‘Learning Curve’ as Rick Perry Pursues a Job He Initially Misunderstood

[Straw Man]

I suspect this is emblematic of the Trump Administration

Here's a thought, how about you actually learn what the fuck the DOE does before you advocate eliminating it

Seriously why can't Trump actually put qualified people in these vital roles

The current head of DOE was chairman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology physics department and directed the linear accelerator at M.I.T.’s Laboratory for Nuclear Science and the person before him was Steven Chu who won a Nobel prize in Physics

Perry not only had no clue what this agency does he also he also has zero background in science or energy.  His only education is an undergraduate degree from Texas A&M in Animal Science

WTF ?

WASHINGTON — When President-elect Donald J. Trump offered Rick Perry the job of energy secretary five weeks ago, Mr. Perry gladly accepted, believing he was taking on a role as a global ambassador for the American oil and gas industry that he had long championed in his home state.

In the days after, Mr. Perry, the former Texas governor, discovered that he would be no such thing — that in fact, if confirmed by the Senate, he would become the steward of a vast national security complex he knew almost nothing about, caring for the most fearsome weapons on the planet, the United States’ nuclear arsenal.

Two-thirds of the agency’s annual $30 billion budget is devoted to maintaining, refurbishing and keeping safe the nation’s nuclear stockpile; thwarting nuclear proliferation; cleaning up and rebuilding an aging constellation of nuclear production facilities; and overseeing national laboratories that are considered the crown jewels of government science.

Mr. Perry, who once called for the elimination of the Energy Department, will begin the confirmation process Thursday with a hearing before the Senate Energy Committee. If approved by the Senate, he will take over from a secretary, Ernest J. Moniz, who was chairman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology physics department and directed the linear accelerator at M.I.T.’s Laboratory for Nuclear Science. Before Mr. Moniz, the job belonged to Steven Chu, a physicist who won a Nobel Prize.

For Mr. Moniz, the future of nuclear science has been a lifelong obsession; he spent his early years working at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. Mr. Perry studied animal husbandry and led cheers at Texas A&M University.

Mr. Moniz had such deep experience with nuclear weapons that in 2015, President Obama made him a co-negotiator, along with Secretary of State John Kerry, of the Iran nuclear deal.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/18/us/politics/rick-perry-energy-secretary-donald-trump.html

[andreisdaman]

I suspect this is emblematic of the Trump Administration

Here's a thought, how about you actually learn what the fuck the DOE does before you advocate eliminating it

Seriously why can't Trump actually put qualified people in these vital roles

The current head of DOE was chairman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology physics department and directed the linear accelerator at M.I.T.’s Laboratory for Nuclear Science and the person before him was Steven Chu who won a Nobel prize in Physics

Perry not only had no clue what this agency does he also he also has zero background in science or energy.  His only education is an undergraduate degree from Texas A&M in Animal Science

WTF ?

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/18/us/politics/rick-perry-energy-secretary-donald-trump.html

HOLY SHIT..Animal Science?....UNDERGRAD??

[GigantorX]

This was already proven as a hit job of an "article" and a gross misrepresentation of Rick Perry's words. A cursory amount of research would have shown you that.

Typical.

[andreisdaman]

This was already proven as a hit job of an "article" and a gross misrepresentation of Rick Perry's words. A cursory amount of research would have shown you that.

Typical.

come on..you and I both know he's an idiot.....what a sap you are

[GigantorX]

come on..you and I both know he's an idiot.....what a sap you are

So you acknowledge the article as a dishonest hit job? I mean, the source for much of the article actually said it's bunk.

Oh well.

[Al Doggity]

I mean, the source for much of the article actually said it's bunk.

Oh well.

No, he didn't. What he said is that the headline didn't accurately reflect what he meant. Even then, a generous interpretation of his words doesn't make Perry look like someone who is fit for the job.

PS Plz take a look at the diversity thread. I posted a response to your earlier post.

[Soul Crusher]

come on..you and I both know he's an idiot.....what a sap you are

He did a good job as gov of Texas.    What job did ofagget have again before being POTUS

[Straw Man]

This was already proven as a hit job of an "article" and a gross misrepresentation of Rick Perry's words. A cursory amount of research would have shown you that.

Typical.

please provide this "proof" and cite the specific gross misrepresentation of Rick Perry words.

 

[Yamcha]

[SOMEPARTS]

Would have a beer with Rick but wouldn't want him necessarily in this job. Then again, Texas is a real state, big economy, etc. and he made it there okay. I would take it that he is being sent in there to undo clean energy restrictions. They closed a plant near me due to recent regs...

[AbrahamG]

please provide this "proof" and cite the specific gross misrepresentation of Rick Perry words.

 

crickets

[GigantorX]

“If you asked him on that first day he said yes, he would have said, ‘I want to be an advocate for energy,’” said Michael McKenna, a Republican energy lobbyist who advised Mr. Perry’s 2016 presidential campaign and worked on the Trump transition’s Energy Department team in its early days. “If you asked him now, he’d say, ‘I’m serious about the challenges facing the nuclear complex.’ It’s been a learning curve.”

Here is the quote the New York Times hit piece is based on. Pretty much a single quote from Micheal McKenna.

Doesn't really match up, does it?

Now here is another quote from McKenna (who was contacted for clarification by the Daily Caller) commenting on the article...

McKenna, though, told TheDC that the “headline” and lede of the story “don’t really reflect what I said.” He added that “of course” Perry understood the role of the Department of Energy when he was offered the job. Two-thirds of the DOE’s budget is devoted to maintaining the nation’s nuclear stockpiles. The nation’s primary site for the assembly and disassembly of nuclear weapons is located in Amarillo, Texas, a state Perry was governor of for 15 years.

Yeah, a really solid and well researched article. A lot facts and authority there.

[LurkerNoMore]

Article content aside, Perry pales in comparison to the people who held the job before him.  Talk about unprepared and unqualified.

[Straw Man]

“If you asked him on that first day he said yes, he would have said, ‘I want to be an advocate for energy,’” said Michael McKenna, a Republican energy lobbyist who advised Mr. Perry’s 2016 presidential campaign and worked on the Trump transition’s Energy Department team in its early days. “If you asked him now, he’d say, ‘I’m serious about the challenges facing the nuclear complex.’ It’s been a learning curve.”

Here is the quote the New York Times hit piece is based on. Pretty much a single quote from Micheal McKenna.

Doesn't really match up, does it?

Now here is another quote from McKenna (who was contacted for clarification by the Daily Caller) commenting on the article...

McKenna, though, told TheDC that the “headline” and lede of the story “don’t really reflect what I said.” He added that “of course” Perry understood the role of the Department of Energy when he was offered the job. Two-thirds of the DOE’s budget is devoted to maintaining the nation’s nuclear stockpiles. The nation’s primary site for the assembly and disassembly of nuclear weapons is located in Amarillo, Texas, a state Perry was governor of for 15 years.

Yeah, a really solid and well researched article. A lot facts and authority there.

That's all you've got

it's exactly what Al Doggity said, that MckKenna (who is quoted only once in the entire article) doesn't agree with the title

how is that proof the that entire article is a hit piece

tell us specifically what are the "gross misrepresentation of Rick Perry's words" and provide proof of the alleged misrepresentation

We can all read his quote and the entire article and it seems totally consistent

Of course it obvious that McKenna is going to try to cover his ass since he is a former advisor to Perry and to Trump as well.