Okay look, I am certainly not calling Rick Perry a Nazi!
That is clearly an inappropriate label to use for this fine upstanding Texan.
I am just pointing out that he used to dress like one.
And by the way I am sure that LOTS of members of an aggressive political movement, promoting racial distrust and nationalism, once dressed like the Fuehrer.
Doesn't mean a damn thing.
Right?
I didn't know Rick was the missing member of The Village People.
ReplyDeletePerry, like Palin is a racist wannabe Nazi. They don't like anyone non-white, non-Christian. They hate America.
ReplyDeleteIn spite of Gryphen's rather charitable comments, Rick Perry's record as any kind of official in Texas proclaim his as a fascist, as in when corporations control the government (as they have under Perry), that's fascism.
DeleteIn WWII, we made the mistake of fighting fascism only in Europe, when the good ole U.S.A. was (and has been) a hot bed of such crap. Apparently, Perry has never met an ecosystem he liked, nor has he ever met fascist criminal corporate CEOs he hasn't liked. It seems like poor little insecure Ricky loves money and power and control, and those who wield it to destroy our land and lives.
Rick Perry has also been a model for that ugly term political corruption.
I have to disagree with you, Gryph. That is exactly the way that thousands of members of "The Corps" dressed for decades at Texas A&M. The Corps provided thousands of military officers for us in WW II and Korea and Vietnam. In fact, the boots are still worn ceremonially by Senior year Corps of Cadets members - though most students are no longer members.
ReplyDeleteYou're totally off base on this one, Gryph.
The uniform goes back before WW I and the existence of the Nazis.
DeleteBest comment on another blog, which showed the Perry photo on the left along with the one of him in his cheerleader outfit with the collie mascot:
ReplyDeleteWait, what? He's a gay Nazi, into dogs?
Slate reports that National Enquirer is heading to Austin, along with the fill page ad published in the local alternative weekly newspaper seeking Perry's sex partners, gay or straight.
ReplyDeleteNever has anyone deserved this treatment more.
http://www.salon.com/news/2012_elections/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2011/08/18/rick_perry_women_ad
Or he could simply look like:
ReplyDeleteNeidermeyer!
Enjoy you blog, but think you missed on this one. He is dressed in the uniform worn by all Seniors in the corp at Texas A & M University. Although students no longer have to be in the corps, I think that it might have been required when Rick Perry attended.
ReplyDeleteYes, that is definitely an unfortunate photo, but having served in the Navy with plenty of fine gentlemen from Texas A&M who all had to wear that same uniform, I'll refrain from picking on Ricky Perry for this one.
ReplyDeleteThat's obviously a uniform, I doubt that Perry designed it. The similar posture is a coincidence. I hate to make this comparison, but this post looks remarkably similar to the nonsense on Glenn Beck's website.
ReplyDeleteI'm with the others who say that this uniform was required wearing at his college for "The Corps"...not Perry-specific per se. Creepy though!
ReplyDeleteOooohhh, nice find. Thanks for not throwing the Nazi word around, overuse dishonors his victims.
ReplyDelete8:09 AM Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteSlate reports that National Enquirer is heading to Austin, along with the fill page ad published in the local alternative weekly newspaper seeking Perry's sex partners, gay or straight.
Never has anyone deserved this treatment more.
http://www.salon.com/news/2012_elections/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2011/08/18/rick_perry_women_ad
Awesome. Pure Awesome. Guess I have an excuse to go to my local coffee shop now and pick up the latest Austin Chronicle. Thanks for the link. I do hope they find something (although whether Perry's gay or bi is something I really don't care about...not like Babygate...)
Not only did he dress like him, but he posed like him! Yuck! What an imbecile!
ReplyDeleteI am neither a fan of Scarah nor Rick, but your point is off on this. I was in college ROTC and this is what he would look like as a cadet at A&M. If you condemn him for this, you condemn all of us who went through ROTC, got commissioned, and served our country.
