Scratch Governor Perry - An Embarrassment

Campaign rhetoric can get ugly.  Everybody knows that, and the American public braces itself during campaign season--which, unfortunately, starts earlier each season.  Still, in the running for the ugly trophy, Governor Perry set the bar awfully high  let's hope nobody else gets near it during this campaign season) in remarks about Ben Bernanke, Chairman of  the Federal Reserve.

First he said they would treat Bernanke "...pretty ugly" down in Texas if he prints more money before the election.  Imagine your neighbor saying that to you for not cutting your grass say!  A rational response would be to try to get your neighbor locked up.  The only saving grace is the general public has no idea how monetary policy works and how the Fed prints money.  But still - a threat is a threat.

Secondly, he said it would be almost "treasonous."  What?  The definition of treason covers a gamut of actions, but in this context it has to be taken as political action betraying the country.  On the basis of this definition, they would have to bring in 75% or more of our legislators.  These are the folks who have spent, like drunken sailors, way more than they brought in during the periods when the economy was going gang busters.

I am certainly not a fan of Bernanke or Greenspan, his predecessor; but their actions didn't  put us in the precarious debt crisis we are in today.  Furthermore, it should be absolutely clear that the Chairman is doing everything he can possibly think of to get the country on the right track and put people to work.

I, and many others, believe he is taking the wrong measures; but they are not for the wrong reasons and, who knows, they may work.

Frankly, remarks like Governor Perry's remind me of pre-WWII Germany.  They have no place in America.  The American people should denounce Governor Perry - he is an embarrassment.