On last night’s Ed Show, host Ed Schultz played an out-of-context clip of Texas Governor Rick Perry discussing a “black cloud” over America, suggesting he was making a potentially racist comment about the President. Tonight, he apologized and played the clip in full, which shows Perry was clearly referencing the national debt, though added that “the full context” of many other clips “show who [Perry] really is,” and it’s not, to Schultz, a pretty picture.

Texas governor Rick Perry has finally tossed his ten gallon hat into the presidential ring, and his campaign has gotten plenty of tongues wagging over whether America is ready for another George W. Bush. Many of those already making the comparison will see much of the 43rd President in Perry’s new ad, but the dark clouds over America, billowing Midwestern fields and cowboy imagery is a lot more Ronald Reagan than pre-presidential Bush.

ABC political analyst and former George W. Bush election strategist Matthew Dowd was very impressed by Rick Perry on This Week today, but he thinks one of Perry’s problems going forward in the election is that he reminds people too much of his predecessor. Dowd described Perry as “an incredible campaigner,” and described the current Texas governor as a better campaigner than his former boss. However, to many voters, Perry and Bush might be just a little too similar.

Texas Governor Rick Perry is officially a candidate to the presidency in 2012.” “Howdy!” he shouted at the crowd, introducing them to his wife and high school girlfriend, promising them he would work to “make Washington, D.C. as inconsequential in your lives as I can” and set them “free from the shackles of an overbearing federal government.”

Mike Huckabee may not be running for President this time around, but he was up bright and early in Iowa this morning for his appearance at the Ames Straw Poll today. Chatting with the cast of Fox & Friends, Huckabee weighed in on the other Republican event of the day: the RedState gather, where Texas Gov. Rick Perry is expected to announce his candidacy. “That’s a tactical mistake,” Huckabee argued, as Perry is now turning the entire state of Iowa against him.

As Gov. Rick Perry is getting more attention in anticipation of his presidential run, the media is naturally turning its magnifying glass on his record as governor in Texas and, in particular, his decision to both rail against and accept stimulus money from the federal government.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry‘s much talked about religious event “The Response” finally took place today, and as promised the potential Republican presidential candidate abstained from talking politics. Instead, Gov. Perry stood up to read scripture, mostly, and give a prayer for the American government and ask for forgiveness, because “we have forgotten who made us.”

Texas Governor and potential 2012 Republican candidate Rick Perry‘s prayer event “The Response” is finally here, just in time for the S&P credit downgrade, much to the internet of those trying to figure out whether the governor will finally decide to jump into the 2012 race or not. Curious to see what the event is all about? Watch it live here.

If the 2008 elections left one indelible mark in the way Presidential politics functions in this country, it is that opponents will forever attempt to link candidates to unsavory religious characters. On last night’s The Last Word, Lawrence O’Donnell didn’t have to look too far down the guest list to find in Texas Gov. Rick Perry‘s religious event “The Response” a controversial figure: Pastor John Hagee, most widely known for almost undoing the McCain-Palin campaign with his extreme religious rhetoric.

Let’s play Hardball, people. This evening, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews organized a debate on Texas governor Rick Perry‘s call to the American people to “pray and fast like Jesus did” at his prayer event coming up in Texas tomorrow, August 6th.

Matthews’ guests included Tony Perkins, of the Family Research Council, and Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

[Something, something, grumble, slow news cycle, summer, face-melting heat, something, something] Now that all that is out of the way… Hey, have you guys heard about the “other” Sarah Palin? She’s a Dallas, Texas lifeguard and college student who is a little bit tired of getting Facebook friend requests from people who either think she’s Sarah “Mama Grizzly” Palin or who find it funny that someone happens to share a name with a famous person.

Where to begin. It’s not that weird for a former president to offer up some insight on the field of candidates in the next election, but, you know, usually we’re not talking about a former president of Pakistan. But on today’s Situation Room, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer has one of the stranger pundit interviews you’ll see. Former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf going all David Gergen and sticking his neck out to predict that Texas governor Rick Perry‘s running. “I did get that impression,” he tells Blitzer.

In March 1995, on the island of Puerto Rico, a poor witness found eight sheep dead, dried out, and with mysterious markings. As is the case with most mass killings of animals, locals used Occam’s Razor to determine the obvious cause of their deaths: aliens! It’s been a good decade and a half since the Chupacabras story first appeared, but the legend keeps on keepin’ on, even when the “witness” admits he doesn’t believe the thing exists.

Texas Congressman and Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul announced earlier today that he will not seek reelection for his seat in Congress in 2012. Speaking to Texan publication The Facts, he said he feels his chances of winning the presidency this time around are high enough that it is smarter to focus on the presidential race than pour resources into the Congressional one.

