Video: Rick Perry wants to be the Tim Tebow of the Iowa caucuses

Last night, at the final Republican presidential candidate debate prior to the Iowa caucuses, Texas Governor Rick Perry threw a Hail Mary -- by invoking a quarterback whose passing remains suspect in some quarters despite his current winning streak. Yes, it's true. The increasingly desperate former frontrunner attempted to hitch...

By Michael Roberts

December 16, 2011

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Last night, at the final Republican presidential candidate debate prior to the Iowa caucuses, Texas Governor Rick Perry threw a Hail Mary -- by invoking a quarterback whose passing remains suspect in some quarters despite his current winning streak.

Yes, it's true. The increasingly desperate former frontrunner attempted to hitch his wagon to Tim Tebow's star.

After "moderator" Neil Cavuto of Fox News asked the guv about his much-criticized debating skills, and fears from some conservatives that Barack Obama's rapier elocutionary skills would prove fatal in a candidate showdown, Perry responded in familiar rambling style. First, he talked up debating in general, saying he's starting to enjoy the process. But it didn't take him long to segue in the direction of The Chosen One.

"There are a lot of folks out there who said Tim Tebow wasn't going to be a very good NFL quarterback," he pointed out. "There are people who stood up there and said, 'Well, he doesn't have the right throwing mechanisms, or he's not playing the game right.'

"He won two national championships, and that looked pretty good," Perry continued, before announcing, "We were the national champions in job creation back in Texas."

The topper? "Let me tell you, I hope I'm the Tim Tebow of the Iowa caucuses."

That'd be a helluva an upset, all right. Check out the clip below.

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Michael Roberts began his career with Westword in 1990 as music editor. In 1999, he took on a new role, full-time media reporter, as author of a column called The Message. In 2008, he became the lead writer for Westword's news blog, The Latest Word, a position he held until January 2023. Michael continues to freelance for Westword, covering everything from business to sports and the media; he also contributes to Jazziz, a national music magazine. He holds a bachelor's degree from what is now Colorado Mesa University and master's degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, and Northwestern University.

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