Perry Campaign Admits to KBH Tape Praising Hillary
By Byron LaMasters
Jim posted on this yesterday, but now the Dallas Morning News reports that the Perry campaign was behind taping KBH's comments praising Hillary Clinton:
Gov. Rick Perry's re-election campaign acknowledged Wednesday that it hired two men to film a Washington event in which Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton praised Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.
An edited version of the video, in which Mrs. Clinton calls the Texas Republican "my partner on so many important fronts," circulated widely this week in e-mails among conservative GOP activists.
Also Online
A spokesman for Ms. Hutchison, who is considering challenging Mr. Perry in next year's primary, denounced the video as a political dirty trick.
"The governor should be worried about far bigger issues than paying people to fly across the country to stalk the senator," said Hutchison campaign manager Terry Sullivan. "If he spent less time worrying about campaign stuff and more time worrying about his job, the state of Texas would be better off."
Perry campaign director Luis Saenz defended the decision to film the event.
"Any potential opponent should not expect a free ride," he said. "We're being very aggressive in following our potential opponents – what they say, what they do. And we're going to continue to be aggressive."
The two senators appeared at a ceremony March 3 marking the preservation of the Sewall-Belmont House, a historic building on Capitol Hill where suffragists gathered more than a century ago to work for the right to vote.
The 46-second video shows Mrs. Clinton praising Ms. Hutchison, and then the pair embracing and smiling for cameras.
Mr. Saenz said the Perry camp paid to film the event but didn't intend that it find its way this week around the Internet.
"I shared the video with a small group of strong supporters, and apparently one of them decided to share it with somebody else, who decided to share it with somebody else," he said. "Now it's everywhere."
The Perry camp paid for a video that they didn't intend to circulate on the internet? Yeah, right. Still, smart move for the Perry camp. It may be dirty politics, but this is fair game. Anyone who reads this blog knows that I am certainly no fan of Rick Perry, but his campaign staff is top-notch.
More at Rick Perry vs. the World. He's darn right about one thing - this campaign will be a heck of a lot of fun for us Democrats.
Update: Also at Off the Kuff, Dos Centavos and Pink Dome.
Posted by Byron LaMasters at March 24, 2005 02:47 PM
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OMG!!! She *touched* Hillary and praised her??!! No shower will ever be hot enough, and there will never be enough soap!!! [sarcasm]
Sheesh. Will KBH'a campaign release footage of Perry being friendly with Al Gore, as he was a manager for Gore's 1988 bid for the presidency?
She praised a colleague. Big deal. It is well known that members of congress and the senate do form friendships across party lines--look at Ted Kennedy and Orrin Hatch. And they *gasp* tend to have respect for those across the aisle in many cases!
But I forgot that the Bubba culture wants to take cheap, ignorant shots at the Clintons, years later. I guess it distracts everyone from what Bush is up to--you know, his SS scam, and the war and all...
