Governor Glasses Lands In Ebola Soup

Clark Kent 'Glasses' Perry to far right

Lucky Texas received the first diagnosed intercontinental case of ebola virus in the US (Liberia to Dallas). Governor Rick "Glasses" Perry promptly jumped on the case as an opportunity to display his Great Leader skills, issuing statements intended to calm the population.

Playing the typical Republican game that views every tragedy as an opportunity, Perry is betting that Texas has the skills and resources to handle the case without facing a serious outbreak of the disease that is by now rampant in part of western Africa.

Perry is probably right: ebola can be successfully combated, and Texas has medical resources comparable to those anywhere in the country and the public health expertise to mount a successful effort against an admittedly terrifying infectious agent which is nonetheless spread only by direct personal contact.

Will Weissert at TPM has an outline of the political dimensions of the "opportunity." If Perry is good at anything, he is good at political opportunism; whether it can take him to the White House is questionable, but it should be entertaining as we all remind ourselves, per Donald Trump, not to shake hands.