ReplyDeleteTo me, this photo shows that all utilitarianism springs from identical roots. All military training is brainwashing and reduction of the individual to a cog in an unquestioning wheel. That always produces evil.
ReplyDeleteNo, I do NOT "support the troops" - any of them.
Frankly, based on personal observation as a "non-reg" student at A&M, the uniform is more traditional than functional, particularly the boots. They pay tribute to A&M's long involvement in training cavalry officers.
DeleteSunshine1970, you might enjoy the comments about this posted over on Wonkette:
ReplyDeletehttp://wonkette.com/451480/all-of-rick-perrys-ex-sexytime-ladiesmen-offered-to-tell-gross-stories
My personal favorites include the explanation for the Star Wars font of the ad, and the always popular farm animals threads
"A pledge pin! On your uniform?"
ReplyDeleteAs a Texan same age as Perry-- let me chime in on the Aggie costume.
ReplyDeleteTo attend Texas A&M in the late sixties was to go to an ag school. Either you couldn't get in to University of Texas OR you liked to hang out with men, because Texas A&M was men only in those days. It was very militaristic and agriculturally oriented. While I knew one or two smart guys who went there (including the first certified organic farmer in the state of TX, a great guy) most of the guys who went there were thick-headed Neanderthals. I mean, I'm talking sheep-screwers and cowtippers. Their only raison d'etre was occasionally beating UTexas at football.
Delve more into the culture of pre-womenized TX A&M and you'll find many unsavory things. It was Bush cronies who fleeced Texas and the oil&gas industry who have given A&M the $ to morph into a world institution.
but baby, in the 70's it was male-dominated circle-jerk hickville.
And the stereotype of UT Austin was a privileged, monied, snobbish frat boy interested only a sinecure and debutantes seeking an MRS degree, neither of which was acquainted with hard work or knew which end of the cow was which.
DeleteAs a Univ of Texas alum, the Ags are rivals, and I rarely defend them, for a whole range of reasons. But I'm with Jim in Texas and others that this is standard-issue Corps dress, and a source of pride at A&M.
ReplyDeleteThere's soooooo much we can pick on Perry for. (Including the Aggie yell-leader thing, if you want to go the A&M route -- that's the silliest thing ever.)
Ridiculing him -- and by extension other Corps members & supporters -- for this will hurt our efforts to point out the many serious reasons Perry is unacceptable as a presidential candidate. Let's stick with the real stuff and not undermine our own good work!
Frankly, I agree with you. As a non-cadet alumni of A&M I find the photo comparison extremely offensive. My first visceral reaction is wanting to punch the poster in the mouth with my fist. Given how much I truly despise Rick Perry, it says a lot about how much I despise the poster.
Deleteyou know how much i like you, mr g, but let's keep the Aggies out of it.
ReplyDeletei'm related to a couple of them and they're good folks.
Anonymous @ 8:47:
ReplyDeleteIf you don't support the troops, are you willing to fight for your country? My dad was military and so was my husband. They were not "brain-washed," as you purport all military training to be.
Over at CNN this was included in a report about Perry in NH:
ReplyDeleteOne woman who did not appear to be affiliated with the protesters ushered her son up to the governor and prompted him with questions for Perry like "do you believe in evolution?"
"It's a theory that's out there," Perry told the child. "It's got some gaps in it. In Texas we teach both Creationism and evolution."
The mother then told her young son: "Ask him why he doesn't believe in science," as Perry continued into the cafe.
To all those explaining Perry's "uniform" in the photo: yes, this was required, standard, etc.
ReplyDeleteBut the problem is that he's continued to strut and preen in similar "uniforms" WITH BOOTS & WEAPONS ever since. His khaki hunting shirts, so starched they can stand on their own, come to mind. His leather belts, holsters, sidearms.
Not for nothing was his nickname "Crotch" during his first few years in office: tight jeans, tight khakis, all starched and creased and TIGHT!
