Conservative columnists Peggy Noonan and David Brooks worry about Rick Perry

Even as Republicans across the country cheered Rick Perry's entrance into the 2012 race for the Republican presidential nomination, some prominent conservatives expressed serious reservations last week about the Texas governor's candidacy.

Today, two of the most well-known conservative columnists in the country joined the doubters.

Peggy Noonan, writing in her Wall Street Journal column on Friday, highlighted what she called Perry's recent well-publicized "gaffes," including his talk of Texas seceding from the United States, and his suggestion that an increase in the money supply by Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, would be close to treason.

"In 2012, the Republican candidate will be called either mean or dumb, or both," Noonan wrote. "Certainly, his politics will be called mean. And if the candidate is Rick Perry, people will look at him and think: Hmmm, is there something to the charge?"

"He should keep that in mind as he pops off," Noonan went on. "If there is a deeper, more reflective person there he'd best show it, sooner rather than later."

David Brooks of the New York Times, in his column on Friday, called Perry "ideologically slippery" and "the latest iteration of Tom DeLay Republicanism."

Perry "is unwavering in his commitment to the government-cash nexus," Brooks wrote. "Even this week — amid much attention to his pay-to-play proclivities — Perry named two big donors to powerful state jobs."

Brooks also suggested that Perry's campaign is not addressing the most important issues facing the country. He said that Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, would be a more formidable nominee for the Republican.

"If voters think Nancy Pelosi is the biggest threat to their children's prosperity, they will hire Perry," Brooks wrote. "If they think competition from Chinese and Indian workers is the biggest threat, they will hire Romney. He's just more credible as someone who can manage economic problems, build human capital and nurture an innovation-based global economy."