On paper, Texas Gov. Rick Perry should be having a strong week. He rolled out a new flat tax proposal endorsed by Steve Forbes, he hired a slew of top talent for his campaign, and he is expected to launch his first television ad campaign in Iowa this week. But no matter how good his policies are, or how many great staff hires he makes, Perry is still Perry.
In this past Sunday’s Parade magazine Perry refused to provide a direct answer on birtherism. Asked, “Governor, do you believe that President Barack Obama was born in the United States?” Perry eventually responded, “Well, I don’t have a definitive answer, because he’s never seen my birth certificate.” Perry then volunteered that he had talked to Donald Trump about the issue and concluded, “He’s the President of the United States. He’s elected. It’s a distractive issue.”
Perry again allowed himself to be distracted today. Rolling out his flat tax plan on CNBC this morning, Perry said, “It’s a good issue to keep alive. It’s fun to poke at him.”
Our country is in desperate need of real tax reform. Republican primary voters deserve a good debate on the issue (The Examiner’s Phil Klein and AEI’s James Pethokoukis discuss the plan). But Perry is proving himself to be a very flawed spokesman for a simpler and fairer tax code. The issue now is whether the reworked Perry campaign can rework Perry.
Around the Bigs
Gallup, Gov’t Regulations at Top of Small-Business Owners’ Problem List: One-in-three small businesses tell Gallup that they are worried about going out of business and more than a fifth (22%) cite “complying with government regulations” as the top problem facing small businesses today.
Pew Research Center, Public Divided Over Occupy Wall Street Movement: According to a new Pew Poll, only 39% of Americans support the Occupy Wall Street movement, compared to 35% who oppose it.
CBS News, Police Investigating Possible Sexual Assault Of Teen At Occupy Dallas: A 14-year old runaway says she had sex with multiple men at the Occupy Dallas protest. “We’ll find out what the truth is and if that’s her story, that she was having sex with older men in the park, I guess we really need to watch the age group that’s coming in here and get control of that,” occupier Rich Coffman said.
San Jose Mercury News, Police surround Occupy Oakland tent city: Oakland Police surrounded the Occupy Oakland encampment Tuesday morning, but did not evict the campers. Occupiers turned over two dumpsters to block police access to one part of the park and used wooden crates to block another entrance.
The Hill, House Dems: Obama’s response to mortgage crisis is insufficient: House Democrats were not impressed with the mortgage modification plan Obama unveiled in Las Vegas, yesterday. “It’s far too little, it’s just baby steps,” Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-Calif.), told The Hill. “They’re still not getting it.”
The Hill, Obama campaign brings on ex-lobbyist as senior adviser: Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign hired K Street lobbyist Broderick Johnson as a senior adviser. Johnson has served AT&T, FedEx and Microsoft as a lobbyist.
National Journal, Podesta Turns Over Helm of Democratic Think Tank: Center for American Progress President John Podesta is turning over control of the liberal think thank over to current CAP CEO Neera Tanden, who helped write Obamacare. Podesta will remain at CAP as a senior adviser.
Campaign 2012
Cain: The Examiner‘s Byron York reports that Herman Cain is accusing Karl Rove of undermining his campaign. Cain told York, “”I believe it is a deliberate attempt to damage me because I am not, quote unquote, the establishment choice. … If I become the nominee, he has given Democrats talking points for a commercial to attack me. It makes no sense unless it’s a deliberate attempt on his part to try to push me down so that the candidate he wants rises to the top.”
The Cain campaign also released a new web ad featuring campaign manager Mark Block, that National Review‘s Robert Costa calls “cheeky” and “offbeat.” The Cain Super PAC, Americans for Cain, also released a new video, showing Mitt Romney and Rick Perry fighting over immigration.
Righty Playbook
Matthias Shapiro shows how much stronger government job growth has been over the last decade, compared to the private sector.
At The Corner, the Mercatus Center’s Veronique de Rugy posts a chart showing what a $1.2 trillion spending sequester would look like.
The Weekly Standard‘s Jeffrey Anderson wonders where the latest report on Obama’s first stimulus is: “As President Obama travels around the country at taxpayer expense to peddle his newest stimulus proposal, his Council of Economic Advisors has yet to release its 8th Quarterly Report on Obama’s first stimulus — you know, the one that cost a cool $787,000,000,000.00. Perhaps this is just a coincidence.”
Lefty Playbook
The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg has a column up at Bloomberg under the header: “Romney Isn’t Christian, and That’s All Right.”
Felix Salmon explains why Obama’s new mortgage modification plan is “pathetic”: “Most importantly, it doesn’t do principal reductions — if you’re underwater when you get your HARP refinance, you’ll be underwater afterwards, too.”
Talking Points Memo‘s Brian Beutler explains how House Republicans have laid a trap for Obama and Democrats on jobs: “This week, they’ll pass legislation that includes perhaps the least stimulative measure in President Obama’s jobs bill and pay for it with perhaps the most regressive measure in a recent package of deficit reducing proposals he submitted to the joint deficit super committee.”
