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Rick Perry's Views On Sex: Window Into His Inability To Think Logically

Wed Aug 24, 2011 10:26 AM EDT
politics, sex, pregnancy, abortion, rick-perry, teen-pregnancy, steve-benen, abstinence-only-education, texas-tribune, jon-chait
By PowerIsKnowledge
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Rick Perry Struggles to answer Question on Abstinence - what seems to be a rather simple question turns into a bit of a confusing mess. Give this guy the nuclear button? I wouldn't suggest it.

Rick Perry Struggles to answer Question on Abstinence - what seems to be a rather simple question turns into a bit of a confusing mess.  Give this guy the nuclear button?  I wouldn't suggest it.

Rick Perry’s views on sex, sex education, and abstinence-​only education are an excellent view into his inability to think logically.

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  • Public Discussion (59)
PowerIsKnowledge

The Washington Monthly’s Steve Benen writes of this exchange,

The problem here isn’t just that Perry has the wrong answer. The more meaningful problem is that Perry doesn’t seem to know how to even formulate an answer. He starts with a proposition in his mind (abstinence-​only education is effective), and when confronted with evidence that the proposition appears false (high teen-​pregnancy rates), the governor simply hangs onto his belief, untroubled by evidence. As Jon Chait put it, Perry seems to struggle “even to think in empirical terms.”

Rick Perry, I guess what they say is right, he is dumber than Bush. Didn't know this was possible.

  • 24 votes
Reply#1 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 10:28 AM EDT
Pat-#@!&!#@

PowerIsKnowledge

Voted up! I seeded an article with this video a few days ago. I'm glad to see it again. I wish the DNC would make this into a commercial and air it over and over and over and ....

  • 10 votes
#1.1 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 8:10 PM EDT
PowerIsKnowledge

Thanks Pat and I'm sorry for missing your seed. I hope more Viners follow in our footsteps! I agree with you. The DNC should make this into a commercial but I doubt if they will. I can see www.Moveon.org doing it though, with encouragement.

  • 8 votes
#1.2 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 9:37 PM EDT
Mike Rupert

PowerIsKnowledge, your title for this piece is absolutely correct. I was watching this piece yesterday and and the guy was trying to do what George W. Bush used to do, which was attempt to make sense out of something - his nonsensical defending of abstinence, in this case - which couldn't be done.

The guy absolutely showed his inability to think straight.

  • 8 votes
#1.3 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 10:26 PM EDT
PowerIsKnowledge

Mike, Bush and Perry appear to be mirror twins in their way of thinking.

  • 3 votes
#1.4 - Thu Aug 25, 2011 6:52 AM EDT
Reply
mstanley2265

The main point is that abstinence only education is not viable. All alternatives to sex education is the message but cherry picking and spending tax money on an educational track that doesn't work out, is ludicrous. Doesn't appear to be on Perry's radar. :)

  • 15 votes
Reply#2 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 11:27 AM EDT
kim me

As a father of two grown daughters, my wife and I stressed safe sex as soon as they were able to understand. Best lesson they ever had.

  • 7 votes
#2.1 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 3:39 PM EDT
mstanley2265

too bad you couldn't do the same for the boys :)

  • 1 vote
#2.2 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 6:35 PM EDT
Reply
nica1829

AND this guy wants to be President. What a scary thought. Abstinence only sex education DOES NOT work. Proven time & time again.

  • 11 votes
Reply#3 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 11:27 AM EDT
Vlad's dog

Hey Rick, Old fashion does not mean stupid!

Here is what he said " I don't want to look at the truth because I need votes".

  • 16 votes
Reply#4 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 11:40 AM EDT
Polka14

Any amount of funds spent on instructing young people what they should do with their bodies is a waste of money. Abstinence is religious nonsense that doesn't work for the majority of young people. Sex education is a good concept to be taught in health courses and it is about instructing children not indoctrinating them into a certain bankrupt ideology.

  • 10 votes
Reply#5 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 12:03 PM EDT
0pinion8ed

Rick Perry is like an ostrich who hides his eyes from the sight of truth by burying his head in corporate pockets. Truth will not take him where he thinks he wants to go. He ignores the biblical adage... Man (the specie, not gender) cannot serve God and Mamon (money).

