While the GOP field of Presidential candidates is busily courting Iowa voters and has already had two debates, one man looks to step into the ring on his own schedule. Rick Perry, Governor of Texas, announced today that he would be requesting another podium be added to the stage for the next debate.

Governor Perry has been in the news quite a bit of late, what with his official Days of Prayer for Rain in Texas[i]—where it still hasn’t rained—and his recent Pray-a-Thon at Reliant Stadium in TX where he invited people to spend a day in prayer and fasting asking God Himself to help America with her troubles. “…And I think it’s time for us to just hand it over to God and say, ‘God, You’re going to have to fix this,” said Governor Perry. Yes, Rick Perry, a man who admits to having no answers to the issues facing our nation wants to lead it as President.

Governor Perry will add a big name Governor from a big state to a crowded Republican field looking to supplant President Obama in 2012. He seems to be carrying the hopes of Evangelical Christian voters with him, but the fact that he’s a hypocritical, delusional, murderous simpleton may show that their faith is misplaced.

The Governor has made quite a show of his religious faith with the pinnacle being his public prayer and fasting festival in a football stadium. He is a Christian, a Methodist by denomination, and proclaims his belief in the requirement to confess your sins to God through Christ’s authority to avoid the fires of hell. [ii] Well, Jesus was quite plain when he said “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”[iii] So if Jesus can call Governor Perry a hypocrite, I think I can too.

Intercessory prayer has been shown not to work.[iv] So when faced with issues of drought and wildfires–which are wreaking havoc on Texas agriculture and will for years to come—I’d suggest that using this as your solution makes you arguably delusional:

WHEREAS, throughout our history, both as a state and as individuals, Texans have been strengthened, assured and lifted up through prayer; it seems right and fitting that the people of Texas should join together in prayer to humbly seek an end to this devastating drought and these dangerous wildfires;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, RICK PERRY, Governor of Texas, under the authority vested in me by the Constitution and Statutes of the State of Texas, do hereby proclaim the three-day period from Friday, April 22, 2011, to Sunday, April 24, 2011, as Days of Prayer for Rain in the State of Texas. I urge Texans of all faiths and traditions to offer prayers on that day for the healing of our land, the rebuilding of our communities and the restoration of our normal and robust way of life.

To proclaim yourself a prophet certainly doesn’t help to clear the air when it comes to your powers of rational thought.[v]

Governor Perry has overseen more executions of inmates than any governor in modern history. Now the death penalty is legal in TX, is fairly popular among the citizens of the state and let’s face it, the Governor has very little to do with the actual trial and sentencing of death row inmates. However, Rick Perry had a chance to ban the execution of mentally retarded inmates and show some of the compassion and forgiveness that Jesus talked about periodically when he was preaching. He vetoed that bill.

But I say he’s murderous because he deliberately allowed the execution of a man who was arguably innocent of the charges against him. The evidence of his possible innocence was sent to Rick Perry’s office in an appeal for clemency. Perry did not respond.

After the execution, when it was alleged that Perry had executed an innocent man, the Governor was quoted saying “he was a wife beater.” A spokesman for Perry said that the Governor weighed the “totality of the issues” and knew that the testimony of arson was questionable. After the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham, the investigation into the forensics used to convict him continued. A report indicating that a finding of arson could not be sustained was released in 2009. The Texas Forensic Science Commission was scheduled to meet to discuss the report in October of 2009, but two days before the meeting, Rick Perry replaced three of the commission members and the meeting was canceled.[vi]

Finally, Governor Rick Perry is a simpleton. In college, he earned a C in US History, a D in Shakespeare, and a D in the principles of economics. He even managed to get a C in gym class. As an Animal Science Major he also performed dismally in classes specific to his major, receiving a C in Animal Breeding, a D in Veterinary Anatomy, and an F in Organic Chemistry.[vii] Rick Perry believes in Intelligent Design and that it should be taught in schools. He believes it to be a “valid scientific theory” confirming that he knows neither the meaning of the word “valid” nor what a scientific theory is.

Texas has the third highest teen birth rate in the country and leads the nation in the amount of money spent on abstinence-only education.[viii] When asked about these results in an interview, the Texas Governor replied “abstinence works.” Yes Governor, if you abstain from sex there will be no pregnancy. The interviewer then followed by asking more specifically about the rate of government spending on abstinence-only education and the poor results that showed it to be ineffective in combating unwanted teen pregnancy. He asked if Governor Perry could give any statistic that shows it to be effective. “I’m just going to tell you, I’m going to tell you from my own personal life, abstinence works.”[ix]

So here you have the latest entry into the expanding GOP field of Presidential challengers, a man who believes in his heart that he will win and will then ask God to fix stuff because when he’s honest with himself, Rick Perry knows that he hasn’t got a clue.

If you’d like to read my other posts on the GOP field, you can find them all here.