Whoa, are we there already?

It seems that way. Why else would the ridicule of Mormonism from Rick Perry be pitched so early before the primary season?

Perry is trying to recapture the Tea bagger love, having taken a couple of knocks on his treatment of illegal immigrants. Herb Cain has surged temporarily, and Romney is holding steady.

Cain's a black dude, so that is a minor distraction. Sooner or later the tea baggers will note that, and he'll be gone faster than Alaska Palin's pregnancy bump a few years ago.

It is time to delve below the lowest common denominator, and Perry is no slouch. He went after Romney's impulse abortion for everyone pro-choice stance, or at least the 1990s incarnation of Romney, when Mitt was openly espousing it. But he let one of his campaign staffers backers question highlight Mitt's religion.

The flunky who did it was Rev. Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas.Yup, the same one who prayed for rain and other things with Perry when the state was on fire:

[Perry is] the most pro-life governor in the United States of America right now. In a few months, when the smoke has cleared, those of us who are evangelical Christians are going to have a choice to make, do we want a candidate who is skilled in rhetoric, or one who is skilled in leadership? Do we want a candidate who is a conservative out of convenience, or one who is conservative out of deep conviction? Do we want a candidate who is a good moral person, or do we want a candidate who is a born-again follower of the Lord Jesus Christ?

And the Rickster's response?

[The pastor has] hit it out of the park.

In other news, God has not responded yet.

There is another reason for the early resort to the Fuck-the-fucking-Mormon tactic. There may not be enough time later to bring it up since many of the primaries are being moved up. All the worms primary convention dollars go to the early birds states, and nothing for the losers, like California, who hold their primaries after the nominee has been decided for a few months. If you recall, Bush the Younger employed exactly such a tactic against John McCain—that he had fathered a nigger black child. The ad worked well in South Carolina and McCain was done.

And now is the time for Perry to point out that by preaching abstinence-only, he took Texas to the top of the pile when it comes to teen pregnancies—especially repeat pregnancies. Then there is that Gadrasil thingy brought up by Minnesota Palin (who is digging faster, it'd seem). The positive spin would be that he was ensuring healthier wombs, to encourage more life bastard children, so that he can form his new church, Our Lady of the Perpetual Serial Pregnancy.

Hmm, Alaska Palin and her daughter could be sworn in as honorary members.

Update: Herb Cain takes "offense", Perry "distances" himself, and Jeffress doubles down:



Perfect!