Rick Perry Wants to Get Ugly With Ben Bernanke

Republican Presidential nominee Rick Perry spoke in Iowa tonight and had some nasty words for Ben Bernanke. Think Progress first reported Perry's unusual words for the head of the Federal Reserve. Perry told supporters at the end of his first full day campaigning in Iowa that he wasn't a big fan of the head of the Fed, and suggested that Texans would probably beat Bernanke up if he prints anymore money before the next election.

“If this guy prints more money between now and the election, I dunno what y’all would do to him in Iowa but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas. Printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history is almost treasonous in my opinion.”

As TP points out, the punishment for treason is capitol punishment. Therefore, as Gawker's Max Read puts it, "Rick Perry Wants to Execute Ben Bernanke." ABC News has an expanded answer, with a little more economic analysis and fewer physical threats, as pointed out by Politico's Maggie Habberman. 

“We’ve already tried this. All it’s going to be doing is devaluing the dollar in your pocket and we cannot afford that. We have to learn the lessons of the past three years that they’ve been devastating. The President of the United States has conducted an experiment on the American economy for almost the last three years, and it has gone tragically wrong and we need to send him a clear message in November of 2012 that new leadership is  coming.”

The new quotable comes right on the back of the new Rick Perry backlash occurring in Iowa. Conservatives forwarded a 14 point memo highlighting the candidate's problems before a radio interview Monday. Karl Rove warned about his "electability." New York Times Washington correspondant Binyamin Applebaum tweeted that Perry's comments were "horrifying," and asked the question, "This is a major party presidential candidate??

Related: Rick Perry Tests Out Stump Speech

6,943 comments

  • ASUTillman
    ASUTillman 7 hours ago
    261 Congressmen, or 49% of Congress, were multi-millionaires in 2010. No wonder why they don't understand how expensive college tuition is, how it feels to have a father laid-off, or even how much a gallon of milk costs..
  • NON
    NON 7 hours ago
    WHERE ARE THE JOBS?
  • JML
    JML 7 hours ago
    Nothing will change as long as Congress is on big corporation's payroll. Most Congress members get their office with the support of big corporations, most laws are written by special interest groups, most Congress members (and/or relatives) will land a fabulous job with those big corporations when they leave office. Everywhere in the world, this would be called bribery or corruption - here it is legal.
  • Jelly
    Jelly 5 hours ago
    Democrats & Republicans.... If you think one is the cure for the other, then you've fallen for the game. Don't vote for your party this time, vote for your country.
  • Allusion
    Allusion about an hour ago
    America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”
    Abraham Lincoln
  • tmh
    tmh 7 hours ago
    It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.
    Henry Ford
  • toyou
    toyou 34 minutes ago
    REAL AMERICANS CARE ABOUT ALL AMERICANS
  • Fact Giver
    Fact Giver 6 hours ago
    The Federal Reserve can print money, set interest rates, and choose which banks they loan money to. The president has very little power. Who sits on the Federal Reserve board? .Ask yourself that, and that's who controls this country. The board members are shadows.
  • Jack
    Jack 5 hours ago
    Does Governor Perry know that Bernanke is a Republican, appointed by President G.W. Bush, former Governor of Texas?
  • Captain What you say
    Captain What you say 7 hours ago
    Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.
  • dean
    dean 3 hours ago
    Why is it you never hear any body talking about stoping these stupid wars?
  • Joseph Martin
    Joseph Martin 6 hours ago
    Is this the same Rick Perry who wanted Texas to secede from the Union?
  • Angry Bob
    Angry Bob 5 hours ago
    I remember the same charge, printing money to pay of the national debt, being leveled at the Nixon administration. "The more things change the more they stay the same."
  • dirt_road_texas
    dirt_road_texas 6 hours ago
    To the gentleman who said Texas schools were the worst in the country: They are not, but close. Fact check: Texas ranks 49th in verbal SAT scores and 46th in average math scores, Texas ranks 36th in high school graduation rates (68%), according to the Texas Comptrollers office.

    I am a conservative independent, and I think the statistics are pathetic. But, I also do not believe that throwing more money at the problem is going to fix it. Many of the private schools in Texas get much better results while spending fewer dollars per student.
  • rober
    rober 2 hours ago
    Beware the guy who thinks everybody else is FLAWED!
  • Carnival Barker
    Carnival Barker 2 hours ago
    Speaking of TRAITORS, wasn't it Perry who argued FOR Texas secession!
    Hardly American!
  • Kocka Doodledo
    Kocka Doodledo 2 hours ago
    I WANT TO SEE PERRYS BIRTH CERTIFICATE.........
  • viewer42
    viewer42 3 hours ago
    Where in Hell do these guys come from...!!??
  • Jim P
    Jim P 7 hours ago
    Rick Perry or not...the fed's policy of Quantitative Easing is basically intentionally weakening the US Dollar. If you see prices going up...that's a big part of the reason why. It floods the market with more dollars...FREE MONEY...wooohooo...bottom line...it weakens the US.
  • FootballFan
    FootballFan 6 hours ago
    Wow, the SPIN is on! READ CAREFULLY AMERICA! "we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas. Printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history is almost treasonous in my opinion.”
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