Rick Perry - Pros and Cons - Can he win?

     Rick Perry's recent gaffe in a Republican candidate debate has taken most of the attention that the media has put on him. Although the average candidate can forget anything at almost any time, Perry's brain just decided to do it at the exact wrong time. This made it easy to destroy him on this event. But this doesn't mean that Perry doesn't have any positives.
     Perry is the governor of Texas, a border state. This gives him experience on the immigration issues, including border security. Although Perry doesn't support building a full-border wall, his experience on this issue may give him a lead over other Republican candidates in this field, and maybe over Obama if Perry was selected as the nominee.
      Perry is often looked at as too conservative. Being from Texas, he brings up memories from the prevvious administration. Except for those who are tied to the Republican Party, most would view Perry as being extreme on some issues. Because of these two things, many would not support Perry, although they do not have any specific reasons. Rick Perry will have a hard time winning the Republican nomination, and will have a miniscule chance of becoming president if he does.

Political Cartoon #1

     This cartoon was drawn by Mike Luckovich, a well known political cartoonist. The focus of this cartoon is the large field of GOP candidates who are running in the 2012 presidential nomination. The long-lasting and current field leader is Mitt Romney. Dispite this, Romney is often considered dull and boring, which is why we have seen several "flavors of the month" rise in the polls but then fall back down again. One reason Romney has not seperated himself from the group and taken off is his often inconsistant support or opposition of various issues. His "flip-flopping" is often the subject of much critisism, as in this cartoon.
     The artist satirizes here using fish to represent a group of people, one of which is flopping around on the table, acting as Mitt Romney. The fact that the fish are sitting on a table waiting to be filleted brings up a sense of forshadowing of bad things to come, perhaps due to Romney's inconsistancy. The cartoon is addressing the fact that many people still support Romney dispite this flip-flopping because of a lack of any better choices. The cartoonist does not show any strong bias, or evidence of point-of-view. However, the artist is taking the stance that because Romney seemingly can't make up his mind on many important things, he should not be the Republican nominee (or maybe he wants Romney to become the nominee, confident that Obama can defeat him).