In case it hasn’t been made clear, the love affair between Glenn Beck and New York City is over. However, who’d have thunk that he’d have taken his dislike for us East Coast elites so far as to pack up shop and head across the country? Well, apparently a lot of people. Today on his radio show (recorded not in New York but in Israel) Beck revealed what he’s been hinting at for a while: he’s moving his shows to Texas.

Known as an iconoclastic Congressman and serial presidential candidate, Rep. Ron Paul also has a lesser-known career as a prolific author. To understand more about the candidate, the Daily Beast‘s David Graham went through the 2012 hopeful’s latest tome, Liberty Defined, and came away concluding, perhaps unfairly, that Rep. Paul is not a “disciplined candidate” and, given his affinity for conspiracy, is a long way from the nomination.

Texas State Senator Chris Harris shocked the members of his committee this week with a strongly-worded rebuke of a man who had come to testify against a proposed bill. Antolin Aguirre, the head of Austin Immigration Rights Coalition, chose to testify with a translator, as he had never done so before and felt more comfortable. This, to Sen. Harris, was “very insulting” given the man’s residence in the United States since 1988.

Governor Rick Perry spoke with Neil Cavuto this afternoon about his successes in Texas and to confirm that he is giving serious consideration to running for President. Yet when Cavuto pushed to learn when Perry might make his final decision about the presidency, Perry stressed that he is in no rush to decide and has no timeframe.

If you happened to be on Twitter last night, you may have noticed quite a bit of buzz over the sort of sordid, rather sensational story that’s usually reserved for Lifetime television movies or airport paperbacks: Dozens of dismembered corpses, some children, were found near a Hardin, Texas home. Crazy, right? And, what’s more, officers were led to the site of the carnage by following a tip from a psychic.

It would have been an amazing, and chilling, story had it turned out to have been true. As the story unfolded over Twitter, however, it quickly transformed from a scarcely believable news item shared by the likes of CNN and the AP, to a cautionary tale about the dangers of believing everything you read… or have been told by a psychic.

A Texas high school teacher has been suspended after mocking a student about the death of Osama bin Laden. Houston station KTRK reports the teacher singled out a student in a ninth grade algebra class. “The teacher told the student that ‘I bet you’re grieving.’ And she basically looked at him and said what are you talking about? And he said I heard about your uncle’s death and she said wow, because she understood that he was referring about Osama bin Laden being killed and was racially profiling her.”

Following President Obama’s speech Wednesday afternoon, MSNBC’s Tamron Hall interviewed Texas Tea Party founder Phillip Dennis, whom she chided for taking a gratuitous shot at New Jersey. Referring to previous guest Rep. Robert Andrews (D-NJ), Dennis said, “No wonder that state’s so screwed up.” Hall, a fellow Texan, took exception to the jab, nonetheless.

Nick Kosir, aka “The Rapping Weatherman,” is that uniquely 21st century breed of celebrity, the viral video superstar. In 2010, Nick’s fly forecasts propelled him on a meteoric career trajectory that saw him break onto the national radar, and garnered him a jump from the 141st TV market in the country to the 6th. Along the way, Nick encountered a fork in the road to fame and fortune, and he chose the off-ramp to Twin Falls, Idaho…and true love.

Never content to let Florida get away with all the freaky news, Texas has come forward with a good one for your Friday viewing pleasure: video shot by students at a middle school in Mesquite, Texas of a school resource officer taking down a baby squirrel–with pepper spray. And it all happens, of course, as kids scream–and shoot the thing on a camera phone.

Parents who saw the video went to a local television station, saying not only did the police officer use “excessive force,” but the school’s principal really stepped up as a good example by kicking the baby squirrel, who we’re told may have been acting strangely by approaching kids before law enforcement stepped in:

Angry over being punished, a ten year old in Texas jumped in his Mom’s SUV and took off, leading his parents on a chase. “We tried stopping him at first, and he just floored it and started driving faster,” Christi Sanders told KPRC-TV.

Sanders said her son led family–and then Sheriff’s deputies–on a chase through traffic that included the boy stopping at a red light and being rear-ended by another car. He drove off, only stopping at a donut shop where officers ordered young Zilan Fitch out of the car. “I saw the cop, so I put it in park, unlocked the doors and the guy was like ‘Holy …! Pull over!’” Zilan said. “I was scared because they arrested me.”

An early morning accident has left the cab of an eighteen wheeler hanging from a highway overpass in Fort Worth, Texas. The Dallas Morning News reports the accident happened around 4 a.m. local time, with the big rig trapping a car underneath its trailer on the ramp off I-20 in South Fort Worth.

Two people were trapped for hours inside the car, pinned between the truck and the guardrail. They were later freed and taken to a hospital. Their injuries are not known.