I first met Andrea Mitchell years ago in Washington DC when I was one of a number of radio talk hosts President Clinton invited to broadcast live from the White House lawn. She’s a talented journalist-- bright, articulate and very funny (which is a good thing since she’s married to former Fed head Alan Greenspan, and that probably requires a sense of humor.)

Not long ago I heard her wonder on air why Rick Perry does dumb things in his campaign. At that moment, I found myself actually yelling at the TV, ”Why?...You want to know why? Because he’s dumb and dumb people DO dumb things!”

I suddenly realized that Perry’s ongoing idiocy was obviously getting to me (and, I imagined, to other thinking voters.) So I thank my neighbors in the Granite State who just had the chance to vote for or against the governor of Texas: your rejection of Rick Perry can put us (and maybe Perry) out of our political misery.

I have made many visits to the beautiful state of New Hampshire. People there always seem grounded, practical and ultimately clear. They keep government in perspective by being willing to, “Live Free or Die.”

That state motto gave us an opportunity to witness again Perry’s lack of intellectual depth. In the now famous “gold” speech, he made light of “Live Free or Die” as if it were a cigarette marketing slogan. If there is anything amusing about the state motto, the joke is lost on most of us. I imagine many New Hampshirites were, rightfully, not amused. Days later analysts were still trying to figure out what was wrong with Perry that night.

Just this week, Perry's campaign took the time to market a Mitt Romney ring tone on its campaign web site. The ring tone had Romney repeating over and over again his recent, "I like to fire people..." gaff. I'm a Democrat, and even I thought Perry (and Newt) were a little over the top in their treatment of their fellow Republican-- and I'm no Romney fan. Is this supposed to be "presidential" behavior?

The governor of Texas wants to be the Republican candidate for the presidency of the United States. By his own admission, he graduated, “…in the top ten of my high school class, of 13.” His public speaking skills are so bad his own campaign once vowed he’d avoid future debates. (That decision might actually have been a public service.) Then, after taking a bath in Iowa, Perry announced he was going home to the Lone Star state to be "lone" if not a "star," but the next day he was back in the fray.

The New York Times reported on its 9/14/2011 political blog that Perry had to abandon his dream of becoming a veterinarian because his grades were mainly D’s and F’s with a few C’s thrown in. Perry spoke about those poor grades and the dean of Texas A&M University’s distress on seeing his transcript when the governor spoke at Liberty University. In that same speech, Perry said he dropped the veterinary dream and came to believe, “God uses broken people to reach a broken world.” So, unable to get a license to spay dogs and cats, Perry apparently decided he'd try for leader of the Western world instead.

Whether or not God wants America to elect a “broken” dullard is still unclear. What is clear is that neither Andrea Mitchell nor anyone else need waste time wondering why Perry says or does bizarre things that have become part of his campaign portfolio (assuming he knows he has one or what that is.)

Perry is, quite simply, simple. He may even be the “broken person” he believes God has targeted “…to reach a broken world.”

But my guess is God thinks Perry has already reached us all – on national TV and YouTube.  No need to hand Perry the red nuclear attack warning phone just yet, thank you very much.

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(The original version of this piece appeared in my column in the Keene Sentinel )