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April 27, 2009

Swine Flu and Going Meta on Governor Hairdo (R-Texas)

So, as reflected by many sources and reported by the AP, Governor Rick Perry of Texas, the quondam Jefferson Davis of the land of the Caddo and the Lone Star, has decided to request federal help when it comes to the latest illegal immigrant: the outbreak of H1N1 Swine Flu, newly arrived on Union soil on holiday from Mexico.

It's tempting to join my fellow wags on the "My, how convenient" train of mockery, as justified and valid as that party may be (I hear there's a no-host bar in the diner car), but I've also been taking in the "let 'em secede" mocking and the "we'd be better off without 'em" afterparty and letting all the threads play together.

I'm going to pull back a bit on this whole thing and try to take a look at the frame.

We shouldn't, of course, be at all surprised that Governor Hairstyle of Texas is asking for over 37,000 doses of Tamiflu with a straight face. This, like his position on Texas succession and his coif, is all about looking good.

The hint about Texas secession causes a whole lot of reaction. From the WTF crowd is head-scratching. From the hard blue left is the "you see? He hates America!" From the unreconstructed Confederates is the cry of "The South Will Rise Agin!".

It's really Chaos, is the whole thing, Now, I don't know if the good Governor is aiming for Chaos – as shallow as Republican politicians are, the are equally inscrutable – but with Chaos achieved, all things are possible. He can now paint himself in any one of a dozen good-looking ways, and the compliant Media will dutifully carry the water forward.

And, at his essence, he must be a gambler. After all, he's taking a chance that soon even Texans will see him as the buffoon a good deal of the rest of the nation does. But if he plays his chances right, he will be seen as someone who stood up for Texas' rights as a state, even while I played the white knight who secured the flu shots for his citizens.

In my view, enough balls are in the air that anyone can play them just about any way.

But my point (and I do have one – this is kind of a public spitballing, I'll admit) is that he knows what poses he might have to strike in this gallimaufrey to look, if not heroic, at least as though he was doing the right thing. He doesn't have to be sincere about it; he wasn't really sincere about pushing Texas independence.

And he'll follow through on getting Tamiflu to the good citizens of Texas. These are actually not mutually-exclusive positions to hold.

Governor Perry, like every big-time Republican, knows that Message Is Reality, and Looking Good is all that counts. If good actually comes of what you do, so much the better. But it's not at all strange to him that he should repudiate the government on one hand, and eagerly petition its help with the other.

Indeed, that's the way the Republican Party rolls. Has been since the days of Nixon.

Posted by The Chinuk at April 27, 2009 09:02 AM