"Rick Perry is the perfect candidate for those who thought George W. Bush was just too dang cerebral. And Adios Mofo is the perfect guide to his record, his rhetoric and his remarkable hair. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll vote.” -Paul Begala
"Please read this book, but remember it isn’t just about Rick Perry, it’s about a political movement that applauds his ideas or lack thereof. It’s about people who agree with his denial of science. It’s about a movement that rewrites history and even edits the Constitution when it disagrees with their philosophy. This book can be amusing--even funny--but it is also frightening to realize that rock hard ignorance can be a driving force in America. Read it and be warned." - Raymond Strother, Author of Falling Up and Cottonwood.
Steeped in Texas politics, New York Times best selling author James Moore, and co-author Jason Stanford have been watching Rick Perry, the state's longest-serving governor, from his earliest days in Austin. Here, in the first full reckoning with Rick Perry's record, they retrace the rise of an obscure cotton grower from the plains of West Texas to presidential candidate of the Republican Party.
Yep, another Texan. Who preached abstinence to school kids. And ended up with the most teen births in the country. Opposed gay marriage so vehemently he accidentally turned Texas into the gay marriage capital for post-op transsexuals. Pushed to privatize state highways and created corruption so huge it could be seen from space. Literally.
The air in Rick Perry’s Texas is polluted to the point that some schools have to cancel football practice because it is dangerous to breathe. His state budget is such a mess that his cuts threaten the jobs of 100,000 teachers. Perry campaigns as a “proud American in love with his country.” But he threatened to have Texas secede. Texas is offering America another conservative, so godly, so ineffably manly that not only does he jog with a laser-sighted semi-automatic handgun, but he asked to be on the front page of the paper just to make it abundantly clear that he was most definitely not gay. And this radical conservative, if elected, will take a blunt force instrument to Washington. Moore and Stanford predict that Perry in the White House will mean an attack on Iran, a ban on gay marriage and abortion, the end of Social Security, Medicaid, and the EPA.
Moore, who co-authored “Bush’s Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential” teams up with Stanford in "Adios Mofo" to tell you the unintentionally hilarious stories about how Rick Perry is so bad at governing that it's been said he couldn't lead a silent prayer.
"The last thing the US needs right now is another Texan in the White House. In this vivisection of Rick Perry and his career in the Lone Star State, my friend Jim Moore and his colleague Jason Stanford give you plenty of reasons to vote for anyone – and I do mean anyone – other than Perry." -- Robert Bryce, author of "Power Hungry: The Myths of 'Green' Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future"
“Don’t put off buying “Adios Mofo” because Rick Perry is going to have it banned. In fact, Guv’na Perry will likely hold a public book burning to deny America the blessing of reading this irreverent, funny and factual look at his life and world. Jason Stanford and James Moore have brought together years of tracking Texas politicians, what must be damn fine public school educations and their God-given, genetically pre-disposed, Southern birthright of storytelling to give us “Adios Mofo: Why Rick Perry will Make America Miss George Bush.” It’s a must read for every American, over 21, who wants to better understand the forces, be they reactionary or just a good tail wind of mediocrity, that inspire, mold and inform leaders like Perry. “Adios Mofo” tells it like it is, with gusto, humor and confidence. Read it. You’ll be glad you did.” - Burns Strider is founder of Eleison, LLC and The American Values Network
James Moore is the co-author of Bush’s Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential, a New York Times best-seller, and has co-written two other books. Published in the LA Times, Boston Globe, Salon, and Dallas Morning News, Moore has received an Emmy, the Edward R. Murrow award, and been named Best Reporter in Texas by Associated Press, UPI, and the Houston Press Club. He lives in Austin, Texas.
Political consultant Jason Stanford has worked on more than 200 campaigns in 41 states. His clients have included 25 members of Congress, three governors (two in Texas), and the AFL-CIO. He has been featured and quoted on NPR, CNN Money, and Fox News, and in Harper’s, Atlantic Monthly, and the New York Times, among other publications.
Molly Ivins used to call Texas "Mississippi with good roads." Jim Moore and Jason Stanford describe Rick Perry trying to sell even the roads, along with most everything else.
And they paint a depressing picture of what the country would look like under a Perry presidency.
The authors have done a good job of giving me nightmares of a Perry presidency. I will definitely be sending the bill for my sleeping pills directly to one of them...
In all seriousness, the authors have struck an interesting balance between having a great deal of respect for Perry's intellectual bona fides and at the same time eviscerating the positions he has come to over time. From tracing his early roots in politics as a part-time dirt farmer cum state legislator all the way through his seduction by the wealthy and powerful, the tale is spun of a political opportunist riding a wave of good fortune and lucky timing to where he is today.
You can tell that the bulk of the book was written before his disastrous debate flub of November 9, 2011 - a date that will forever live in political infamy - and yet, the well positioned forward makes a strong case that this is still required reading for anyone seriously following the 2012 GOP primary race. As those of us who follow this sport closely know without question, anything can happen in Iowa, New Hampshire and S. Carolina.
And Rick Perry is certainly not counting himself out yet...
When I first cracked Jim Moore's "Bush's Brain", I knew it was something special. Here was someone who knew his subject and wrote about it in a way that took us well beneath the sound bytes and behind the curtain to understand the man who was the Presiden't most trusted advisor. And so it is with Adios Mofo. Here is a step by step deconstruction of another Texas governor with sights on the highest office in the land. It's the kind of scrutiny we should be giving anyone who wants the job.
Jim Moore and Jason Stanford do their homework, with the special focus that journalists who live and work in the State that Perry runs bring to the task. Like the good reporters they are, they lay the facts bare and let us draw our own conclusions. And like "Bush's Brain", "Adios Mofo" becomes a page turner that is hard to put down.