Douthat + Perry = double idiocy on #RickPerry'sTexasMiracle

Just when I think Ross Douthat might be sane, he never fails to disabuse me of that disillusion. He's done it again, this time by telling other candidates not to point out the flaws in Rick Perry's alleged Texas miracle.

Ross buffs Perry's resume, ignoring that two-month jump from 8.0 to 8.4 percent unemployment, the minimum-wage jobs, the laid-off teachers, the "socialistic" federal government funded jobs or anything else that spoils his novelistic narrative.

The only truism is the rhetorical question in the last graf:

Which bring us back to that 10-election winning streak. Maybe God really is on Rick Perry’s side. Or maybe Perry just knows how to pick his opponents.

The latter is true. Chris Bell as the Democratic candidate in a four-way split in 2006? Milquetoast Bill White in 2010? Essentially Republican Tony Sanchez before both of them in 2002?

Perry didn't "pick" them, but got hellaciously lucky. Even John Sharp as his light guv opponent in 1998 qualifies as a weak opponent.