And money can be a pretty viscious taskmaster.

  • 10 votes
Reply#6 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 12:06 PM EDT
magnoliaave

Call it what you want to! Sex education is already in public schools and doesn't appear to be doing any good. When their "hormones rage" what are they suppose to do? God forbid that they use their brains rather than their private parts!

There is nothing wrong with instructing young people to use restraint. Why doesn't a girl realize that SHE is the one who gets pregnant? NOT the boy! He goes about his merry way and SOMETIMES takes responsibility. And, the most ridiculous part to me IMO is that it is over with so quickly that the girl doesn't even enjoy it. "Is that all there is, my friend"?

    Reply#7 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 12:59 PM EDT
    Andrew-1162039

    Teenage pregnancy rates have gone down dramatically since sex education was introduced - and for all the reminiscing about the good old days were actually higher in the '40's and '50's. The only blip in that long time trend appeared when abstinence only plans were instituted in areas of the country during the last administration.

    • 15 votes
    #7.1 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 1:56 PM EDT
    nica1829

    The difference in the 40s & 50s being that the pregnant teen was sent off to an "aunt's house" or was forced to marry.

    I am all for restraint BUT not teaching teens & pre-teens about sex & how to prevent unwanted pregnancies & STDs is dumb, just like depending on "just say no to sex only" education.

    • 15 votes
    #7.2 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 2:39 PM EDT
    landspirit

    Perry is a Palin with testosterone.

    • 5 votes
    #7.3 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 5:54 PM EDT
    PowerIsKnowledge

    The difference in the 40s & 50s being that the pregnant teen was sent off to an "aunt's house" or was forced to marry.

    Not only that, nica1829, girls were shamed into not getting pregnant. And if they weren't forced to marry, the kid might have been raised as the pregnant teens sister or brother. And let's not forget the back alley abortions.

    Perry is trying to win votes. I'd like to know how many girls he screw in high school and how many females he screwed before getting married. I would also like to know how many illegitimate children he has out there, and how many girls he impregnated were forced to have abortions.

    • 8 votes
    #7.4 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 6:50 PM EDT
    magnoliaave

    I think your assessment of Perry could extend to any male posting here and not posting here.

    I remember my youngest son, who was 22 at the time, was told he was the father of a young, beautiful girl's pregnancy. We didn't know it at the time, but he was one of three men who submitted their sperm for testing to Chicago. Oh, he planned to marry this young lady, but lo, and behold, he was NOT the father. You know what? The father of this baby was a DOCTOR!

    The moral to my story....if a Doctor doesn't know about birth control (and he was married) then, there is no hope for our young generation who don't heed precautions preventing pregnancy and STD.

    • 1 vote
    #7.5 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 7:14 PM EDT
    nica1829

    So telling them "just say no" is so much MORE effective.

    Here's my story: Back in the 50s my parents wanted to have sex so they got married after knowing each other 3 months, cuz that was how "it was done back then". Come to find out they didn't share the same tastes in sex. Hmmmm - they are Catholic so no divorce. Sex ed was never taught (remember back then it was JUST SAY NO until married) so they kept getting pregnant. My mother hated kids, but my father liked having sex so she "submitted". 30 yrs later after giving 6 kids the most horrendous childhood (I was the last of these 6 unwanted & despised children {told that every day}) they finally went their own ways. My father had numerous affairs - my mother withdrew into her own little world.

    The moral of my story - not educating children about sex & just telling them to wait until marriage ruins NOT just the lives of the two that got married BUT also any progeny.

    • 5 votes
    #7.6 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 7:29 PM EDT
    magnoliaave

    Damn, Nica, that is more than awful...have no words. My precious sister who died June 11, 2011 married a neighborhood Catholic boy. She had three children with him only to learn years later that he not only sexually abused his own son, but sexually abused our brother.

    My sister was a virgin when they married....she was 18 by six days. If she had been promiscuous would that have changed her life? No. She would have still married this awful person....after all, he lived across the street from us and who would have thought that he was a pedophile?

    There is no moral to this story....chit happens in life!

