Perry, Rove Tiff; Is Ryan Dark Horse?

17 August 2011 |permalink | email article

Rick Perry, turning his rhetorical fire on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Monday in Iowa by saying the chairman – who was high in the Bush administration – would be committing a “treasonous” act as if he tried to boost the economy with a decision to “print more money” triggers a firestorm.

The swaggering Texas governor, who shoots from the hip and never apologizes, also attacked President Obama by indirectly suggesting that men and women in the armed forces would have more respect for a president who served in the armed forces.

If the Tea Party is ecstatic establishment Republicans are not. Karl Rove, Bush’s “brain” who has never liked Perry, blasted the governor on Fox News. Rove suggested Perry’s attack on the chairman “was not a presidential statement … Governor Perry is going to have to fight the impression that he’s a cowboy from Texas. This simply added to it.” Meanwhile, there’s dissatisfaction with the choices, and a growing buzz that efforts to recruit Rep. Paul Ryan whose goal is to eliminate Social Security, are gathering momentum.

Editorial Board

If he wins, Governor Perry would certainly be the first modern major-party nominee to ridicule Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid as “Ponzi’ schemes, and to suggest the movement that produced them “was the beginning of the deteriation of our Constitution.” – New York Times

Briefs

Michelle Bachmann said over the weekend in Iowa that if elected president she would favor reinstating the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that has barred openly gay men and women from serving in the military. A new gaffe: she praised Elvis Presley on his birthday, but it was the anniversary of his death….A mixed economic picture in Texas: economic growth 2.8% there but 2.6% in U.S. (2010); workers at or below federal minimum wage, 2010, 9.5% in Texas, 6.0% in U.S.; lacking in health insurance, 26% in Texas (2009). and 17% in U.S. 

What they said

Perry says “government “doesn’t create jobs,” when in fact it can and does.” Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen about the emergence of Perry.

“Mr. Perry also wants to repeal the 16th Amendment, thereby eliminating the income tax, which accounts for 80 percent of government revenue.” Steven Rattner, the Wall Street executive and a former Treasury official in the Obama administration, in a NYT op-ed

“Perry is like a rocket sitting on a huge vat of fuel. He’s either going to blast off or blow up.” ABC News.

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