Texas Gov. Rick Perry has proclaimed that he is “more Jewish” than you or some guy at The New York Times Magazine thinks he is.
The proclamation occurred at Nate ‘n Al, a famed delicatessen in the Rodeo Drive shopping area of Beverly Hills — next door to a Crate and Barrel.
“I’m more Jewish than you think I am,” Perry told Times writer Mark Leibovich. “I read the part of the Bible that said the Jews are God’s chosen people.”
Then, he said a pre-meal prayer, expressing gratitude for the corned-beef Reuben sandwich and Diet Dr Pepper that lay before him and asking the Lord to watch over “our men and women who defend our freedom, bring ’em home safe, be with the president, give him wisdom.”
Perry, a nondenominational Christian who was baptized at an evangelical megachurch in Austin, also noted that he has visited Israel on several occasions since 1992.
He was in the Los Angeles area to give a speech to a group of Jewish Republicans and, as he has been doing for some time, encourage California businesses to relocate to Texas where taxes are lower and the regulatory climate is less stifling.
The Texas governor — who was a Democrat until he became a Republican in 1989 — is said to be pondering a second run for president.
The first one, during the 2012 presidential cycle, was disastrous. The most dramatic and memorable moment happened at a Republican debate in Rochester, Mich. when Perry boldly declared that he would abolish three federal agencies but could name just two.
“It’s three agencies of government when I get there that are gone — Commerce, Education and the um, what’s the third one there? Let’s see. Oh five — Commerce, Education and the um, um,” Perry stammered, according to ABC News.
“The third agency of government I would do away with — the education, the uh, the commerce and let’s see. I can’t — the third one. I can’t. Sorry Oops.”
Mitt Romney helpfully offered up the Environmental Protection Agency for destruction to his self-destructing opponent. Perry agreed that, yes, the EPA was it, but he later recanted, saying that the EPA should only be restructured.
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