TEXAS TOAST Perry, Giuliani (inset) (Photo: Getty Images)
Rudy Giuliani has bagged a big back-pat from a bona fide Southerner: Texas Governor Rick Perry.
Not since commode-cruiser Larry Craig hopped on board the Mitt Romney-mobile or porn princess Jenna Jameson passionately embraced the Hillary Clinton campaign has a candidate received such a dubious undorsement. Perry is best known for smugly bidding "Adios, mofo," but he is about so much more than a cheap line seemingly left on the Die Hard cutting-room floor. Perry packs a history of nattering speculation about his sexual orientation, which has at times reached Larry Craig- or Mark Foley-like levels.
Mitigating concern for Giuliani is the fact that the rumors are as unsubstantiated as they are spectacular.
The Austin Chronicle checked out tales of liaisons with a male member of his cabinet and found them "extraordinary in their baroque detail and remarkable persistence" but completely lacking in evidence. And Perry has flatly denied any problems with his marriage. But the extent of the Perry rumors, coupled with the power of wishful thinking and conniving adversaries, all but ensure whispers of Giuliani taking yet another hit with the endorsement.
For his part, the Texas Republican explained his support for Giuliani—differences and all—in a press conference this morning thusly: "When I go to buy a pick-up truck, if it's got one option that I'm not particularly fond of, I don't disregard that pick-up truck."
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