Karl Rove, on Fox News earlier today, weighed in on the relationship between Rick Perry and George W. Bush, reported widely to have grown tense over the years (although both sides deny it), and the current governor's effort to distance himself from his predecessor in the last few days.
"Perry does wanted to establish himself as being his own man, but there are two ways to do that," Rove said. "One is to say, I'm my own man, who I am and the experiences made up my life, made me who I am and another way is to try and contrast yourself with the former president and do so in a way that is dismissive of the former president. Now, why one would want to do that, when they are both from Texas and why they both have a cordial relationship and why one would do that, I don't know."
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He went on: "Look, it did not matter to George Bush in 1998 that he went to Yale and that Perry went to A & M. Bush raised (money), moved heaven and earth to get Rick Perry elected as his running mate aslieutenant governor and raised money outside of the state and made certain the phone banks only called people for both men in order to get them out to vote an 1998."
He noted that George H.W. Bush made only two ads while president nationally, one for his son and one for Rick Perry.
Tea party activists and former high-ranking party officials alike see Mr. Rove and other elements in the GOP establishment increasingly fearful over what they now regard as a serious threat that Mr. Perry can take the nomination.
Within three days of announcing his candidacy, Mr. Perry leaped to the front of the Republican field with 29 percent of likely voters saying they favor him in a new Rasmussen poll. Former front-runner Mitt Romney, the ex-governor of Massachusetts, plunged to 18 percent, and Saturday’s Ames straw poll winner Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota now runs a distant third, with 13 percent.
For his part, Mr. Perry has pointedly drawn contrasts between himself and the man he succeeded as Texas governor, saying that the second President Bush is the son of rich parents and went to Yale, while Mr. Perry attended Texas A&M.
The less-than-warm feelings between the Bush and Perry camps is no secret in their home state.
“There is absolutely a negative feeling those Bush people have toward Gov. Perry,” said former Texas GOP Chairwoman Cathie Adams. “It’s real — they are ginning up stories about others entering the race. I just hope they aren’t thinking of doing any more than that.”
She said an example of the long-standing Texas GOP feud emerged when Mr. Bush’s father, former President George H.W. Bush, endorsed Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in her challenge to Mr. Perry for the GOP nomination for governor last year. Mr. Perry won handily.
While conservatives have long been critical of the monetary policies of Mr. Bernanke, Mr. Perry’s remark this week that Mr. Bernanke’s easy-money policies were “almost treasonous” brought more sharp criticism from Mr. Rove and other George Bush administration figures.
Pete Wehner, a former Bush White House aide, wrote in Commentary magazine that Mr. Perry’s use of the word “treasonous” was “the kind of blustering, unthinking comment that Perry’s critics expect of him.”
Added Mr. Rove: “Gov. Perry is going to have to fight the impression that he’s a cowboy from Texas. This simply added to it.”
By contrast, Mr. Perry got a small bit of sympathy from the man he is trying to replace. President Obama declined to take the bait when asked in a CNN interview Tuesday whether another Perry comment — that America’s military veterans would prefer to have a fellow veteran as commander in chief — was a veiled shot at his own lack of military service.
Mr. Obama, noting Mr. Perry had been in the race less than a week, said he would “cut him some slack” as he adjusts to the spotlight of a national presidential campaign.
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