Bill Keller: Clueless about #RickPerry and #teaparty

Somehow the NYT's former executive editor thinks Rick Perry should be or is a tea partier favorite, and the fact that, according to polls, he's not getting more tea party support shows the tea party is in trouble.

Even stupider, on the second page, he claims that Perry is TPers' ideal candidate:

In this race, Rick Perry is the Tea Party’s dream candidate, the one remaining figure who could translate a noisy backlash into serious power. If Rick Perry loses, the Tea Party will have missed the opportunity of a lifetime. If he wins, Perry being Perry, it’s not entirely clear whether he will appease its members, but my guess is he’ll try.

“Rick Perry is the only candidate who would actually close down a cabinet department,” one longtime admirer told me, when I asked whether a President Perry would disappoint the Tea Party. “You would see a very happy base — at least for the first term.”

Not true.

"One remaining figure ... " only per MSM calculations the GOP nomination is now a two-person race.

Second, aside from that, he says "in this race." Really not true. Bachmann is definitely more a dream candidate than Perry. Paul and Santorum are at least Perry's equals.

The fact that Perry, wounded and all, gets more polling overall than any of them? THAT shows TPer weakness. And, that money and branding are at the heart of the GOP.