Mr. Perry might not have put it that way, but his argument was similar. Every time writers suggest that he was actually calling for secession, as Ms. Collins does, they’re doing him a favor. He’s been using the po-faced media as a punch line for years now.

Of course Texas is largely to blame for its own reputation. The uneasy intersection of sex and religion, for example, is a recurring theme in modern politics and an area where Texas has been generous to the nation’s wags. Ms. Collins, who has a good eye for absurd details, recalls a painful 2010 exchange Mr. Perry had with Evan Smith, the editor of The Texas Tribune, about the state’s support for abstinence-only sex education. Mr. Smith pressed the governor to explain why that was a good idea. “I’m sorry, I’m going to tell you from my own personal life,” the governor said, visibly glazing over. “Abstinence works.”

As Ms. Collins says, Texas has one of the highest teenage birthrates in the country, and three of the four state-approved health textbooks never mention the word “condom.” It’s possible, however, that Texas teenagers are nonetheless aware of what condoms are. According to 2009 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 42 percent of sexually active teenagers in Texas reported that they didn’t use a condom during their most recent sexual encounter. Around the enlightened nation the figure was not much better, at 39 percent. In any case, even in Texas, school districts are moving away from abstinence-only policies.

And if the larger point is to tackle the issue of teenage pregnancy, rather than tease Republicans, the Texas example does make clear that it would be worthwhile to look at demographics rather than just sex ed. The rate of teenage births in the United States, and Texas, has been declining for years, among all ethnic groups. Ms. Collins does touch on some of the state’s economic and policy barriers to reproductive health care, but the more contentious parts of the picture turn out to be a distraction.

A needlessly ominous distraction at that. It sometimes seems like Ms. Collins is more impressed with Texas than Texas itself is, which is saying something. Yes, Texas is an important state, and worth keeping an eye on, even for people outside its sprawling borders. But in opting for the easy jokes, Ms. Collins misses the chance for a more substantive critique.