Rick Perry speaking in Columbia last week.

Here’s what Rick Perry had to say this morning (the prepared remarks, anyway):

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. – Below is the text of Gov. Perry’s speech today.

*NOTE: Gov. Perry sometimes deviates from prepared remarks.

Thank you. As I have stated numerous times on the campaign trail, this campaign has never been about the candidates.

I ran for President because I love America, our people and our freedom.

But the mission is greater than the man.

As I have traveled across this great country: from New Hampshire to California, from Iowa to Florida, and to numerous states in between, I have discovered a tremendous purpose and resiliency in our people.

They have never lost hope despite current circumstances.

They haven’t stopped believing in the promise of America or the American Dream.

Americans are down, but we can never be counted out. We are too great a people.

What is broken in America is not our people, but our politics.

And what we need is a Washington that is humbler, with a federal government that is smaller so our people can live freer.

I entered this campaign offering a unique perspective: a governor who has led a large state leading the nation in job creation, an executive leader who has implemented conservative policies, a son of tenant farmers born with little more than a good name, but who has experienced the great possibilities of freedom.

But I have never believed that the cause of conservatism is embodied by any one individual.

Our party, and the conservative philosophy, transcends any one individual.

It is a movement of ideas that are greater than any one of us, and that will live beyond our years.

As a former Air Force pilot, I know we can’t lose track of the ultimate objective in carrying out our mission, and that objective is not only to defeat President Obama, but to replace him with a conservative leader who will bring about real change.

Our country is hurting with more than 13 million unemployed, nearly 50 million on food stamps and a debt of more than $15 trillion and growing.

We need bold, conservative leadership that will take on the entrenched interests and give the American People their country back.

I have always believed the mission is greater than the man.

As I have contemplated the future of this campaign, I have come to the conclusion that there is no viable path to victory for my candidacy in 2012.

Therefore, today I am suspending my campaign and endorsing Newt Gingrich for president.

I believe Newt is a conservative visionary who can transform our country.

We have had our differences, which campaigns inevitably bring out. And Newt is not perfect, but who among us is?

The fact is, there is forgiveness for those who seek God and I believe in the power of redemption, for it is a central tenet of my own Christian faith.

And I have no question Newt Gingrich has the heart of a conservative reformer, the ability to rally and captivate the conservative movement and the courage to tell the Washington interests to take a hike if it’s what is best for the country.

As a Texan, I have never shied away from a good fight, especially when the cause was right.

But as someone who has always admired a great Texas forefather — Sam Houston — I know when it is time for a “strategic retreat.”

So I will leave the trail, return home to Texas and wind down my 2012 campaign organization.  And I will do so with pride knowing I gave myself fully to a cause worthy of our country.

And as I head home, I do so with the love of my life by my side, a woman who makes every day a good one when she is by my side, my wife Anita.

Thank you Anita for all you have done.

I also want to thank my son Griffin, my daughter Sydney, and my daughter-in-law Meredith for standing with us in this great effort.

With a good wife, three wonderful children, and a loving God in my life, things will be good no matter what the future holds.

I’m proud of the policies we put forward to the American people and believe they provide the right path forward for our party and our nation: overhauling Washington and returning power to state and local governments and to the people, creating energy jobs and energy security, cutting spending and eliminating unnecessary federal agencies and cutting taxes to a flat, fair 20 percent.

And I will continue to fight for these conservative reforms because the future of our country is at stake and the road we are traveling today – President Obama’s road – endangers our future.

I want to thank some wonderful individuals who have stood by my side in this state: Katon Dawson, Ambassador Wilkins, and a strong and good man serving you in Congress, Mick Mulvaney.

I want to thank all my supporters from across the country, in particular Governor Bobby Jindal, Steve Forbes and Governor Sam Brownback, as well as Senator Jim Inhofe, Congresswoman Candice Miller and Congressman Sam Graves.

And I want to say a special thanks to three distinguished veterans who have joined me on the campaign trail: Medal of Honor awardee and Navy SEAL Mike Thornton, Navy Cross recipient Marcus Luttrell and Purple Heart recipient, Marine Captain Dan Moran.

I began this race with a sense of calling.

I felt led into this arena to fight for the future of this country.

I feel no different today than I did then, knowing a calling never guarantees a particular destination, but a journey that tests one’s faith and character.

So now the journey leads us back to Texas, neither discouraged nor disenchanted, but instead rewarded for the experience and resolute to remain in the arena and in the service of a great nation.

Our country needs bold leadership and a real transformation.