LOTS
ReplyDeleteSorry Gryphen, you're off base on this one - no better than the Tea Party posters of Obama with Hitler mustache. Rise above, we're supposed to be better than this.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jim in Texas. A&M has a strong tradition as a military school. Other schools, such as Va Tech were that way before girls were allowed. I have a strong sense of dislike for this militaristic style of dress and education, but many others follow this totally.
ReplyDeleteThere are also a lot of weird jokes about the cadets that still float around the university. Just sayin.
Photo taken right before he broke into a lively frathouse rendition of "Springtime for Hitler"?
ReplyDeleteAs someone on Wonkette posted on this photo:
ReplyDeleteWorst Porn Cover Ever
I could care less about the picture, and more about why Perry is running around the country talking about his great minimum wage jobs record when his state is literally drying up. What is he doing for the Texas senior citizens who are dying from the heat when they can't afford to run their air conditioners? Perry refuses to use any of their $90 million dollar rainy day fund for drought and heat relief efforts.
ReplyDeleteI saw on the news last night that the estimated economic losses of livestock and agriculture is over $5 billion.
“Palin has got a pretty active schedule in early September."
ReplyDeleteThe truth is that Sarah has no friends any more. She has no political allies. She has no supporters. Her greed, her blatant stupidity and her malevolent personality have driven them all away. She’s painted herself into a corner from which she cannot escape. The poison she’s spewed throughout her public and private adult life is now seeping back into that corner, and poor little Sarah has nowhere to hide.
Karl Rove has said he still thinks Sarah will enter the race. I thought so myself until quite recently, when I realized she was too cowardly to do so.
http://andrewsullivan.thedaily
beast.com/2011/08/palin-has-got-a-pretty-active-schedule-in-early-september.html
this perry by all accounts is not very intelligent.
ReplyDeletei doubt he even knew who hitler was.
perry long believed homosexual(goggle it) obviously has some uniform sexual fantasies....
I cut back my visits to that site after that....moronic comparison.
ReplyDeleteWell, talking about photos, how about Sarah's black nail polish with white polka dot toes?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/16/sarah-palin-toe-nails_n_928512.html
Trailer trash from the top of her ghastly wigs to the tips of her dried-up, calloused-looking tippy toes.
Gees.
Maybe Texas A&M Corps needs to rethink their uniforms - or not, if they really like the Nazi look.
ReplyDeleteI too am a UT Longhorn, and of a similar age to Perry (4 years younger). Perry's grades wouldn't have allowed him to go to UT, but as the son of West Texas tenant cotton farmers from a small town, A&M would have been his choice in all likelihood, especially given his attempt at a vet degree (his poor grades prevented that.)
ReplyDeleteThe culture of A&M at that time was all about the Corp of Cadets, although it was out of step with the post-Vietnam anti-military vibe of most college campuses I think.
And the Corp was all about the uniform. However, the yell leader thing is worth a closer look, as within the Aggie cocoon lived many, er, options. Sex with other medn, and with animals, I am told by Aggies of that time, was real. Please note that I do not equate these two activities.
All that said, Perry's patterns are lifelong: penchants for the trappings of uniform and weapons, success with posturing and posing to cover real knowledge or accomplishments, and comfort with being led by others in a group of like minded good old boys.
His Dominionist Christianity is just the huckster preacher in him: more posturing for more success with no real work or substance.
Sunshine1970 - how did you get the link to be clickable (html). I drag and drop the links in, and usually they turn into html (as on mudflats) but here - zip.
ReplyDeleteI'd sure like to know so I can make it easier for others to follow-up on things.
Jim from Texas said:"I have to disagree with you, Gryph. That is exactly the way that thousands of members of "The Corps" dressed for decades at Texas A&M. The Corps provided thousands of military officers for us in WW II and Korea and Vietnam. In fact, the boots are still worn ceremonially by Senior year Corps of Cadets members - though most students are no longer members."
ReplyDeleteYeah, but what's with the hair?