    • 1 vote
    #7.7 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 7:52 PM EDT
    Awed and Amazed

    If she had been promiscuous would that have changed her life?

    That's not the question. If she had been more knowledgeable about sex before she got married and into a sexual relationship might she have recognized the signs of a pedophile? MUCH HIGHER chance of preventing "chit" like that when you can openly talk about it.

    • 8 votes
    #7.8 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 8:15 PM EDT
    magnoliaave

    Knowledgeable about sex would not have made a difference. A pedophile doesn't have a label tatooed on their foreheads. This behavior didn't surface until my nephew was seven years old. He had sex with my sister and there were two more children.

    • 1 vote
    #7.9 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 9:17 PM EDT
    nica1829

    So how does being ignorant about sex help her in that situation? I believe in complete sex ed including abstinence, other forms of BC, STDs, and respecting your partner & yourself. Abstinence only education produces teens that are ignorant to the truth about sexual intimacy.

    • 3 votes
    #7.10 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 9:23 PM EDT
    PowerIsKnowledge

    Wasn't it that stupid ass Nancy Reagan who pushed the Just Say No campaign? That was the dumbest campaign that money was poured into. It doesn't work. Kids are going to screw. It's best to teach them about safe sex. Those who are intelligent enough to absorb the information will and those who aren't, well nothing will work with them.

    • 4 votes
    #7.11 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 9:47 PM EDT
    nica1829

    Yes, Nancy did push "just say no" to drugs. I believe that program has been about as successful as abstinence only education and that is why I use the phrase.

    • 3 votes
    #7.12 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 10:06 PM EDT
    LordFluffy

    ...if a Doctor doesn't know about birth control (and he was married) then...

    More likely, he didn't care.

    magnoliaave, teaching restraint and abstinence need not be divorced from teaching birth control. For that matter, being sexually active doesn't automatically equal "indiscriminate", which seems to be how you're characterizing it.

    Bottom line: Perry was repeating a slogan, not offering an answer. Abstinence Only education doesn't seem to be working all that great; enough already.

    • 6 votes
    #7.13 - Thu Aug 25, 2011 9:40 AM EDT
    Reply
    Texasguy01Expand Comment Comment collapsed by the community

    He gets an A+ in economics if you look at the State of Texas vs the rest of nation. He will win regardless of how much hatred the liberal media will try and produce. And why you ask? Look at the economic record of Obama and you will have all of the reason you need.

      Reply#8 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 1:03 PM EDT
      BAD1V

      It is easy to get an A+ when you are spending the American tax's payers money. Then claim the Federal Government is spending to much. I would call that a hypocrite.

      http://www.window.state.tx.us/recovery/transparency/tracking.php

      The reports below reflect the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act information that Texas state agencies and public institutions of higher education have reported to the Comptroller's office.

      https://bi.cpa.state.tx.us/OpenDocument/opendoc/openDocument.jsp

      http://money.cnn.com/2011/01/23/news/economy/texas_perry_budget_stimulus/index.htm

      NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry likes to tell Washington to stop meddling in state affairs. He vocally opposed the Obama administration's 2009 stimulus program to spur the economy and assist cash-strapped states.

      Perry also likes to trumpet that his state balanced its budget in 2009, while keeping billions in its rainy day fund.

      But he couldn't have done that without a lot of help from ... guess where? Washington.

      Turns out Texas was the state that depended the most on those very stimulus funds to plug nearly 97% of its shortfall for fiscal 2010, according to the National Conference of State

      • 21 votes
      #8.1 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 1:25 PM EDT
      TheJonesGirl

      Take away all Federal monies from Texas. Let them live as Perry preaches.

      It won't take more than a week or two for them to be clamoring for federal dollars to come back!

      • 18 votes
      #8.2 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 1:44 PM EDT
      Ian-2690048

      Perry is a nitwit, Texas. He won't win. He can be ripped apart on every front. He did nothing economically good in Texas. He took US taxpayers dollars and used it to balance his budget while lying about it the whole time. He's a raging hypocrite and a stupid man on top of that.

      • 14 votes
      #8.3 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 2:10 PM EDT
      Texasguy01Expand Comment Comment collapsed by the community

      I will give him credit for balancing a budget or even having one. He is doing far better than the Democrats on that one. When was the last time they had a budget or passed one?

