Anita Perry blames Obama for son's job loss
Pendleton, South Carolina (CNN) - Rick Perry's wife Anita said Friday that she could sympathize with the plight of the unemployed because her son was forced to resign his job to take a more active role on his father's presidential campaign.
Anita Perry blamed the Obama administration for her son having to resign his position.
"My son had to resign his job because of federal regulations that Washington has put on us," Mrs. Perry said while campaigning for her husband in South Carolina, after a voter shared the story of losing his job.
"He resigned his job two weeks ago because he can't go out and campaign with his father because of SEC regulations," she continued, referring to the Securities and Exchange Commission. "He has a wife... he's trying to start a business. So I can empathize."
"My son lost his job because of this administration," she said a few minutes later.
According to press reports, the Perrys' son, Griffin, worked at Deutsche Bank.
It was unclear what SEC regulations Perry was referring to, but the commission adopted a new rule last year aimed at limiting political activity on the part of investment advisors.
Mrs. Perry was speaking at a meet and greet at Dyar's diner in Pendleton, in western South Carolina, on the same morning her husband delivered the first major economic address of his campaign.
Her comments about her son came in response to a question from 45-year-old voter who said he lost a job paying over $100,000 and who now makes $12 an hour as a handyman.
Asked after the event to elaborate on comments she made a day earlier about her husband being "brutalized" by fellow conservatives over his Christian faith, Mrs. Perry said she didn't have anything to add.
"It's been a rough month," Perry said in an emotional speech to voters on Thursday. The speech was recorded by NBC News. "We have been brutalized and beaten up and chewed up in the press to where I need this today.
The Texas governor has been sliding in national polls since mid-September, when he put in shaky performances at two GOP presidential debates and lost a closely watched straw poll in Florida that he was widely expected to win. Perry's appearance at Tuesday's GOP debate also garnered negative reviews.
The latest CNN Poll of Polls, released Thursday, shows 14% of Republican voters identifying Perry as their choice for nominee, behind former Godfathers' Pizza executive Herman Cain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Those numbers reflect a sharp fall since early September, when a CNN/ORC International poll showed 30% of Republican voters picking Perry.
On Thursday, Anita Perry pointed the finger at fellow Republicans, who she said took issue with the governor's strong conservative Christian stance.
"We are being brutalized by our opponents, and our own party," Perry said. "So much of that is, I think they look at him, because of his faith."
Perry's relationship with the influential evangelical pastor Robert Jeffress has come under scrutiny in the past week. Jeffress told reporters at the Values Voter Summit in Washington he believed Mormonism was a 'cult.'
Two men running for the GOP presidential nomination are Mormons, Romney and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman. Jeffress has endorsed Perry, and introduced him at the summit.
- CNN's Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.
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No, head a choice.
Something that most people out of work did not have.
She sounds just about as bright as her husband!!
No, he had a choice.
Something that most people out of work did not have.
Wow. Anita Perry is she really saying the POTUS caused her son's unemployment? Because of a law that prevents undue influence from financial backers on a political campaign? Talk about out of touch, and only being for the top 1%. Pathetic.
I sprained my ankle because of Obama.
Give me a break. You are really comparing your son who CHOSE to resign his position to people who CAN'T get a job?
Pathetic.
what happens in texas should stay in texas
Oh, the Sky is blue... blame Obama!
oh lord, unlike Bush who had a smart wife...Perry's ain't no scholar.
I'm sure his handlers are wishing Palin would have run...so that they could at least only have to focus on the education of ONE dumb person and not the "dumb couple" from Texas.
eeks.
Mrs. Perry is a real whiner! She blames everything on somebody else. Her son chose to leave his job so he could be in politics. That's not the same as losing your job due to circumstances beyond your control. Is her son collecting unemployment?
Good god – what a fruitcake. Perry might want to consider putting a muzzle on this nutbag . . .
Wow, these folks are imploding in front of our eyes. Griffen had a choice to keep his job with the bank or work on the Perry campaign. He choose the latter. Are they really that out of touch to compare this to someone who really lost their job?
I thought Republicans say "blame yourself" for job loss?
Who was it force him?Sounds to me like he had a choice, keep working or go help Da,Da.He decided to go help Da,Da.
Did she just pull the religion card???? She and her husband have enough money to help out their son in his "hard times" .. he probably has 5 million dollars instead of 10 million... boo frickin hoo
So, he quit, and this is Obama's fault? More specifically he quit with the understanding that there was another position available for him immediately... one that if his father wins the presidency will assure him a slot he most likely is completely unqualified for and this is a bad thing for him that is somehow Obama's fault?
Aww... poor guy.. Its all President Obama's fault that Deutsche Bank tied up billions of dollars in Greece who is close to default on their debt and Deutsche Bank will lose a lot of money on the deal.
He lost his job because he wasnt valuable enough to keep. Deutsche Bank has 10000 employees nationwide , if he isnt good enough to be one of them... well his dad has created a ton of jobs at McDonalds and Wal mart and the military bases, and brags about it... maybe he can get one of those.
He can't blame Obama for quitting his job to work for his dad. That's his choice! We live or die by the choices we make.
goodness gracious is she nut?
Who doess she blame for her sons stupidity ?
Her or his Daddy ?
I guess if didn't quit and his father, the Perry household was going to have top rely on foodstamps ?
SEC rules are not new. They have been in place since that doofus from Texas was the President. I knew it would take another Doofus from Texas to cry WOLF!!
This family is loonier than I thought. He chose to RESIGN from his job. This is not even close to the many, many families in this country who are struggling because they lost their jobs through no fault of their own. We can only hope he never decides to have children.
Who asked you? It's been proven that the GOP talking points claptrap about regulations losing jobs is a miniscule cause-and affect. Maybe your son is incompetant at his job? But keep trying....maybe your husbands failing campaign can find something to rescue it, but I doubt it. Now go back and be a good Republican stepford wife and make some cookies and tea
Oh, give me a #%^$&@%^ break! Perry's son did not "lose" his job, nor did he have it "taken away from him" by Obama, or anyone else for that matter. Rather, he made a deliberate, conscious decision to leave his job, on his own free will, because he made the personal choice to campaign for his father. No one is telling him that he has to make that choice; if he (or his mommy) think that keeping his job is more important, then he could have kept his job. What a ridiculous bunch of idiotic whiners they are! No wonder why our country is going down the tubes and falling from our former greatness, when selfish idiots like this can garner national attention in the most serious presidential election of this generation.
How stupid do these people think we are? If her son wants to work for DeutscheBank, let him. If he wants to campaign for his dad, let him. But to blame Obama for the fact that DeutscheBank doesn't want its execs campaigning while on the payroll is political crap. These people are as far removed from real people (and from sanity) as the Bushes were ... way too used to getting anything and everything they want, and way too prone to blame someone else for every little annoyance in their oil-rich lives. Well, we're not as stupid as Anita thinks.