Somebody please give Rick Perry a clue

What more must the man do?

Man, oh, man!  Nobody but nobody knows how to put his foot in his mouth quite like Rick Perry.  Over the years, he's pulled some good ones.

Remember his asinine remarks back in 2009, when he hinted that Texas might choose to secede from the United States?  Remember when he fumbled his chance to fake outrage at Michelle Bachmann when she suggested that he was beholden to his political contributors?  (Imagine that!)  And what does it say about the man that he wasn't able to puzzle out that, since he was running for president, you know, he might want to get rid of that big stone at the entry to his ranch with the word "Niggerhead" etched into it?

These kinds of flubs aren't so much character flaws (well --except for the stone on the ranch) as they are just plain dumb mistakes.  I couldn't have imagined that there was any Republican politician who could make Newt Gingrich seem discreet.  But, by God, the Rickster has done it. 

I can see how Perry believed his Texas fast-talk might actually take him all the way through the Republican convention.  I mean, when the competition is that bad (Michelle Bachmann, Herman Cain, and Newt Gingrich) the target seems pretty fat.  And besides, Republicans have an amazing propensity to line up behind almost anyone who can spout folksy homespun adages that sound wise in spite of their underlying inanity.  (Junior Bush?  Sarah Palin?)

But after last night's Republican presidential debate on CNBC, if there is anyone who cares about Rick Perry (you know, with --like --feelings), he or she ought to stop the man.  For his own good.  Check this humiliating meltdown that occurred in an exchange with Ron Paul.



Painful.  And yet, this morning, Rick was on the early news shows vowing that his campaign will continue.  "This ain't a day for quitting nothing," he drawled.

It's true that ambition often outstrips ability. And Perry definitely exudes the air of someone who, once he gets a notion into his head, is going to run with it no matter what anybody says.  I mean, with a guy like that, you've clearly got to let him play himself out.  But, the time has come, has it not?

Isn't there anybody close to Rick Perry that cares enough about the man to get him to shut his mouth?  His wife, maybe?  His chief-of-staff?

Anybody?