        #8.4 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 4:31 PM EDT
        MJL-3

        Rick Perry is a moron

        • 4 votes
        #8.5 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 6:24 PM EDT
        BAD1V

        Texasguy01

        I will give him credit for balancing a budget or even having one. He is doing far better than the Democrats on that one. When was the last time they had a budget or passed one?

        That answer is hypocritical. Just how in the hell can you give him credit for balancing a budget, when he could not have done so with out the stimulus monies. The credit should go to the Federal Government since that is were the money came from to do it.

        You answer is why I very seldom comment here anymore. Pure Far Right Wing double speak. Were you defend anything a Teapublican does whether it is a lie or not.

        • 7 votes
        #8.6 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 6:33 PM EDT
        Reply
        Mark-702026

        I just do not trust Perry, never have. He is a slick power hungry professional politician.

        • 9 votes
        Reply#9 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 2:07 PM EDT
        magnoliaave

        The State of Texas thinks otherwise!

          #9.1 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 3:08 PM EDT
          Mark-702026

          I know they love him there. I just don't get it. I not a fan of the GOP but I certainly slanted right. The guy makes my skin crawl.

          He is like the insurance salesman at the club that never turns off the insurance salesman and just hangs out and shots the breeze. He is that guy.

          • 8 votes
          #9.2 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 3:12 PM EDT
          MattInTX

          They don't necessarily love him everywhere in Texas. He's very unpopular in Austin.

          • 10 votes
          #9.3 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 3:31 PM EDT
          Mark-702026

          I would imagine he is not popular in Austin

          • 4 votes
          #9.4 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 5:35 PM EDT
          Mark-702026

          I for one from a righter position really do not like the way he is being shoved down every ones throat. If the establishment of the GOP likes him I automatically do not.

          The problem is the corruption in DC, he is more of the same.

          • 2 votes
          #9.5 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 5:40 PM EDT
          Awed and Amazed

          I know they love him there.

          No, no they don't. People do not affirmatively support Rick Perry in Texas. They affirmatively support the "R" when they step into the voting booth. I can literally count the number of "Perry for Governor" bumper stickers I have seen in Texas over a period of 12 years on ONE hand. No one actually LIKES Perry. Texas is a conservative/rural state and that's how they vote. But its getting more liberal and urban by the minute...

          • 4 votes
          #9.6 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 8:24 PM EDT
          magnoliaave

          Why are you all friggin collapsing Texas Guy's comments? I am really getting upset with all of this and going to NV.

            #9.7 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 9:19 PM EDT
            PowerIsKnowledge

            Texas is a conservative/rural state and that's how they vote. But its getting more liberal and urban by the minute...

            Tnank goodness.

            • 6 votes
            #9.8 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 9:48 PM EDT
            Mark-702026

            Dallas and Austin are the are lean left, but Houston and San Antonio do not. It is a big damn state with lots of independent private business and non-union.

            The urban areas are very much different from the NE urban centers because they are not so densely packed and the same economic pressures or logistics never come into play.

            Dallas is leaning Democratic because of the high import population both from south of the border but also from the NE US that relocated there. Austin has always been liberal probably because it is the Capital and more likely it is a large college town that has become a hub for liberal refugee for the rural areas.

            I would not say that is going to be a state wide trend. It will stay a red state for many decades to come.

              #9.9 - Thu Aug 25, 2011 11:08 AM EDT
              Reply
              Pattie in Maryland

              Aside from "er", "ugh," "huh?", and "so sometimes it works", Perry said absolutely nothing worth saying. He can't get a whole sentence out. Holy cow! This guy IS dumber than Bush. When he speaks of his personal experience, it makes me wonder whether he was a virgin up until the time he met Ms. Right at the altar, or whether he steamed up his share of car windows in his high school and college years. I betcha he lost his virginity in the back seat of a Chrysler.

