Texas Governor Rick Perry isn’t afraid to take a stand on intolerance, except like, coming down hard on the side of being intolerant, openly.
Perry released the campaign spot below, titled “Strong,” on December 6th, and the clip has gone viral in the past few hours. When it first began circulating on Facebook at around 6PM EST, it had just over 500 views, but that’s growing. And thankfully, so are the downvotes- Rick Perry’s “Strong” clip currently has a 97% thumbs-down rate on YouTube, and you should go over and voice your dissatisfaction as well.
It seems Perry is relying largely on a core block of voters- voters who happen to be straight, white and Christian. In the clip, he manages to take down gay people and non-Christians in the first sentence, making a string of points that can best be described as incoherent. Perry says:
“I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a Christian. But you don’t need to be in the pew every Sunday to know there’s something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can’t openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school. As president, I’ll end Obama’s war on religion. And I’ll fight against liberal attacks on our religious heritage. Faith made America strong. It can make her strong again.”
As the Washington Post points out, Perry’s characterization of the President, a Christian, as complicit in the abolishment of prayer in schools is not only offensive, it’s “factually wrong.” And while the GOP contender doesn’t outright say anything specifically anti-gay, the implication is pretty strong when he says there’s something “wrong” about gay servicemen openly serving while church and state remain separate. Do you think Perry torpedoed his chances with the intolerant spot?
