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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Cain disagrees with needy Anita, Griffin is responsible for being out of a job, nothing or nobody else is responsible, just Griffin's laziness and a desire to coast on daddy's supporters coat tails.
This speaks volumes about just how much this family does NOT understand the plight of the unemployed. This is a shameful political trick. This woman should be tarred and feathered.
"My son lost his job because of this administration," she said a few minutes later." (Sounds to me like "son" lost his job because rich daddy is running (trying at least) for POTUS...and he needs to get his family out in front of the cameras. Unlike MOST 99%....this 1% group can AFFORD to have a kid just resign from the workforce to work on a campaign. Must be nice. Quitting was voluntary – not because of SEC rules or whatever.
Wow. These people have nothing but hate in their hearts. No ideas on how to solve the economic problems we are facing (besides the old tax cut for the rich) and no solutions for anything else other than getting rid of the social safety net. I guess in the mind of the republicans is always better to buy a gun than to give health care to one of our kids. I forgot to mention that today I realized I gained 10 pounds. I guess I could blame that on Obama as well
Perry dumb. Mrs. Perry dumber. Good couple ... for Texas. Stay there; don't share your dumbness with the rest of the country.
This woman is almost as delusional as Michelle Bachmann.
So glad I don't have to a candidate choose from this field of... interesting people.
I have relatives from Texas, Texas this, Texas that, after a while you get tire of hearing about Texas, that is all that people in that state do...it must be a culture thing.
Perhaps Anita can call for another "burning bush" revelation!! Her son would make an excellent carpenter. Why not build the biggest ship ever, and usher all of the Republicans on Capital Hill, the Republican Presidential Nominees, and Sarah Palin onto the boat Sarah can be the Captain of the ship. Her prior experience will guarantee the ship will run aground somewhere close to Iceland. And the Republicans will have a high ole time discussing "global warming"!
Perry, Perry and Perry are an embarrassment to my state of Texas. I don't have the slightest idea why Texas kept electing this idiot. Gee, let's see – keep my 100K job and take care of my family or campaign for my loser dad? Duh!
Could someone please start an, "I (fill in the blank) because of Obama," web page?
I guess Herm Cain would tell Junior to stop whining because it's his own fault that he's unemployed – and in this single instance he would be correct.
Sarah Palin Victim Syndrome
He doesn't HAVE to campaign for his father, it's an F'ing choice you brain dead harpy
Note to self: don't vote for Perry on the grounds that stupidity is contagious.
I thought the Republicans are a group preaching personal responsibility. So, what personal responsibility did Perry's son have? Oh, yeah, he QUIT his job (not unlike another republican wanna be candidate – Palin). so, I guess the republican philosophy of personal responsibility only applies to those OUTSIDE of the republican party? because so far all I've heard from the republican candidates is a bunch of whinning about how other people infringe on or negatively affect their lives. If they were living by their own philosophy, they would be responsible for the quitting of the job, etc. Too funny, the level of hypocrasy ingrained in the republican party. It's like they are living in the Donna Reed era, not realizing we have tools to help us see beyond the propaganda...and we do see beyond it, and we will not vote for you.
Don' worry Anita-your son will have no trouble landing one of those below minimum wage jobs that your husband brags about creating.
she needs to go to the HAIR SALON just maybe she will look a little bit better when she takes a picture(s)
is she on crack? the son resigned
kinda hard to post here, I guess...
well, if I've already said it, then post!
and how do you think the state of Texas feels about your family getting rich during the years of your husband has been governor? we see the "burning bush" too!
What a BS excuse , Perry's son will be paid double in salary for working for his fathers campaign !
Children Blame , Adults take responsibility !
The governor's office confirmed that Perry's son, Griffin Perry, 23, had secured a job at UBS, the investment banking firm that the governor has consulted on the lottery proposal.
UBS is also where former U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm, whose political action committee once gave the governor $610,000, works as a vice chairman.
A spokesman for Perry denied any suggestion that the employment of Griffin Perry had any influence on the governor's discussions with UBS.
I'm sure Mrs. Perry is on Mr. Cain list of people who blame others for their own failures. My son had to resign; so many American wish they had a job to resign from. What I'm saying? So many American wouldn't dare resign from their job in such tough economic environment.
Oh! A tree just fell in my yard. Who can I blame? I know; OBAMA!!
Wait a minute, I thought the Teabagger policy on unemployment was "If you don't have a job, it's your own fault."
Perry's son has a real job??? I thought he just ran his father's "N*****Head Ranch. Well maybe that is why he lost his job – when the nation found out Perry owned a ranch with a racist name for the past 30 years and then quickly had to dump it and lie about it his son lost his job. Gosh if President Obama weren't black, Perry could have kept his racist name ranch