"Is Rick Perry dumb?" That's the question--it was also the headline, by the way--Politico asked Monday morning about the Republican presidential frontrunner. Politico noted three words used to describe Perry--lightweight, incurious, instinctual--could also be applied to another former Texas governor, George W. Bush.

“He’s like Bush only without the brains,” one former Republican governor said, repeating a joke about Perry.

More from Politico: "Doubts about Perry’s intellect have hounded him since he was first elected as a state legislator nearly three decades ago. In Austin, he’s been derided as a right-place, right-time pol who looks the part but isn’t so deep — 'Gov. Goodhair.' Now, with the chatter picking back up among his enemies and taking flight in elite Republican circles, the rap threatens to follow him to the national stage."

Republican presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann is weighing in on Hurricane Irene and the earthquake that shook up the East Coast last week, essentially calling it a wake up call from God for politicians.

“I don't know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We've had an earthquake; we've had a hurricane. He said, 'Are you going to start listening to me here?'", Bachmann said. "Listen to the American people because the American people are roaring right now. They know government is on a morbid obesity diet and we've got to rein in the spending."

A spokeswoman for Bachmann says the Minnesota congresswoman's comment was not meant to be taken seriously.

Tim Pawlenty's early exit from the Republican presidential race was likely due to the fact that his campaign was in debt, The Huffington Post reports. According to HuffPost, which cited information obtained from several Republican sources, Pawlenty: "was out of cash, his campaign having spent heavily in the lead-up to Ames, hoping for a better score than what he got.

Pawlenty announced he was quitting the race earlier this month following his third-place finish in the Iowa straw poll.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell is blasting Dick Cheney's new book, characterizing it as a "cheap shot." Powell was responding to criticism leveled against him by Cheney in the former vice president's memoir.

From CNN: "Calling Cheney's use of sensationalist language more worthy of a supermarket tabloid than a former vice president, Powell said Cheney 'had a long and distinguished career, and I hope in his book that is what he will focus on, not these cheap shots that he's taking at me and other members of the administration who served to the best of our ability for President Bush.'"

Cheney's book, In My Time, hits stores on Tuesday.

President Barack Obama nominated Princeton economist Alan Krueger on Monday to be the new chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. If confirmed by the Senate, Krueger would succeed Austan Goolsbee as one of the president's chief economic advisers. Goolsbee left the Obama Administration earlier this month.