Texas Gov. Rick Perry stands by his comparison of Social Security to a Ponzi scheme. He won’t apologize for characterizing the Federal Reserve as “almost treasonous” or saying he would treat Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke “pretty ugly down in Texas.”
But when the new front-runner in the race for the Republican presidential nomination is asked to explain his remarks suggesting Texas might secede from the rest of the country — which his opponents have used repeatedly in hopes of undermining Perry’s credibility and which they are likely to raise again in Monday’s presidential debate — will Perry again defend his words?
The answer is yes, Perry’s campaign aides say. In fact, Perry looks forward to revisiting his 2009 exchange with reporters from which the secessionist talk first arose. It had been after a fiery Tea Party rally that April when a reporter asked Perry about his association with “the idea of secession.”
“I think there’s a lot of different scenarios,” Perry responded. “Texas is a unique place. When we came into the union in 1845, one of the issues was that we would be able to leave if we decided to do that.
“We’ve got a great union,” he added. “There is absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what may come out of that? But Texas is a very unique place and we’re a pretty independent lot to boot.”
That wasn’t the first time that Perry talked about seceding. A month earlier, Perry told a group of bloggers that the federal government has too much control over state affairs.
From its beginnings as a state, “one of the deals was” that Texas could leave the union “any time we want,” he said, according to a recording of the exchange. “So we’re kind of thinking about that again.” The bloggers laughed.
Republican strategists say the governor was merely “having a little fun” and trying to prove a point: that the federal government has grown too large and too intrusive.
But White House officials have clung to Perry’s remarks about secession as a way to characterize the Republican front-runner as a loose cannon or even a bit outside the mainstream.
“Rick Perry is the governor who two years ago openly talked about whether Texas should leave the union,” Robert Gibbs, President Obama’s former spokesman, said on “Meet the Press.” “I think for Rick Perry to have at one point talked about secession from the union as early as 2005, I think it’s good that he’s professed his love for his country.”
Perry never explicitly threatened secession, however, or even said he would support Texas separating from the rest of the country, Perry’s campaign aides point out.
“It was more of a colloquial way to say look, the federal government is suffocating the states and the ability of state-elected leaders to control the destiny of their own sovereign states,” said Michael Franc, vice president for government studies at the Heritage Institute. “He just found a somewhat colorful way to express it.”
Quoting Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, Franc said, “America has to get a sense of humor.”
