Karl Rove Slams Perry For Fed "Treason" Comments

Slate ^ | August 16, 2011 | Josh Voorhees

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Rick Perry's "treason" comments are drawing sharp criticism from a wide range of political observers and talking heads, among them Karl Rove.

"You don't accuse the chairman of the Federal Reserve of being a traitor to his country. Of being guilty of treason," Rove, who has clashed with Perry before, told Fox News (via TPM). "And, suggesting that we treat him pretty ugly in Texas — You know, that is not, again a presidential statement."

Rove continued: "If Rick Perry were to be elected president he'd be saddled with Ben Bernanke who has a term. He's an independent chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, appointed by president and confirmed by Congress and serves for a term and the president couldn't even ask him to resign. So, this is — I hope this is not the first of sort of over the top statements."

Politico has a roundup of reactions from some other prominent George W. Bush allies, none of whom had nice things to say about Perry's comments.

[Monorprise]

“”Bernanke is too smart and too accomplished to be an idiot. That make him a traitor.”

I’m not sure sure about the smart part.

You ever hear the saying those who can, do, those who can’t, teach....

His entire career, has been as an academic, most of his income, comes from book royalties. How is he so smart, if, as a financial “expert” and economics whiz, the guy couldn’t get a job on wall street or find a way to become wealthy by practicing what he preaches/teaches ?”

Good Point, that is indeed the problem with many of our schools. Many if not most of the so called “teachers” have a Gigantic creditability problem. Comparatively few of them ever demonstrated their knowledge & skill in the only test that matters, the real world.

[StAntKnee]

“The best reasons I have for liking Perry is the people who hate him.”

Indeed. Thanks for saying so.

[RobRoy]

I think there are varying degrees of Rino. Perry does not come remotely close to Romney. And besides, the R party has changed so much that I don’t think they are the Rino’s. They are the “true” republicans. The rinos are the conservatives like Bachmann and Palin.

[altura]

You could be right but most of us are sick of everyone mincing around refusing to say what they think.

Sarah Palin doesn’t do it and apparently Perry doesn’t either.

Maybe a Palin/Perry ticket would be a good thing.

[PGalt]

This is getting interesting (yes, I just speed read the entire thread). Thanks for posting. Very interesting. Great thread. Is this high-stakes rhetoric going to result in any less funds for socialist collectives and UNaccountable bureaucracies, foreign and domestic? Will Congress start to stop spending?

[slowhandluke]

For all those who call Perry a RINO, etc,,, the fact that Rove is trying to take him down, is absolute concrete evidence that many here have been wrong about Perry the whole time.

That they don't like each other, is just proof that they don't like each other.

I don't think Hillary and Obama are best friends either, but it doesn't make either of them a conservative or even a moderate.

[DoughtyOne]

If it is your perception that the Republican party was never about Conservatism, then I guess you're right.

I thought of Reagan as a Conservative, so I don't quite agree with you.  I'm not expressing a value judgement related to you with these comments though.

I do understand your logic behind the RINO label for Bachmann and Palin.  I don't think that label would be a good one to use for them, because of the contextual perception that is almost universally thought of today.  Using that label for them would really throw folks off the track.

Perry can cloak himself any way he wants, and he's pretty good at it, but in the end, he'll still wind up being seen for the reptile he is.
massive government projects - property rights - gardisil - the dream act - against the fence - moving U.S. jobs to mexico - fellow traveler of rudy - 1988 texas gore campaign chairman

[altura]

Well, if Berneke were to print money for strictly political reasons or to curry favor with his boss in order to help Obama win an election even though he knew it was in the worst interest of the country ... well that sounds a little traitorous to me.

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

“rove” is another part of the problem.

[altura]

Don’t believe everything you hear on the radio, unless it’s on Rush cuz he’s right 99.8 percent of the time.

The Bushes don’t love Perry but they don’t hate him and George W. is not a hater. They’re still a little wistful about Jeb losing his chance.

[tobyhill]

“He's an independent chairman of the Federal Reserve Board”

No, he's a puppet of the Zero. If the Zero said to print more money he would. Perry knows exactly what Bernie and Zero have concocted and he's going to call it out before they do it.

[july4thfreedomfoundation]

Glenn Beck agreed with Perry’s “treason” comment.

However, Glenn didn’t think Perry went far enough with his words against the Fed Head.

[altura]

That’s a pretty foolish thing to say about the Bush’s. Both their hearts are in Texas but certainly George and Laura’s hearts are here. They built a ranch here, they live in Dallas and the elder Bushes live in Houston.

Please get a clue.

[Scanian]

Crawl back in your cave, Rove.

Nobody cares about your opinions any longer, if they ever did.

Your brand of suck-up Republicanism is exactly why we owe the world $15 trillion plus dozens of trillions more in unfunded liabilities.

[Diogenesis]

Rove is attacking Perry for Romney.

Romney SHOULD pull out — like Pawlenty.

Be a man, Mitt.
Throw in the towel.
Stop being a spoiler.

[stephenjohnbanker]

Or even FReepers!

[Tublecane]

“Perry’s only fault here was to confuse gross incompetence and malfeasance with treason. One can just be an idiot and not a traitor.”

Yeah, but who cares? It’s just a little hyperbole. I realize our soundbyte/talkinghead/psuedo-event/blogospheric/24-hour newscylic media culture needs something to talk about, but allow me to yawn.

[stephenjohnbanker]

” What does it matter after all, since the only goal is to get an (R) in there.”

That is how we got McCain, which begot Obama.

[moodyskeptic]

KR must be anxious to attend those important DC parties. Putz. Beltway popularity is the siren song that ruins decent conservatives. Swamp fever.

[Tublecane]

“He promised the Federal Reserve would not monetize the debt of the U.S. government.”

To be fair, no one believed him. Nor was anyone supposed to. Pretending the U.S. government doesn’t tax its citizens (and everyone else who uses our dollars) through inflation is a time-honored ritual, but it is utterly, utterly formal, symbolic, and meaningless. Aside from bailing out financial interests to avoid recession, the entire rationale for the Fed in the first place was to subsidize the treasury. Duh.

The Fed promising not to monetize debt is like Jesus promising not to die for our sincs. That’s why God made him, just as that’s why Ben Bernanke has a job.