Time for a “Gee, aren’t Republicans dumb” meme

(By Ed Morrissey, Hot Air) - It’s like clockwork. As soon as a Republican primary season starts to heat up, the national media likes to uncase its three narratives about presidential contenders. They’re either weird (Romney), scary (Bachmann), or idiots. Guess who gets the idiot treatment this time?

Another Texas governor who drops his “g’s” and scorns elites is running for president and the whispers are the same: Lightweight, incurious, instinctual.

Strip away the euphemisms, and Rick Perry is confronting an unavoidable question: is he dumb – or just misunderestimated?

Doubts about Perry’s intellect have hounded him since he was first elected as a state legislator nearly three decades ago. In Austin, he’s been derided as a right-place, right-time pol who looks the part but isn’t so deep – “Gov. Goodhair.” Now, with the chatter picking back up among his enemies and taking flight in elite Republican circles, the rap threatens to follow him to the national stage.

“He’s like Bush only without the brains,” cracked one former Republican governor who knows Perry, repeating a joke that has made the rounds.