I’m not going to dive too deep into this one, just yet. Maybe later this morning.

But yesterday, Perry put out a press release on Obama’s speech about Israel and the Arabs.

“President Obama’s speech today continues a misguided policy of alienating our traditional allies, in this case Israel, one of our strongest partners in the war on terror. As someone who has visited Israel numerous times, I know that it is impracticable to revert to the 1967 lines. President Obama is asking our Israeli friends to give up too much security and territory as a prelude to a renewed peace process.”

That sure sounds like a presidential candidate to me.

It’s like this – Romney can’t win because of Romneycare. Mitch Daniels’ record in Indiana suggests he’d be great, but the guy’s messaging is worse than almost anybody I’ve ever seen compared to that record. And Gingrich’s messaging is even worse than that. Huckabee, Trump and Haley Barbour aren’t running, and as of right now it doesn’t look like Christie or Palin are, either. That leaves Ron Paul and Gary Johnson, neither of whom have a prayer, Herman Cain, who ought to be getting lots of buzz in the media right now but for some reason isn’t yet, Tim Pawlenty who’s simply too boring to win, Rick Santorum who comes off as a jerk and John Huntsman. Huntsman, who was Obama’s ambassador to China when he started making plans to run against him. That’s pretty chickenshit; it might even be worse than the fact he’s the only Republican left who still believes in global warming.

Given that field, Perry can be excused for thinking maybe he might ought to get in.

I don’t know anybody in Texas who actually likes Rick Perry. Which is strange, frankly, because Texas is doing better economically than any other state in the union. And that’s with a failed narco-state where you get your head chopped off for looking sideways at the wrong guy’s pointy boots next door.

But all the Texas people seem to dislike Perry. They keep voting for him, but they don’t like him. I find that a little strange, though it’s not completely off the wall. Everybody gets sick of the guy at the top at some point.

Perry does seem to have some political skills. I don’t know his record inside and out but it appears to be pretty good. A cowboy guy from Texas who can give a good speech and isn’t named Bush isn’t an awful idea in contrast to this metrosexual crook from Chicago with the bubble-butt wife who can’t shut up about what our kids eat. And Perry has the war stories about Obama to hit the trail with – the refusal to declare a federal disaster for those wildfires the ATF started, the war between the EPA and the state over their refinery emissions, the Gulf drilling moratorium, immigration – all of it’s good stuff for Perry and as the governor in Texas he’s in a position to say “here’s what this idiot in the White House has done to us and if you put me in charge I’ll make sure the feds won’t do it to you.”

Now – I’m sure Perry’s got lots of warts. He’s in his third term as the governor in Texas. And like I said, lots of folks in Texas I talk to grumble about him.

But this is a discussion we should begin to have. Because from what it looks like, this guy is running.