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Bob Moser

Bob Moser is the executive editor of The American Prospect. He is the former editor of The Texas Observer and author of Blue Dixie: Awakening the South's Democratic Majority.

Recent Articles

Lucky Ricky

As the Orlando debate demonstrated once again, Rick Perry's greatest asset is his Republican opposition.

Bob MoserSep 23, 2011
(AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, Pool) Republican presidential candidate Texas Governor Rick Perry, left, points out a member of the audience to Utah Governor Jon Huntsman during a Fox News/Google debate yesterday.

For anyone who's lived -- or, rather, done time -- in Rick Perry's Texas, nothing could be more astonishing than what transpired in Orlando on Thursday night: The governor who has turned his state into an Ayn Rand fantasia with a Wild West theme looked and sounded ... humane. And as a result, thanks to the implacable absurdity of his opposition, he took another improbable step toward resembling an electable candidate for president.

Perry's Pitfalls

The Texas governor could trip on his way to the top.

Bob MoserAug 19, 2011
(AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

When Rick Perry opened his presidential campaign with a dazzling display of what GOP consultant Alex Castellanos called "mad cowboy disease" -- threatening Ben Bernanke with ugly treatment if he ever ventured into Texas, questioning President Obama's patriotism, denying the global-warming "hoax" -- one of the Texas governor's greatest vulnerabilities as a candidate became immediately obvious: He enjoys nothing more than raising eyebrows (and hackles) with incendiary talk.

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