Rick Perry is already out. Scott Walker is on his way out.
Normally, the liberal in me would chuckle at that... but actually I find this is a sad commentary on the post 'Citizens United' era that we live in.
Rick Perry and Scott Walker: both long-standing, and successful governors (by conservative standards), who could have been, and SHOULD HAVE BEEN legitimate contenders for the Republican nomination.
But now, because they are either a) not billionaires themselves or b) do not have a billionaire backing their candidacy (or two billionaires. See: Koch brothers) ...they're out. Rick Perry pretty much said just that to Sean Hannity after suspending his own lagging campaign.
“Either you’re a billionaire or you have billionaire backers, and the real issue for us is that we ran into those headwinds,” Perry told television talk show host Sean Hannity Monday evening.http://www.expressnews.com/...
Here are two governors who, for better or worse (IMO, worse) spent their entire time in office governing further and further to the right, whether it was good for their states or not...in an effort to bolster their conservative bonafides--because it was obvious they intended to seek higher office.
What did that get them? How much damage did they do their respective states and to their constituents in their failed quest for an office, that thanks to the Citizens United ruling, is now up for sale and subject to the whims or the single-issue obsessions of the moneyed elite?
We saw foreshadowing of in the first post-Citizens United cycle, when one billionaire backer (Adelson) allowed Gingrich-the-grifter to compete waaaay past his sell-by date, while another billionaire (Freis) made it possible for Santorum-the-theocrat to come awfully close to actually winning a nomination--finally secured by an actual billionaire (who failed it before Citizens United).
So, what's left now is the 'Reince/Trump/Carson/Failorina/and friends' clown car: hobbling around on its "don't tread on me" tires and fueled by Tea Party hatred for the half-white, Christian who they think is too black and all Muslim.
Granted, I will not shed a tear for either Perry or Walker. They are big-boys and both have been around long enough to know that 'politics ain't beanbag'.
But for my democracy...I will weep.