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Rick Perry, the newest front runner in the GOP12 for president took a lot of heat for his over the top rhetoric against Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke.
Texas Governor Rick Perry, who entered the presidential campaign on Saturday, appeared to suggest a violent response would be warranted should Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke “print more money” between now and the election. Speaking just now in Iowa, Perry said, “If this guy prints more money between now and the election, I dunno what y’all would do to him in Iowa but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas. Printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history is almost treasonous in my opinion.” Treason is a capital offense.
The spin coming out of the beltway media has been that this was just a rookie mistake for Perry, but the reality of that argument is false. It was Rick Perry himself who scolded Kinky Friedman in their only debate for governor in 2006 for what he considered using inflammatory words.
Friedman said the controversy about his remarks, made during his campaign and as a satirical entertainer years ago, have diverted attention "from things that are troubling real Texans." He said he hadn't heard any of the other candidates talk about crime in Houston, which he said has been aggravated by Hurricane Katrina evacuees, whom he has referred to as "crackheads and thugs."
"I was raised by a black lady in Houston," Friedman said. "She taught me that Jesus Christ was color blind, and I'm proud to say that I'm color blind myself. I'm no racist. I'm a realist."
The other candidates chided Friedman for his words, but Perry was the harshest.
"Mister Friedman, words matter," Perry said. "Using that terminology, whether it's on stage or whether it's in the Governor's Mansion is absolutely and totally unacceptable."
Rick Perry is on record as saying words do matter and using terminology that he finds offensive is totally unacceptable. So how can MSM try to give him a mulligan on his outburst against Bernanke as well as his secession talk? I'm sure his advisers will try to reign him in, but he's campaigned a lot in his career and understands the game. By the way, his apologists are already out trying to sweeten the beat on his radical positions.
You can see how freaked the right wing is over Perry's behavior. Jennifer Rubin is writing that a few other Republicans not named Rove are very nervous after Perry's tirade against Ben.
Earlier today I suggested that Republicans were nervously eying the campaign of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, and still holding out hope for an alternative. That has been born out by a number of posts.
Perry’s remarks about Fed chairman Ben Bernanke and his refusal to apologize for accusing him of “treasonous” behavior has not gone over well with the the business community and big donors. Larry Kudlow looked at “ red-hot rhetorical attack on Fed-head Ben Bernanke.” He responded, “Pretty rough stuff. Very aggressive language. And undoubtedly way too strong. It was poorly received in the financial world. No, Ben Bernanke is not a traitor. This is a policy dispute; it’s not a matter of patriotism.” The irony, as Kudlow notes, is that Perry may be right on the policy, but his words have rocked the very investors/donors he is trying to appeal to.
