Sen. Hutchison: Perry’s record is ‘fair game’
(CNN) - Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison on Sunday refused to walk back on stinging critiques made about Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s record when the two were locked in a battle for the GOP gubernatorial nomination in 2010.
“I tried to give Texas a choice,” Hutchison said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
The four-term senator told CNN Chief Political Correspondent Candy Crowley that “when you’ve been in office for a long time, you have a record and that record is fair game.”
During the primary in 2010, Hutchison attacked Perry’s policy on immigration as soft, and followed up during Sunday’s interview by questioning Perry’s home state appeal with comments on the Trans-Texas corridor, a controversial proposal that included a state-wide system of highways, railways, and utility lines.
“I think if you ask Texans about this race it’s more mixed that it was, for instance, when George W. Bush was running,” she said. “The Trans-Texas corridor was something I’d talked about and it was running over private property… “I think that’s sticking [with some people in Texas].”
But she qualified her criticism of Perry during the Texas gubernatorial campaign, saying Sunday that “he was very brutal on my record and I tried to be tough on his.”
Of Herman Cain, one of Perry’s rivals for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, Hutchison chalked up attention this week to alleged sexual harassment in Cain’s past as “politics as usual.”
“I just don’t see anonymous sources as fair against a candidate,” she said of reports that at least two women have accused Cain of sexual harassment during his stint as head of the National Restaurant Association in the late 1990s.
“I think if someone has a real concern they should come out and say it, but nothing I’ve heard in the press that I’ve read is nothing more than off-color remarks,” Hutchison said.
And the senator who will retire at the end of her term next year believes that Cain “paid a price” for those remarks, “as maybe he should.”
Hutchison asserted, “I kind of think this is a presidential campaign thing where his opponents are coming forward and trying to drudge things up.”
According to Cain, Perry is just that opponent.
The former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza accused the Perry campaign of leaking the allegations of sexual harassment against him, a charge that Perry vehemently denied.
Former GOP Virginia Rep. Tom Davis had a different view of Cain in a separate interview Sunday. Saying: “He was the flavor of the month. His month is up.”
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Watch State of the Union with Candy Crowley Sundays at 9am ET. For the latest from State of the Union click here.
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Ok, Kay... Pay for it, maybe Herb did.. (Although more than likely the cost was paid for by someone else, as usual...) But if there was no issue, why a gag order? He wasn't running for president... And why now the LYING about it. Convenient memory? Come on...
As for Perry... All he has to do is open his mouth for folks to realize there's nothing there but a back slapping, empty suit. Which is why he ducked things in Texas. They would have been much better off if KBH was governor...
"I tried to give Texas a choice" the Senator says. As is so often the case, the choice was the lesser of two evils. A year from now we will be wondering why we thought this race could even be close. Four more years!
Well, if Cain wants this news story to just go away and be swept under the rug, he should allow full disclosure of the matter from all the women concerned for one thing. For another, one has to consider that since no charges were brought against him concerning the alleged things the women are saying happened and which their attorney backs, it is only because there was an 'agreement' or 'settlement' which ever is correct now that he "remembers" that there was one or the other. However, if there had not been an agreement or settlement, I think we would be hearing a much different story! So, go figure!
First sincere thanks to state of union’s family for allowing three lobbyists to talk or express their opinion. This is a real issue why both parties couldn’t reach any deal
535 elected officials, president and vice president are they working for us NO
I am not supporter of occupy movement after the show I understand why they are blaming Wall Street
“I just don’t see anonymous sources as fair against a candidate,”
$45000 and $35000 not a anonymous sources so the story is true
How could we NOT like a guy like Herman Cain? Well, it's becoming much easier, isn't it.
She is too polite to mention that the next step is to introduce the white woman as vic...aka, the 'Mandigo' factor...but they will never identify the women. And, of course, she is much much much too polite to mention that obama will never be accused of harassment...at least againest women.
No serious record exists. He is an embarrassing clown and will self-destroy.
"But if there was no issue, why a gag order? He wasn't running for president... And why now the LYING about it. Convenient memory? Come on..."
That's it in a nut shell ...
It took a few debates to tank Rick Bush's poll numbers. Just let him talk.
All The Republican running for President are Clowns. Some are Bigger Clowns than Other.
CNN and other Liberal Media outlets seem to relish reporting on differences within the GOP. Here's a thought; Why not do a story on the Senate DEMOCRATS that voted against Bozo's ill-fated American Jobs Bill? All the commentary attacking Republicans as "obstructionists" is comical! Dems still have a stranglehold on the Senate and Barry couldn't get his stupid bill passed by his own Party!