StellaGuadalupe
Jim in Texas - Gryph might be off base on this, but it certainly resembles the uniform of the Nazi group and I don't think that is ever an accident. "The Corp" needs to be looked into as beliefs, missions, educating and things they actually have done throughout the years as to political policies, etc. (if any).
ReplyDeleteNope! no resemblance at all. He's got the American flag behind him :)
ReplyDeleteGryphen...what the h@## happened to your previous post about ruffles and the tale of two babies??
ReplyDeleteO/T FYI with no comment:
ReplyDelete"Father, son indicted in Palin stalking case, arrested by FBI in Pa."
By Associated Press, Updated: Thursday, August 18, 10:49 AM
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — "A Pennsylvania man and his son have been arrested on charges of harassing Sarah Palin’s family and lawyers.
The FBI said that Craig Christy and his son Shawn Christy were placed under arrest at the FBI office in Allentown late Thursday morning."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/father-son-indicted-in-palin-stalking-case-arrested-by-fbi-in-pa/2011/08/18/gIQAjvJwNJ_story.html
Last night on Daily show: Jon and Steele take a dig @ Palin:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.hulu.com/watch/269182/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-michael-steele
It's not like you're creating a false impression like taking a picture of a person who holds a very high position in our government and defacing it by drawing a Hitler mustache on it.
ReplyDeleteYou're not doctoring this photo in any way. Just showing it as it is with an undoctored comparable photo.
Okay, I'm reading some of the comment.
ReplyDeleteLet me get this straight.
You went to Texas A&M if you couldn't get into University of Texas.
And Perry STILL got Cs and Ds? At my state university if you got grades like that you were on academic probation until you either raised them or were kicked out. In my masters program if you got one C you were on probation and could not get a degree with less than a 3.5 average.
I think this is our problem. We are electing people who do not display academic rigor. Or I should say ONE party is. And pretty consistently. No wonder they attack the Democrats as academic elites.
Wonderfully funny commentary by the late, great Molly Ivins on Rick Perry over at Mother Jones
ReplyDeletehttp://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/08/rick-perry-molly-ivins
@Anonymous 10:12 - thank you for confirming what I wrote above about TX A&M before women were admitted.
ReplyDeleteThe old days on male-only, militarized and isolated campuses (Va Tech, VMI, etc) has been neatly edited out of sight. However, the culture is important for understanding someone like Perry.
I repeat: Perry's college years most likely included sex with other cadets, animals, and circle jerk sessions. That was the way it was. And that's why none of the women I knew would date an Aggie in those days.
Hey -- Texas TECH alum & Democrat here. Can't stand Gov. Goodhair, can't stand A&M, but that uniform is no "Band Costume", as your tag words indicate.
ReplyDeleteGetting into the Corps is very, very exclusive and making it to your senior year to earn those boots is an accomplishment.
Tx A&M has provided this country with generations of servicemen, and played a major role in ridding the world of Adolf Hitler.
Yup, Gryph, off base with this one. The "The Corps" have been a military tradition at A&M since the school was founded.
ReplyDeletePoke fun of his grades or being a "Yell Leader", leave the Corps membership out of it.
Again, this Longhorn is in a very odd place, seemingly defending the Texas A&M Corps uniform!
ReplyDeleteThere are lots of reasons to question some aspects of A&M, including some of the mindset (some would say cult-like) of most students, and esp among the cadets, a reverence for what can be easily be seen as war-mongering.
That said, the Corps uniform and "Senior Boots" pre-date Nazis & Hitler, having begun in 1914. The boots are "knee-height English riding boot, of a light brown or tan."
More info & pics here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_A%26M_University_Corps_of_Cadets
(See the pitiful pic of several Corps members and former Sec Def Bill Gates all wearing the boots. One of the cadets is a woman, and she wears her boots with a skirt.)
All due respect to the military who have defended our country. I have friends who proudly went to male only VA Tech.
