In Reagan presidential debate, RICK PERRY gets bitten and bites back – POLITICO.com

In the debate, Rick Perry was attacked and didn’t hesitate to fight back, Simon writes. | AP Photo Close

In Republican presidential debate, Perry gets bitten and bites back

By ROGER SIMON | 9/7/11 10:56 PM EDT

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. – You know how to tell when you’re leading the pack? All the other dogs are trying to bite you on the butt.

Which is why Texas Gov. Rick Perry got his posterior attacked but good in a Republican debate Wednesday night. Anybody who bit him got bit back, however.

Though atop most polls for the Republican presidential nomination, Perry is not known to many Americans. Those who watched the debate, the first in which Perry has participated as a national candidate, saw a guy with square shoulders and a gunslinger squint, a man who likes to drop his “g’s” when “speakin’ ” his mind.

He sent one clear message: Nobody attacks Rick Perry – – not even with his own words.

“I feel like a piñata here,” Perry said at one point.

“I don’t care what anyone says,” he said at another.

And he didn’t. For a good part of the 90-minute debate sponsored by NBC and POLITICO, Perry not only answered the questions he was asked, but those he was not.

via Opinion: In Republican presidential debate, Perry gets bitten and bites back – Roger Simon – POLITICO.com.