Whoever first called David Perdue the “Mitt Romney of Georgia” sure got it right. The self-funding former CEO who’s running for the U.S. Senate (he actually ran first in the May 20 GOP primary) is showing himself to be more clueless every day in seeking to follow the mandatory script of the conservative movement. Here’s the latest from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
In [a] recent interview with the editorial board of the Macon Telegraph, Perdue is in the middle of a bull session on world economics, when the topic of China comes up….
The specific topic is China’s “long view” of its future:
Perdue: “This is a culture that thinks thousands of years [ahead]. Guanxi is a term over there. It’s called relationship, friendship. This isn’t like you and I just met and we go to dinner, we’re friends. They’re talking about families, generations, centuries. I’ve had that rice paddy, you’ve had that rice paddy, my grandfather – that’s guanxi.
“When they talk about friendship, that’s what they mean. The answer is, of course, we’ve been naïve. We see the world through the ugly American eyes – and that is, the world revolves around New York City or Washington D.C.”
Unidentified editor: “We’re arrogant teenagers.”
Perdue: “Absolutely. And you know what? The rest of the world gets it.
And you know what? Perdue doesn’t. He served up some easy target practice for former opponent Karen Handel, who’s now backing Perdue’s insanely opportunistic runoff opponent Jack Kingston:
“David Perdue just can’t seem to keep his arrogance in check,” said Handel. “First, he belittles Georgians who don’t have a four-year college degree and haven’t lived overseas. Then, he patronizes the grassroots core of the GOP. Now, he’s insulting Americans in general.”
Other than repeating hypnotically that he’s the most conservative person ever to run for office in Georgia–nay, not just in Georgia, but in America!–Kingston need do little more than wait for the next Perdue editorial board interview, where he will inevitably exhibit something other than the requisite grade-school understanding of the world. Can’t have that in the Senate.
