(CNN) - In defending his latest television ad, Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Friday continued his attack strategy against President Barack Obama and emphatically called him a "socialist."
"Absolutely," Perry said in an interview on Fox News. "I think Barack Obama is a socialist."
Conservative talk show host Bill O'Reilly was the latest to question the presidential candidate over the validity of his new TV ad, which claims Obama believes Americans are lazy.
The spot, broadcast in Iowa and nationwide on cable, showed a clip of Obama saying, "We've been a little bit lazy, I think, over the last couple of decades."
In the ad, Perry said: "Can you believe that? That's what our president thinks is wrong with America? That Americans are lazy? That's pathetic. It's time to clean house in Washington."
But critics argue that Perry took Obama's "lazy" remark out of context.
The president made the comment in response to a question last weekend about how foreign investors viewed the United States. When listening to the rest of his remarks, Obama seemed to be addressing U.S. business practices as "lazy," rather than American workers or voters.
O'Reilly on Friday questioned Perry over whether he was being misleading with the ad.
"I believe he was talking about Americans," Perry responded.
O’Reilly asked the candidate if he believed the notion that Obama simply doesn’t like America, to which Perry replied: “I think he cares for this country. I just think his policies are socialist.”
Perry added that he believes the president "truly misunderstands" the country's free enterprise system, citing a 2008 campaign moment when Obama was confronted about taxes by a voter who later became known as "Joe the Plumber."
Obama responded saying that spreading the wealth around was "good for everybody."
"When you talk about printing money and spending government money, and trying to spend it out," Perry said. "That conversation he had with Joe the Plumber - kind of redistribute the wealth - the best I can tell, that's socialism."
According to the latest CNN/ORC International Poll, Perry took 12% of support among Republicans and those leaning toward the GOP, putting him fourth place in the GOP race for the White House.
From CNN Politics
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A SOCIALIST is one that says: " that he gives state’s benefit to illegal immigrant children to give them access to education so that they don’t become a liability later on. " Rick Perry said that critics against this “don’t have a heart.”
Ah, I believe Perry is a SOCIALIST.
lol Perry are u serious??
Perry is a secessionist!!!
Perry is right, but Obama is not only a socialist, he doesn't even like the country of which he is President. He is the least transparent, and untruthful President ever. He has got to go....
Stupid Obama! He actually said that he wants what's "good for everybody?" What sort of American wants what's good for everybody, anyway? He MUST be a Socialist. Don't all good American's simply want what's good for the wealthy? Isn't that why their incomes (adjusted for inflation) have gone up over the past thirty years while the middle-class and lower has seen their incomes decrease?
NO TAX INCREASES for the wealthy...haven't we seen how lower taxes mean more job creation and more growth? Oh, wait a second...Clinton RAISED taxes on the wealthy in '93 and we saw record job growth and deficit reduction. Bush LOWERED taxes on the wealthy in '03 and we've seen the Great Recession.
Is it THIS hard folks? Why do we all keep taking it up the rear?
"Misquoting", "Twisting facts". "Exaggerating" statements"- SO wots new in the conservative world of politics ???
O rieley should have played the whole clip ...this is fair and balanced?
Perry is an idiot says me. And I'll stand by that statement.
The one is lazy is the president, that keeps on traveling on vacation, and he is the one does not want to sit down in
his desk to work and help to to resolve the big problem we have. Seems like he just like to go out to kiss men and women, and he does not do anything for our country.
Tell us something a third grader and above doesn't already know!
There is nothing wrong with being a socialist. Anyone with proper schooling knows that it is a political ideology that seeks to provide social equality across income, religious and racial lines – even if it has been practiced in an imperfect manner by governments past. Now, there is something seriously wrong with IGNORANCE and one who uses his lack of knowledge to attempt to paint others as evil. Fear of the future supported by ignorance of our past – that is the basis of modern day Republican Conservatism. Even their hero Ronald Reagan (by current standards, a failure at maintaining "Conservative" values) would find the thinking of this buffoon beyond the pale...
I am proud to be ANYTHING other than a conservative republican (lower case intended). They should change the name of their movement to the Lemmings.
Socialist is a mighty fancy word for a guy who can't remember his own name . . .
Perry. I think that most people can see thru this tactic. When you get low in the polls talk about obama's birth certificate and being a socialist. When you play the same song over and over again, people know the words. We are bored. Unless you have a plan, and you don't, get back to marginalizing texas and getting pay to play money. You should never have come to a stage this big, you're not up to it.
Conservatives like Perry are hypocritical at best: Anybody who works hard their entire life, paid social security taxes during that time, and expect a social security check when they retire is a SOCIALIST. Anyone who gets laid off from their job and expect to get an unemployment check while they're looking for a job-is a SOCIALIST! There's nothing wrong with that word...
First perry resurrected the birther issue. Now he is bringing back Joe the Plummer... what a loser!
Attack of the zombies, hehe!
Socialism is simply a boogeyman to most people. The people who most frequently use the word don't know what socialism or capitalism mean. Modern politics is just "rah, rah, rah.." support the "home team." Very few voters look seriously at the issues or sufficiently analyze the politicians involved.
Perry wouldn't know 'socialism' from salt water - but he does know how to recite John Birch Society buzzwords. And 'context'? What's that? The Good Guv is guilty of intellectual dishonesty - assuming of course that he has an intellect. Perry's candidacy is based wholly upon the perception that the American electorate is even more ignorant than he is!
Perry is right!!! Barrack O. is lazy. He has not done anything for us, only spending our money, put us in debt, and going out to kiss men, and women. What kind of president is that? It is the time for him to get out of the WH, and leave the place for somebody else that will be more capable to rule our country.
Is Perry a distant relative of the new modern Jesus who shot at the White House?
Perry will find himself at the bottom of the polls with more stupid and ignorant comments. The Palin foot in the mouth disease is running rampant among the following GOP/Tea Party candidates: Bachmann, Cain, and Perry.
Na Na Na, sticks and stones...
It is obvious that the one commentor never read Audasity to Hope . Obama is not a muslim and ol pete is just stupid. Perry wouldn't know a socialist if one hit him in the face. Just one more looney tune repo spreading misinformation. But not to worry by tomorrow he will have forgotten all about it. Go back to Texas and run that state into the ground. Hey hows your poverty and education level there?
Perry is an IDIOT. I'll pick the socialist over the idiot any day.
Whether you like Perry or not, he's right: Obama is a socialist!