Gail Collins, "The Coyote Candidate": Rick Perry Meets The New York Times Quixote Columnist

New York Times columnist Gail Collins is on a quest: to discredit every Republican presidential hopeful prior to November 2012. In her column today entitled "The Coyote Candidate" (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/28/opinion/28collins.html?hp), she matches wits with Republican Governor Rick Perry of Texas:

"He’s from the South, and he has great hair! What more could you want?

. . . .

Perry! Perry! Perry!

. . . .

So who is this man called Rick? He is, in his own words, 'the kind of guy who goes jogging in the morning packing a Ruger .380 with laser sights and loaded with hollow point bullets, and shoots a coyote that is threatening his daughter’s dog.' That really happened. In fact, it was possibly the high point of Perry’s political career.

You can see the attraction. Try to imagine the Republican convention being asked to choose between Mitt Romney, who once drove to Canada with the family dog strapped to the roof of his car, and the guy who shot a puppy-eating coyote."

Where have we heard this before? Hint: See her April 15th column "Mitt! Mitt! Mitt!" (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/16/opinion/16collins.html), in which she writes:

"Also, there is not a single mention in 'No Apology' of the fact that Romney once drove to Canada with the family Irish setter strapped to the roof of the car."

Now examine her May 13th column, "Presidential Primary Book Club" (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/14/opinion/14collins.html), which begins:

"Newt! Newt! Newt!"

So what are we to learn from this?:

1. Gail is obsessed with hair.
2. Gail is obsessed with dog stories.
3. When going into battle, Gail recites the names of her opponents three times (that, or she is desperate to reach a prescribed word count or has started to lose her memory).

But let's cut straight to the chase: While Collins busies herself with tripe, the most recent CNN research poll (http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2011/images/05/27/rel9a.pdf) places Rudolph Giuliani at the top of the list of possible Republican presidential candidates. Of Republicans polled, 50% said that they would not like to see Perry run for the Republican nomination for president.

Which probably means that we will soon see a new Collins column entitled "Rudy! Rudy! Rudy!"

I don't know if she will be able to dredge up any dog stories concerning Giuliani, but it is unlikely that she will be able to poke fun at his "presidential" hair.