SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE:

THE PERRY PUSH – From what I can see, there appears to be a very well orchestrated campaign to build excitement for Texas Governor's Rick Perry entry into the presidential race.  Today the story is that his wife is pushing him to get in.  When the wife endorses the plunge, you may be sure that the plunge will soon follow.  Frankly, I like the way Perry is building his entry.  He's created buzz, which has the effect of expanding excitement...and smoking out the journalistic enemies who will attack him.  Already The New York Times is at work, having published two hit pieces.  But now Perry's people can see where the liberal press is going, and head them off at the pass.  The GOP isn't exactly known as the party of excitement, so any drum-beating is welcome.  We're getting some drum-beating.

SO WHO'LL NOTICE? – The Postmaster General says we may soon lose Saturday delivery because of Postal Service deficits and falling volume, and may have only three-day-a-week service within 15 years.  Now, I like the friendly postman, and the mail has often brought me great delights, as well as credit-card bills.  But I suspect the Postal Service will go the way of the horse and buggy at some point.  Electronic mail, speedy express services, and the general preference of online retailers for UPS and other private companies, are causing massive changes in the letter and package delivery industry.  But, ah, how some of us will miss those old handwritten letters, the kind we got during our school years from girlfriends or boyfriends, or those we thought were girlfriends and boyfriends.  What e-mail can compare?

MICHELE FIRES BACK – Michele Bachmann has now released a letter from the attending physician of Congress attesting to her good health and asserting that she has her migraines under control.  The fact that she released the letter indicates that Bachmann understands that this issue won't go away.  She is soaring in the polls, and may well benefit from a sympathy vote from those who sense, correctly, that she's the target of a campaign launched by anonymous sources to discredit her by raising health questions.   Her strongest argument is the intensity with which she's waging her campaign, with no interruptions, and no medical crises.  There are some former staffers, who apparently don't care for her, who seem to be at the heart of the whispering campaign.  If she rises further in the polls, you may be sure that the usual journalistic suspects will be dispatching reporters to go through her garbage, as they did Sarah's, to see if there's anything medically devastating.  Kind of makes you lose faith in democracy sometimes, doesn't it?

ROMNEY EDGES OBAMA IN RASMUSSEN POLL – A new Rasmussen poll has Mitt Romney defeating Barack Obama among likely voters, 43-42.  But a generic Republican leads Obama by six points, meaning Romney doesn't do as well as no-name.  A PPP poll has Romney and Obama dead even, with Obama defeating Bachmann by only seven points.  Rick Perry did not figure in these polls, but, given political conditions, we have to believe he'll do well very quickly.  The PPP poll has Sarah Palin 16 points behind Obama, a hint that maybe this isn't her year.  Still, don't underestimate the president.  He is a superb campaigner, and a deceptive chap who will try to convince us he's really an American patriot, and slightly right-of-center at that.  Some will buy the package, as too many did in 2008.  Republicans must operate on all cylinders, and, as we've advocated here before, must develop a strategy for dealing with a hostile press, which will try to save its hero.

July 20, 2011