Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

So, it seems, that Rick Perry is a contender in this round of the Presidential race. He is, it's clear, nuts. And, it's clear, he's pragmatic in his movement into ever nuttier nuttiness. However, it's equally clear that he has the quality the successfully-fear-mongered right and endlessly-self-infantalizing right seek:

A couple of quotes about Perry jumped out at me from Costa’s story from Waterloo:

“It was kind of like dad was coming home,” chuckles Reed Bannon, a Waterloo businessman. “Once he got up there, everyone kind of knew it was time to sit up, shut up, stop slouching, and eat your vegetables.”’
…
Jim Mudd, a businessman from nearby Cedar Falls, sat next to Perry during dinner. He had never met the governor before, nor did he expect Perry to take a seat beside him. But he came away impressed. “He’s a strong dog,” Mudd says. “From what I can sense, he’s the strongest candidate.”

 Oh dear, as Johnny Rotten might put it, crazy, without a principled bone in his body, and given to thrashing the masochists. He's a perfect storm for the contemporary Republican party.