Rick Perry: Obama is a Socialist

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

Rick Perry has gotten plenty of pushback for his latest ad, which accuses President Obama of saying that “Americans are lazy.” Obama didn’t say that, of course, just like he’s never gone on an apology tour, he’s never bad-mouthed American exceptionalism, and he’s never said he hates Christians. It doesn’t matter, though. I suppose this one is bound to take its place in the great Republican pantheon of Obama’s imaginary rhetorical sins along with all the other stuff they’ve made up. It’s sort of remarkable how invested they are in this kind of thing.

But there’s more to this ad than just that! Michael Scherer chastises Perry for lying about what Obama said. Dan Amira mocks him for his inability to speak correctly even on a taped spot. (No teleprompter, I guess.) But so far I haven’t seen anyone even blink at the fact that Perry finishes up by telling us that “Obama’s socialist policies are bankrupting America.”

Has it come to that? Is calling Obama a socialist now so routine that it doesn’t even raise an eyebrow anymore? I guess I must have missed it when we passed that milestone.

Fact:

Mother Jones was founded as a nonprofit in 1976 because we knew corporations and billionaires wouldn't fund the type of hard-hitting journalism we set out to do.

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2024 demands.

payment methods

Fact:

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2024 demands.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate