Rick Perry: Turkey is Being Run by "Islamic Terrorists"

One of the few highlights of the Republican Presidential primary is the heartwarming struggle of mentally challenged Texas Governor Rick Perry to be the first person with major cognitive handicaps to become the Presidential candidate of a major political party. At a debate among Republican presidential contenders last night, Rick Perry uttered this positively Breivikian statement:

“When you have a country [Turkey] that is being ruled by what many would perceive to be Islamic terrorists, when you start seeing that type of activity against their own citizens, then yes, not only is it time for us to have a conversation about whether or not they belong to be in NATO, but it’s time for the United States, when we look at their foreign aid, to go to zero with it.”

Finally, someone has the courage to speak the truth about the crazed fedayeen running Turkey. When I was there last year, you could hardly have a decent stroll along the Golden Horn without car bombs detonating right and left. If I hadn't followed Lonely Planet's advice to wear body armor wherever I went, the glinting scimitars wielded by turbaned fanatics would have cut me to pieces ere I saw a single sight. The high point of my visit was watching Prime Minister and Sultan-for-Life Erdoğan personally executing dozens of "heretics" with his bare hands as the capacity crowd in Atatürk Olympic Stadium shrieked in delirious joy.

Needless to say, the liberal media elites of the U.S. rushed desperately to cover up the ugly truth:

[Perry's] was the most jaw-dropping statement of the night.

The ruling party of Turkey is moderately Islamic, but it generally has not interfered with the country’s secular traditions. While Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has prodded the leadership about its commitment to media freedoms, few analysts—if any—would say the Turkish leaders is made up of “Islamic terrorists.” We really have no idea what Perry is talking about.

As for foreign aid, Turkey is a wealthy country that already gets virtually no foreign aid from the United States. The State Department this year made a request for about $5 million, which was earmarked for peace-keeping and security operations—not what one could consider traditional “foreign aid.”

Comments

[Anonymous]

Awesome post. Loved your account of Istanbul.
Does Texas always vote for the dumbest of all possible governors?

[Ralph]

"I was born in Belgium (to American parents, so I'm American). Family moved to Texas when I was 8 years old."

This explains much to me, a long-time reader of your blog. Your occasional America bashing (often deserved, and to which you have every right)or much more occasional Europe bashing as expression of a childhood trauma of cultural dislocation?

Of course, every expatriate, myself included, must define his or her position in the transatlantic flux.

[Nick]

Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often

[Chris]

First Quisling, now Breivikian. As a Norwegian, I wish our contributions to international parlance were less questionable. Oh well, at least we still have ombudsman.

Anyway, when even the WaPo calls out Perry for being a clueless cartoon cowpoke, Brisbane's "should journalists do their jobs or have more canapés?" quandary over at the NY Times seems even more ridiculous.

[Andrew]

@Roger: Actually, I was born in Belgium (to American parents, so I'm American). Family moved to Texas when I was 8 years old. And trust me, Texas' hallowed tradition of (intermittently) electing moronic governors is matched by its equally-long tradition of complaining about same.

Not for nothing is the Governor of Texas one of the least powerful governors in the U.S., with many of the duties you might expect him to carry out having been shifted to the Lieutenant Governor's office.

[Roger]

> One of the few highlights of the Republican
> Presidential primary is the heartwarming
> struggle of mentally challenged Texas
> Governor Rick Perry

As a born Texan, can you ever return visiting your family at home, whan the Texas police knows that affront to their biggest goss? ;-)