So what does he do? the day before this, he steps all over his own message and drowns it out by out of the blue, deciding to revive the "birther" nonsense:
More:
Rick Perry, birther? Texas governor suggests he's not sold on Obama's birthplace
WASHINGTON - Texas Gov. Rick Perry, struggling to claw back to prominence in the Republican presidential race, is renewing the so-called birther issue, suggesting in a new interview he harbours doubts that President Barack Obama was born in the United States.
"I don't have any idea," Perry told Parade magazine when asked if he believes the long-form birth certificate Obama released in April, largely to silence real estate mogul Donald Trump's assertions that the president wasn't born in the U.S., was authentic.
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"I had dinner with Donald Trump the other night," Perry said. "He doesn't think it's real."
When the Parade interviewer reminds Perry that he's seen Obama's birth certificate, Perry replied: "I don't know. Have I?"
Earlier this year, Trump delighted the "birthers," a neoconservative collection of conspiracy theorists, when he flirted with a presidential run and made repeated, high-profile suggestions that Obama was unlawfully holding office because he wasn't born stateside.
Trump seized upon the birther movement despite the fact that most Americans regard the unfounded allegations with a collective eye roll. The brash businessman said he was proud of himself when a visibly annoyed Obama announced he'd released his Hawaiian long-form birth certificate in order to put the boots to an issue he called "silliness."
On that front, anyway, Perry agreed with Obama in the Parade interview.
"It doesn't matter," he said. "He's the president of the United States. He's elected. It's a distractive issue."
Nonetheless, Orly Taitz, the so-called Queen of the Birthers, is endorsing Perry's candidacy. She told the ThinkProgress website that she believes if the Texas governor wins the Republican nomination, he'll use the birther issue to attack Obama.
Taitz has filed several unsuccessful lawsuits attempting to disqualify Obama, whose father was Kenyan, from holding office. A federal judge said last week he was fed up with the "Sisyphean quest to prove that Obama is using a fake Social Security number and a forged birth certificate" as he dismissed Taitz's latest lawsuit.
The birthers have equally vexed Obama.
He referred to them as "carnival barkers" in April amid persistent accusations from the movement's adherents that he's unlawfully occupying the White House because he was born in either Kenya or Indonesia.
http://www.brandonsun.com/world/breakin ... html?thx=y
From the last quote I highlighted, I think it's pretty obvious what Perry is trying to d here...he's trying to wink and nod to the Birthers, while at the same time trying not to look like a crank....
Unfortunately for Perry, that's a needle that just can't be threaded....
Having decided to touch this third rail, does he simply not understand that the press will now not permit him to talk about anything else, until he finally says something categorical? He will not be able to give a speech or an interview anywhere in the country, on any topic, without being buried under a non-stop barage of questions about this birther crap....
It was pure idiocy.
Perry is a real mystery to me. I cannot for the life of me understand how a man can be as successful in politics as this man has been when he seemingly understands so little about what goes in to making one politically successful.
(ETA: Oh, and let's not forget that right out of the chute, he also accused the Republican appointed Fed Chairman of "treason" and offered to make him the guest of honor at a Texas style beat-down...)
