"We're Not Attacking Romney - We're Helping Him!"

In an article that probably should be titled, "Perry says it’s better to exploit Romney’s business record now before Democrats discuss it", Rick Perry defends his attacks on Mitt Romney by, it would seem, conceding that he has no expectation that he's going to win the nomination and pretending that his continued candidacy and attacks on Romney are for Romney's benefit.

“If that’s a flawed candidate because of that practice we need to talk about it now,” Perry said. “I can promise you, this wasn’t something that wasn’t going to get talked about. I think it’s better that we talk about it now in January instead of in September.”

The Texas governor has endured blowback from conservatives who saw his description of “vulture capitalism” as an affront to free-market values. Earlier Thursday, a prominent Perry supporter switched his allegiance to Romney over the issue.

Translation: Perry gave one of his prominent backers an excuse to noisily change his allegiance from a candidate who is now openly telling his supporters, "You're wasting your money", in favor of the candidate Perry admits is going to be nominated.

But can't anybody in the Republican campaign be honest? Perry's out to help only one person with his attacks on Romney: himself.

Perry is desperate for a strong showing in South Carolina’s primary on Jan. 21 to keep his presidential hopes alive.

No, he's not. There's a theory that he's spending down his remaining campaign cash, a favor to his staffers who would otherwise be laid off, but his own contentions belie the notion that he's in it to win. Unless you're stupid enough to believe that he actually does want to help Romney, in which case I probably can't help you....