The Mercy Rule

I'm not sure that having the Rudy Giuliani-endorsing Governor of Texas making homey six man football analogies about Mike Huckabee is really the best way to dismiss his campaign among Texas conservatives:

"We had an old rule called the mercy rule in six-man football," Perry said. "If you got behind by 45 points at the half, you had the option of calling it a night. I thought about Mike Huckabee when I thought about that old rule — that it's probably time for Mike to realize that for the sake of the party, and for the sake of unity and bringing folks together, it's kind of over."

I'm sure all the social conservatives in the Lone Star State are appropriately chided after reading that statement.