We must rise to the occasion and elect a conservative champion to put our nation back on the right track.

And this I know, I am not done fighting for the cause of conservatism. In fact I have only begun to fight.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.

I wonder if he knew, when he made this decision, about what the ex-wife is saying? And whether he’s re-evaluating now?

Wesley Donehue sends me this release today:

SC Senator and Key Supporter of Rick Perry Urges Withdraw

January 16, 2011 – Berkeley, SC – Today, conservative Tea Party favorite, SC Senator Larry Grooms withdrew his support for Governor Rick Perry and urged the Governor to withdraw his candidacy for President of the United States.

“I was there when Governor Perry made his announcement in Charleston and had tremendously high hopes for a Perry Presidency.  I still believe he would be a great national leader, but campaigns are tough and early mistakes and missed opportunities have taken their toll.  Now is the time to get out and pass the baton to another leader that can take the message to the next level.”

“With only days to go before the South Carolina Primary, it is apparent that Governor Perry cannot win and has no viable strategy in moving forward.  Remaining in the race at this point only serves to steer votes away from viable candidates.”

“The history of our primary teaches us that when conservatives split, big government wins. Now is the time for us to reevaluate our choices and coalesce around a single candidate.” Grooms points to the fact that Mike Huckabee may have been the Republican nominee four years ago if his candidate, Fred Thompson had withdrawn prior the SC Primary vote.  “Thompson’s candidacy split off enough conservatives to ensure a McCain victory.  I do not want to see history repeat itself.”

Senator Larry Grooms is recognized as a social and economic conservative and has received numerous leadership awards from groups such the Palmetto Family Research Council, SC Taxpayers Association and the SC Club for Growth.  A champion of educational choice, fiscal and tax reform measures, Grooms is the author of the new SC Immigration Reform Law.

###

And of course, my question is, so who’s he backing? Because the implication is that he wants people to rally ’round Romney. Apparently, that’s not the case, and he’s going to tell us whom he IS endorsing tomorrow at 9 a.m.

Meanwhile, Nancy Mace, who is Sen. Tom Davis’ consultant, tells me that three Upstate senators will announce, at the State House at 10 a.m., that they are endorsing Ron Paul.

All of this follows up on the decision by Huntsman to drop out, and the endorsement of Rick Santorum by a coalition of evangelical leaders over the weekend.

A lot of currents and countercurrents. And note that in all this last-minute decision-making and mind-changing, the only person I’ve heard converting to the Romney cause is Jon Huntsman. Maybe Romney should have been more grateful for that.

Like many of you, I think Sen. Glenn McConnell devotes too much — including too much of our money — to the Hunley Confederate submarine.

But I don’t get quite as outraged about it as some. For me, it’s a matter of proportion. I think research should be done on the Hunley. I just don’t know that South Carolina has to do it, and I really don’t like the atmosphere of cultishness around it — which tends to attend anything anything Confederate, where the senator is concerned.

I am frequently reminded that the rest of the country finds the Hunley fairly fascinating, if not quite as fascinating as McConnell does.

I was looking at USA Today this morning (hey, I’m at a hotel, and haven’t seen any other papers), and saw the above item.

Mind you, it was a news brief, but it was still news. That seems about right.

Burl, what do you think, as an expert on midget submarines?

… at a pace so fast that there’s no time to focus a camera.

This is Rick Perry arriving at Doc’s Barbecue a little after 1 p.m.

Now, I’ve got to run catch Huntsman at 3. Then Romney, and, if possible, Santorum.

I already missed Ron Paul this morning. He did a little quick-stop thing at Owens Field this morning. Both Valerie Bauerlein of The Wall Street Journal and Corey Hutchins of The Free Times asked me at the Perry thing, “Where were you?”

Gee, people, cut me a break. I can’t be everywhere. And as I told Corey, I wasn’t there because, while I knew all these others would be here today, “I didn’t know about him.”

So Corey says, “Well, he’s this guy who’s been running for president for a number of years…”

That little wiseacre.

More later…

Ahoy, there! Where did the Navy go?

This morning, I was reading a piece on the front page of The Wall Street Journal about the quiet arm-wrestling match going on between the United States and China over whether we Yanks will maintain naval supremacy in the Pacific (it was a good piece; too bad that WSJ is hiding it behind a pay wall).

That caused me to go take another look at disturbing satellite imagery I saw a day or two ago. Reading Black Ocean, I went to Google Maps just to remind myself of the lay of the land around Pearl Harbor (I used to be able to look down on it from my backyard, which was higher than the roof of the neighbor behind us in Foster Village — you can almost see it at the far left of this photo).