              • 4 votes
              Reply#10 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 4:28 PM EDT
              hugh b

              go ahead, try and stop human nature, go ahead, you can't do it

              having babies, getting on welfare, because of the way people have been treated and marginalized, became a viable career option for many women...

              lol, as an adult, there was no better contraceptive for me than being a substitute teacher, lol

              • 2 votes
              Reply#11 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 5:30 PM EDT
              Mark-702026

              I had young nieces and nephews. I loved babies, toddlers, and little kids. i moved away when they were teenagers, maybe if I would been around more I would not have had kids.

              I have teenagers now. I swear their plot is to give me stroke or heart attack and put me in a home and get rich early and the easy way.

              • 6 votes
              #11.1 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 5:44 PM EDT
              bloozbro

              I have teenagers now. I swear their plot is to give me stroke or heart attack and put me in a home and get rich early and the easy way.

              Hang in there Mark ...with a little luck, they will grow out of the teenage years and might even grow to appreciate your knowledge and insight once they reach twenty plus. Take it from someone who has lost a lot of hair and had the rest turn gray due to the teen years!

              • 4 votes
              #11.2 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 6:31 PM EDT
              PowerIsKnowledge

              Mark, the teen years are hard for any parent. Teenagers are not human beings--they are aliens. If you think back, can you say that you didn't give your parents hell?

              • 7 votes
              #11.3 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 6:56 PM EDT
              Mark-702026

              I was hell on wheels. I apologise to my folks every time I speak with them.

              • 1 vote
              #11.4 - Thu Aug 25, 2011 11:12 AM EDT
              Reply
              magnoliaave

              My sister and I never gave our parents hell....we loved our Mother too much. To see my Mother shed a tear was like the end of the world to us. But, with my two sons.....I could shed all the tears in the world and it didn't stop them. I worked in mental health....teenagers are likened unto a schizophrenic. It's in the textbooks!

                Reply#12 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 7:23 PM EDT
                Dr. Truth

                So, is his whole argument just the phrases "Abstinence works" or "It works" and we are supposed to buy it? It seems equivalent to the phrase "Because I said so".

                • 7 votes
                Reply#13 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 7:37 PM EDT
                Fla Pat

                I find it curious that someone who professes to be a devout Christian would believe abstinence is the answer. I mean Mary had Jesus after all, right?

                • 4 votes
                Reply#14 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 8:06 PM EDT
                Pat-#@!&!#@

                He gets an A+ in economics

                Listen closely, very closely to his responses in the video. This man couldn't get an A+ in ANY subject if his life depended on it. The positive aspects of Texas' economy has very little to do with anything Perry has done.

                • 6 votes
                Reply#15 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 8:08 PM EDT
                BLOGER-486140

                Americans think hes the man because we as a people have been trained to value style over substance. You can assess style at a glance, substance requires engagement and intelligent conversation. Too many Americans value the instant gut decision of the deep introspective choice. Too many Americans value the noisy outburst over silent reflection. Too many Americans think the nosier you are the more important and more credible your statements.

                • 5 votes
                Reply#16 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 8:38 PM EDT
                Grisham

                Not sure how dumb he really is. There are plenty of people who overlook facts in favor of beliefs. Some of them are even quite intelligent when it comes to anything except a challenging of their belief system.

                Good seed though, Power. I agree that I wouldn't want someone incapable of putting his beliefs aside for actual facts in the White House or anywhere near a Nuke switch.

                • 3 votes
                Reply#17 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 9:19 PM EDT
                PowerIsKnowledge

                Thanks Grisham. Both you and BLOGER have made good points.

                • 3 votes
                #17.1 - Wed Aug 24, 2011 9:52 PM EDT
                Reply
                Vlad's dog

                If you think about this Perry is arguing that the lack of knowledge works better than knowledge when is comes to understanding sex.

                • 4 votes
                Reply#18 - Thu Aug 25, 2011 7:15 AM EDT
                PowerIsKnowledge

                And Perry is a great example of someone who possesses a lack of knowledge.

                • 2 votes
                #18.1 - Thu Aug 25, 2011 9:18 AM EDT
                Reply
                klm-547227

                I have actually been sort of shocked at the people I know that DON"T support Perry at all. That are mocking Perry in Texas. I knew a lot of people didn't like him but it's getting kind of comical.

                • 2 votes
                Reply#19 - Thu Aug 25, 2011 10:12 AM EDT
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