ReplyDeleteI also knew females who attended A&M and they came back with some really weird sex jokes about the "old days" and the guys who attended.
Weird and bazarre if you ask me.
Class of 86 Longhorn here. I concur with my fellow alums that this is misleading and petty.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 10:59 - your second post reminded me of something else.
ReplyDeleteYou wrote: "The old days on male-only, militarized and isolated campuses (Va Tech, VMI, etc) has been neatly edited out of sight...Perry's college years most likely included sex with other cadets, animals, and circle jerk sessions. That was the way it was."
The Aggie alumni network is legendary, but it's important to note that today's version is more business-connection based as opposed to the insular, secretive hyper-testosterone tinged men's club version of the 1970's and 1980's.
The Aggie experience when it was an all-male institution created ties that went deeper than traditional college or even fraternity bonds.
Look at Perry's inner circle, his big donors, all the cronies he has dug in to every agency and board in Texas. We have a weak-governor system, but Perry has used all these years in office to become wealthy and help his friends do the same, using some of the most blatantly corrupt and craven moves ever witnessed in modern times.
My point is that Perry's brand of corruption is not just about the money, or even about the power. That dark Aggie heritage - isolated, all male, militarized - and what it meant to thrive within it and launch from it, is key to understanding the Rick Perry who now swaggers before us with his insufferable smirk: his secret is safe.
OMG.
ReplyDeleteHow proud he must have been.
What group was this "costume" affiliated with?
Anonymous 1025AM got it right:
ReplyDelete"Yeah, but what's with the hair?"
Nobody is condemning every member of the Texas A&M cadet corps. But we shouldn't dismiss the possibility that within a group attracted to nationalism, militarism and uniform fetishism there won't be the occasional "good looking rascal" who masturbates standing before a full-length mirror all dolled up in frilly pink panties, Nazi-like regalia and a passable "Der Fuehrer"-do.
@Beldar, blergh! Pass the mind bleach!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, excellent point. These, to me, are the more legitimate angles about Perry's A&M history. I recently read somewhere (The Dish? can't recall) about Perry's excitement about all things defense, and that sounds very consistent with what I've seen from a number of Ags.
Those of you crying "Unfair, it's a uniform! He HAD to wear it!"...
ReplyDeletemaybe so, but you also know that if there was any photo even remotely resembling this involving President Obama, the 'baggers would NEVER give it a pass.
Perry the Fairy.
ReplyDeleteInteresting juxtaposition Mr. G, but I agree with the comments that uniform was worn historically by a lot of Army Air Corp officers, British officers, etc.
ReplyDeleteBut, since Google is our friend, and to go along with your question Gryph, here is an interesting tid-bit re a republican politician from Ohio who has an unusual(?) hobby(?): http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/10/why-is-this-gop-house-candidate-dressed-as-a-nazi/64319/
The comparison is a bit off, Gryph. A&M as Jim in Texas put it, has a history of dressing like that. It is also not far from being an actual US Army uniform that would have been worn prior to WWII. It's a cavalry uniform, hence the jodhpurs, high cavalry boots, and saber.
ReplyDeleteOver the top by most standards now, exceedingly strange, but not for a university that has a large ROTC program.
Non-Texan here, who really doesn't want yet another Texas governor in the White House, the last one was bad enough.
Besides being immature, you sometimes lack good judgement and are very intolerant. I'm liberal and when I see liberals doing the same thing the right does, I just can't believe it. Perhaps you need to step back a bit because you are losing perspective.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe it's because you've lived in Alaska your entire life and haven't traveled a lot. Sometimes those who say they are so tolerant are often the most judgmental.
This is happening more and more on the far left as we criticize everyone but ourselves.
I mean even though many Jewish people have tried to explain to you WHY your Nazi talk is so wrong and offensive, you still have no respect for us do you??
And one way you are like Sarah is instead of admitting fault or a mistake, you double down on the sarcasm.
