Another Rick Perry book?
It’s Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s moment in the sun and before another GOP starlet eclipses his rising star, at least two publishers are scrambling for a piece of the sunshine.
The newest presidential candidate to join the roster of GOP presidential hopefuls is the subject of the curiously titled, "Adios Mofo: Why Rick Perry Will Make America Miss George W. Bush.”
Metropolitan Books, an imprint of Henry Holt and Company, announced Tuesday they will publish “Adios” in early 2012. James C. Moore, co-author of the best-seller "Bush's Brain," and Texas political consultant Jason Stanford, who Metropolitan has said "deep contacts with numerous operatives in the Perry campaign,” will co-write the book.
As you might surmise from the title, Perry’s not likely to fare well in this exploration. Metropolitan said the book presents Perry as an "ideologue with scant interest or success in governing." Given Mr. Moore's role as co-author (with Wayne Slater) of the anti-George W. Bush bestseller “Bush’s Brain,” we’re guessing "Adios Mofo" will have some similarly damaging words for the person who could be America’s next cowboy president.
And the title? More damaging words, this time from Perry himself. It comes from an unfortunate comment the governor, unaware the microphone was still on, made in 2005 after a television interview with a Houston reporter. Ah, the audience favorite: microphone gaffes. Perry follows in the footsteps of a long line of pol slip-ups, from Ronald Reagan’s Russia-bombing joke to vice president Joe Biden’s F-bomb, to George W. Bush’s "Major League" mistake. (But unfortunately for Perry, this forthcoming book effectively puts a loudspeaker to his hushed comment.)
Crown also announced Tuesday that it is releasing an e-book on the governor and candidate. "Rick Perry and his Eggheads," by Sasha Issenberg, will be released next week. According to Crown, the book is an inside account of Perry's successful 2006 re-election campaign, based on Issenberg's "The Victory Lab," due in the fall of 2012.
Of course, Perry’s own account of his life and policy prescriptions are already available. Unusual for political books, his 240-page manifesto, "Fed Up! Our Fight to Save America from Washington,” has gotten good reviews.
In a column titled “Rick Perry’s book is good. Really,” the Washington Post’s Ezra Klein writes, “Campaign books are terrible. I know that... Any campaign book, that is, except Rick Perry’s ‘Fed Up.’ ”
Husna Haq is a Monitor contributor.
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(This blog originally misidentified Jason Stanford as a coauthor of "Bush's Brain."
