter.com jaye

    Gov. “Goodhair” Perry looks like every executive/trial lawyer in Texas. They really do wear $2000.00 cowboy boots with $4000.00 suits. The photo is typical. It wasn’t dress up for school pictures day. This is him. And the rest of macho bullshit arrogant the worst of populism Texas.

    The man killed a coyote out jogging. He shot it. Because it lunged for his dog. Exactly what any other Texan would do. Yes, we have coyotes around Austin.

    It is actually less stagy than you would think. Big yawn. The yellow type should have been black. And he is thinking about 2012 more than he is 2010. Which measuring the drapes for the Oval Office is the only thing that might keep him from the Governor’s office for a third term. We usually toss them after one or two.