I hope you think about this and don't just write it off but I'm not counting on it
O/T, but it appears Bachmann plays as fast and loose with the truth as Palin:
ReplyDeletehttp://motherjones.com/politics/2011/08/michele-bachmann-not-doctor-phd
OK, so this is a uniform required by Texas A & M, and not the fault of pArry. He gets a pass on this one.
ReplyDeleteBut one must ask oneself, why the hell would Texas A & M design uniforms that so closely resemble Nazi uniforms?
You've got it the other way around. A&M was first. Hitler is emulating the Junker aristocracy who served as cavalry during WW I while he fought in the infantry in the trenches. Only the aristocracy could afford horses.
DeleteHere's a link to a PHOTO of Perry giving the Nazi salute
ReplyDeletehttp://politicalscrapbook.net/2011/08/rick-perry-nazi-salute/
"Doesn't mean a damn thing."
ReplyDeleteNo it actually doesn't mean a damn thing.
Texas A & M. The M is for military and the corp is still a big part of the Aggie student body and its spirit, pride, and lore.
Seniors who are in the corp get to wear jodhpurs.
So fucking what? It's a tradition that dates back to the founding of A&M as a military training institution before Humvees and Jeeps when the cavalier actually rode horses. Jodhpurs were the dress parade uniform.
I am a University Texas grad have have marginal respect for Aggies, especially the corp, but Jesus Gryphen do a little research first.
There is plenty to to criticize Whorehouse Perry for, but this picture isn't one of them, any more than a photo of some one in the military in uniform posed in front of a flag.
Oh and I voted for Obama.
Gryph, I've commented on this post today, and in reading others' I just wanted to say this.
ReplyDeleteYes, I do understand the points made by many that the comparison is off, misses the context, unfairly criticizes ROTC programs and/or demeans their military contribution, etc. I get all that.
Perhaps because I have lived under Perry's governance all these years, or maybe that I am familiar with Aggies from the period he attended (1968-1972), but I appreciate your point in a context that goes beyond the superficial mischief of comparing poses, boots and uniform styling.
Perry is has demonstrated throughout his career that he is thuggish, totalitarian, fascist and enthralled by glib veneers that mask crasser motives which benefit his agenda. He has proven himself to be masterful at telling people what they want to hear, building support, and otherwise turning opportunity into personal gain. He continues to show a laughable streak of fetishistic fascination with military uniforms, equipment, weapons and policies. He is vain and narcissistic, and professes an abiding certainty in a supernatural calling to lead a troubled nation back into its glory. He has revealed a frightening ability to disregard, minimize or deny the interests or needs of those unlike himself, and tends to demonize them or marginalize their importance. He believes himself to possess all he needs to know to fulfill this destiny and distrusts those who oppose him with facts or science.
I know that about him. For these reasons I look at these photos and see something others may not see.
So be it.
To those who seem to think some of Gryphen's stuff is over the top all I can say is we're facing people with NO limits to what they will say and do to defeat president Obama. If that's the game--GAME ON!!
ReplyDeleteUm, no, actually the "M" in Texas A&M stands for Mechanical.
ReplyDelete3:39 said:
ReplyDelete"Texas A & M. The M is for military and the corp is still a big part of the Aggie student body and its spirit, pride, and lore."
Nope. That M is for Mechanical.
and:
"... Jesus Gryphen do a little research first."
Yup.
Despite a post above about how A&M is funded, it began as a land grant college and continues to be so today. As part of its purpose it was to teach the agricultural, mechanical, AND military sciences which purpose it has fulfilled for over 135 years.
DeleteYou are totally off base on this. This uniform and boots go way back before Nazi Germany. Was not going to comment. As an Aggie '87, I had to let you know you need to educate yourself before posting comments like this.
ReplyDeleteI would be interested to know what university you attended (if at all) and what branch of service you served (if at all).
Your blog is very aptly titled... and, aside from being immoral, you're also an abject idiot.
ReplyDelete