And I’m scrolling around, remembering things that happened here and there — and being surprise to find a bridge to Ford Island (in my day, you had to get there by ferry), when suddenly I realize that something is missing — namely, the United States Navy.

I looked at the hard wharf across the street from the tennis courts that John McCain’s father threw me off of (yes, that really happened), and was shocked. Last time I was there (admittedly, 40 years ago), a glance in that direction would show a tangle of antennae and superstructures of warships, packed along the wharf. Now… nothing. Not one ship.

This, apparently, is it -- a few ships tucked away in Middle Loch.

I started looking everywhere, and finally found about 11 ships tucked away over in Middle Loch, at anchor in twos (eerily like the way the battleships were moored on the opposite side of Ford Island on Dec. 7, 1941). What are they doing there? Hiding from the Chinese?

And that was it, aside from one surface ship and one sub I found over on the side where the main base is. Or was.

I knew the Navy had shrunk since the Cold War, but this was like some kind of post-apocalytic sci-fi thing. Like they’d all just disappeared.

No wonder Iran thinks it can close the Strait of Hormuz, if our bench has gotten this thin…

Maybe Burl can enlighten us… tell us the fleet was out conducting exercises or something that day…

Oh, and you know what else? Maybe, instead of crazy talk about how Obamacare endangers “the very survival of the United States,” some of these people running for president should address the issue of whatever happened to our Navy…

At the very bottom edge of the image, nearly halfway across coming from the left, you see the tennis courts where I had my run-in with Admiral McCain. Across the street should be a tangle of warships moored one or two deep. But there's nothing...

It was fitting that on Christmas Eve, Peggy Noonan’s column should begin with what she judged to be “the great words of the year: ‘Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow.'” An excerpt:

They are the last words of Steve Jobs, reported by his sister, the novelist Mona Simpson, who was at his bedside. In her eulogy, a version of which was published in The New York Times, she spoke of how he looked at his children “as if he couldn’t unlock his gaze.” He’d said goodbye to her, told her of his sorrow that they wouldn’t be able to be old together, “that he was going to a better place.” In his final hours his breathing was deep, uneven, as if he were climbing.

“Before embarking, he’d looked at his sister Patty, then for a long time at his children, then at his life’s partner, Laurene, and then over their shoulders past them. Steve’s final words were: ‘OH WOW. OH WOW. OH WOW.'”

The caps are Simpson’s, and if she meant to impart a sense of wonder and mystery she succeeded. “Oh wow” is not a bad way to express the bigness, power and force of life, and death. And of love, by which he was literally surrounded.

I wondered too, after reading the eulogy, if I was right to infer that Jobs saw something, and if so, what did he see? What happened there that he looked away from his family and expressed what sounds like awe? I thought of a story told by a friend, whose grown son had died, at home, in a hospice. The family was ringed around his bed. As Robert breathed his last an infant in the room let out a great baby laugh as if he saw something joyous, wonderful, and gestured toward the area above Robert’s head. The infant’s mother, startled, moved to shush him but my friend, her mother, said no, maybe he’s just reacting to . . . something only babies see…

Wow.

Yesterday afternoon, as I was driving back from Charleston, I heard a bit of an interview with Kyra Sedgwick, which caused me to think: I hope she never plays “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.” It would be so unfair, and would cause me to think less of her. The game would start, and a split-second later she’d yell “I win!” every time. How monotonous.

And that brought me to something that Kathryn Fenner brought to my attention recently: That our own Phillip Bush is connected to Ludwig von Beethoven by only five steps. It goes like this:

1. Beethoven taught Carl Czerny.
2. Czerny taught Theodor Leschetizky.
3. Leschetizky taught Artur Schnabel.
4. Schnabel taught Leon Fleisher.
5. Fleisher taught Phillip.

And you know why Kathryn likes this game, don’t you?

Because Phillip teaches Kathryn.

Phillip, of course, has performed on the blog. You can also find a CD of Phillip playing his master’s master’s master’s master’s master’s work here, and read about him on Wikipedia.

Stroll around the grounds until you feel at home…

— “Mrs. Robinson“

Old habits die hard. As I posted today’s Virtual Front Page, featuring a blurb about the Occupy Columbia situation at the State House, I glanced at the time. It was just past 6 p.m. So how did I know there weren’t new arrests taking place as I was posting? Well, I didn’t.

Dang.

I didn’t know, and none of the more obvious websites were telling me anything. Thestate.com only had a minimal update since the night before. The movement’s (I almost said “the organization’s,” but that wouldn’t be accurate) website didn’t tell me.

Dang again.

The trouble is, I don’t have any reporters to go check and see what’s happening. That’s what I’ve done most of my life when I had a question that was holding things up — send somebody to find out and let me know.

So you know who had to schlep his tired bones down to the State House. Yup. And that’s harder than it sounds, because parking is scarce with Vista Lights going on.

So I parked in one of the “working media” spots, and started rehearsing my explanation that I was, too, working media in case of challenge, when I realized I was walking across the State House grounds after 6 p.m. With impunity. As I moved toward the Confederate monument, I saw a group of people in the gloaming near the flag — on the part of the grounds people were arrested for being on last night. One looked like Walid Hakim. Another figure separated from the group and headed my way. “Hey, Brad.” It was Jack Kuenzie from WIS.

I said aloud to Jack what I was thinking: What makes being on the grounds after 6 a crime? Nobody was challenging us, although two BPS officers were standing at the steps about 25 yards away. Jack said he’d seen plenty of people cross the area unmolested — joggers, people walking their pets and the like. And, he said, Walid — “You mean Walid, the non-leader leader?” and Jack nodded — had been walking about on the grounds without being touched.

Most of the Occupiers were across the street, it having been informally decided that the “grounds” extended to the curb on the south side of Gervais. But Walid, his lawyer, and four or five others — some media — were still on the proscribed side.

Jack speculated that maybe carrying a sign was what made you a trespasser (and that’s what the19 were arrested on last night, trespassing — or at least Walid was, which is all I can say for sure, since no Occupier is allowed to speak for others). Well, if so, then this really is a First Amendment issue — which I had doubted.

The way I look at it, the duly constituted authorities are within their rights — or perhaps I should say, within their responsibilities — to say you can’t be in a particular place at a particular time. That is not a First Amendment issue, as long as you can peaceably assemble somewhere nearby.

But if some people are allowed on the grounds at that time, what’s going on. In fact, even the people arrested last night were now allowed to be where they were forbidden to be at the same time 24 hours earlier. At least, Walid was. Was it that he wasn’t chanting? If so, First Amendment again.

Was it that there were no sleeping bags or tarps or tents? All of those were gone before 6 p.m. last night, too. So what was the difference? After I walked over myself to chat with Walid, who had by that time reached the sidewalk in front of the Christmas tree, he said he had wished one of the officers a good evening while on the grounds, and nothing happened.

But you know what? That’s not the biggest legal question I have in all of this. The biggest is, What gave Nikki Haley the authority to order the protesters off the grounds at ALL, whatever the stipulations?

Sen. Harvey Peeler had petitioned the governor as a member of the Budget and Control Board, because the Division of General Services supposedly had jurisdiction. Well, Nikki Haley is but one of five members of that board. I’m unaware of any statutory or constitutional authorization that enables her to unilaterally tell a division of the B&C what to do. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist; I’m just unaware of it.

Finally, last time I looked, the Department of Public Safety was not a Cabinet agency, and the governor has no direct authority over it. Yes, the officers in that agency traditionally act like they work for her (and many likely think they do), but unless my memory is mistaken — which is possible — they don’t. Not technically.

Anyway, Walid says his day in court is Dec. 15, now that he’s out of jail (after about 6 or 7 hours in last night) on a $470 bond. It will be interesting to hear some of these issues aired.

There is one South Carolinian, at least, who is too good at his job.

I said a moment ago that I didn’t have anything to say about Joe Riley’ latest victory except congratulations again, but apparently I lied.

It just hit me what else I wanted to say…

Aside from my happiness for Joe, it occurs to my what it does my heart so much good to turn toward the Holy City and behold what he has wrought.

He shows that South Carolinians can make the smart move.

One might look on Joe being elected to 40 straight years in office and say, “Big deal. Strom Thurmond was in for longer than that, and few South Carolinians can remember him ever doing squat to distinguish himself or our state.” (Note, Strom lovers, that someone might say it; I didn’t say I would.”)

But that can’t be said of Joe. He has transformed that city into one of the nation’s most inviting and well-run — and the voters there, regardless of political affiliation, know it. And the rest of us know it, too. He is the gold standard against which all others are judged. To give but one example of the Riley effect, whenever I push for a strong-mayor system in Columbia, the naysayers almost inevitably say, before I can even direct my gaze southward along I-26, “There’s only one Joe Riley.” As if there were no point having a strong mayor unless that mayor happened to be that good. As I said in a 2005 column, from a Columbia perspective, “The problem with Joe Riley is that he’s too good at his job.”

Actually, that’s a problem from the perspective of the whole state, in a sense. My one beef with Joe is that he never became governor, and the reason why was that he was too focused on being mayor. He made that one half-hearted attempt in 1994. By half-hearted, I mean he was too busy running Charleston to campaign. So he lost a heartbreaker of a primary runoff (by less than one vote per precinct) to Nick Theodore, who had done little other that run for the office as hard as he could for the past 8 years. Then, when everyone expected him to run four years later, he decided he would not, leaving us to choose between David Beasley and Jim Hodges’ lottery campaign.

I was pretty unhappy with him for that. I believe our state would have been much better off today after 8 years of Joe in charge. But that was not to be.

So I just have to take satisfaction in the fact that Joe is Joe, and to him that meant being mayor of Charleston — so he did everything with that that anyone could possibly do.

And the fact that Charleston voters have been so persistently wise as to recognize it, over and over, gives me hope for the rest of our state. And after Mark Sanford, and Nikki Haley, and Alvin Greene, and so many other things I’d rather not think about, hope is something that we all need.

One of our regulars was in the paper today, in the story about Occupy Columbia:

On Wednesday, Norm Ivey, a sixth-grade science teacher from Northeast Richland, stopped by because the national news coverage has piqued his interest. When asked whether he supported the cause, Ivey said, “That’s why I’m down here.”

After spending an hour observing and talking to participants, Ivey decided the protesters were acting responsibly.

“It’s not a mess like people are trying to make it sound,” Ivey said. “I’ve heard people say stuff about them, but one of my favorite hobbies now is fact-checking.”

He also agreed with the protesters’ concerns about money in politics. So much so, that he returned a few hours later with a few items for the protesters, including an old solar panel left over from a science experiment and an old deep cell battery he had used to power a vehicle.

Occupy Columbia’s staying power has been bolstered by donations like the one Ivey gave. Those donations include everything from protest posters to laptop computers….

Here’s hoping Norm will jump in to offer us his further impressions.

I’ve been meaning to get down there myself — although as a journalist, not as a supporter. Norm got there ahead of me…

What other conclusion am I to draw from this shocking news?

Sons and daughters of any future UK monarch will have equal right to the throne, after Commonwealth leaders agreed to change succession laws.

The leaders of the 16 Commonwealth countries where the Queen is head of state unanimously approved the changes at a summit in Perth, Australia.

It means a first-born daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge would take precedence over younger brothers.

I’m not going to tell my Episcopalian friends. I mean, when you consider how their offshoot got started, and now the Brits are all like, “Never mind.” Embarrassing.

Speaking of which, there was some good news that came out with the above:

The ban on the monarch being married to a Roman Catholic was also lifted.

So at least there’s that. In fact, that’s rather good: My path to the throne is now cleared. I mean, if they’re going to trash tradition with regard to succession, all bets are off, and my family tree should pass muster as well as anyone else’s.

Next, maybe they’ll let Tony Blair back in, despite his conversion. I’d be so happy to ask him to form a new government, once I’m king. (There’s that little matter of an election in the way, you say? Not necessarily, after I’m on the throne. If you’re gonna dream, dream big.)

Got this release today from Rick Perry about the death of al Qaida leader Anwar al-Awlaki:

I want to congratulate the United States military and intelligence communities – and President Obama for sticking with the government’s longstanding and aggressive anti-terror policies – for getting another key international terrorist.

Come on, Governor Perry! You can have a little more grace than that. Talk about bending over backwards to make sure you don’t pay an actual compliment to your opposition…

This is what the rest of us hate about political partisanship.

I, too, have expressed my gratitude that the president has generally maintained continuity in our military operations — from the very first decisions he made. I’m also grateful that he has gotten much more aggressive in going after our enemies in Pakistan (something he said he would do as early as 2007, although I think a lot of his base wasn’t listening). President Bush had good reasons to tread carefully there, but I appreciate that his successor has pushed harder, because it needed to happen. (Things have changed, as Admiral Mullen has noted so clearly.)

All you had to say, all you should have said, was “I want to congratulate the United States military and intelligence communities – and President Obama.” Period.

About an hour after I posted my ultimatum yesterday on that worn-out expression about the “definition of insanity,” I packed up my laptop and headed home.

On the way, I stopped at a gathering of Richland County Democrats at ITology. Vincent Sheheen was speaking to them.

I leave it to you to listen to what he said.

What am I gonna do with this guy? I drew a line. But he doesn’t listen.