Why did Rick Perry completely change his mind about entering the presidential race, thereby stripping Mitt Romney of his inevitable frontrunner status? Perhaps he's too flippant about the whole deal. Or he just wants to exact revenge on Romney for dishonoring his beloved Boy Scouts, nine years ago.

Perry, a 61-year-old man, still wears his Eagle Scout pin on his suit lapels. He takes pride in his history with the Boy Scouts of America, an organization in which middle-aged men teach young boys how to rub sticks together. And he was not happy when Mitt Romney wouldn't allow Boy Scouts to share their slave labor at the 2002 Olympics. From the Boston Globe:

Perry, who proudly wears an Eagle Scout pin on his lapel, has harshly criticized Romney for a decision made while he ran the Olympics not to allow Boy Scouts to be official volunteers during the games.

"Several years have gone by, and neither Mitt Romney nor anyone else who served as an official of the 2002 Winter Olympics has given a clear and logical explanation of why the door to volunteerism was shut on a willing ‘army' of Boy Scout volunteers,'' Perry wrote in his 2008 book, "On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts are Worth Fighting For.''

Romney claims that the decision was made because "most" Boy Scouts weren't 18, the minimum age for volunteers. Perry, however, believes Romney "made the decision based on political opportunism, citing the controversial issue at the time of Boy Scouts not allowing gay troop masters," in the Globe's words. This was before Romney's five-year presidential candidacy began, when he didn't pretend to despise gay people. Speaking of, have you seen this cute pink 2002 Romney "I love the gays" flyer? Things change, boy, do they ever.

[Image of Mitt Romney and Rick Perry preparing to kidnap a child in 2006 via AP]