And just when you thought there was only John Ellis Bush left to enter the GOP race, up screams an Uber car in the parking lot where our fictitious clown car limo is idling and who falls out all drawl and no clue.......?
Of course it's Governor Rick Perry of Texas. A man condemned out of his own mouth in his last Presidential bid and as every Texas Governor before him, roundly rebuked by the pen of the late Molly Ivins as to his complete unsuitability for the job to which he aspires.
And just in case you don't know what I mean, Google "Weak Gubernatorial System" and get back to me.
Texas has such a system. The Governor is pretty much a figurehead position in the state. His main functions being to open public buildings and deny clemency to death row inmates. The powerful men in states like Texas are all in the legislature. The Governor in Texas isn't a Decider, he's an Endorser of what is laid before him. Just a Signer if you will.
It really frosts my nads when I hear "Well, he has 'Executive Experience'. He was the Governor of the second largest state in the nation" because no he doesn't really and so what? If you have no true power, it doesn't really matter what size your state is.
And what the heck was going on with the music playing in today's announcement of his new Presidential bid? Does he have advisers telling him to act all Jerry Lee Lewis or something? God that was bad! And way too obtrusive. And all Honky Tonk Revivalist.
And just before we go.......
Texas Governors always say they cannot grant clemency in Death Penalty cases because that is the job of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, and indeed if that Board does vote to not give clemency, the Governor has to abide by their decision. That is how the Texas non-clemency procedure works. The Governor has authority to grant clemency only upon a written recommendation of a majority of the Board of Pardons and Paroles. Amazing I know.
HOWEVER........
The Governor appoints the members of that board and if he wanted to, he could stack it with people who would favor clemency - not anti-death penalty proponents, just with people who have, I don't know, some sense of humanity.
But no, Texas Governors always hide behind this complete fig leaf of "Not my decision" when in actual fact, they could easily make Texas a more humane state by just doing the right thing and making a death sentence REALLY REALLY HARD to carry out.
And if a Texas Governor did that, and the number of executions was drastically reduced and people saw nothing bad came of it, then I think we could see eventually Texas going the way of Nebraska.
Which would be beyond a Good Thing.
