Most Controversial Rick Perry Quotes By PilgrimsProgressive [16 more lists]

In August of 2011, Republican Texas Governor Rick Perry declared his candidacy for president in 2012, putting to rest weeks of speculation that he'd seek the GOP nomination. And whether he's speaking as a presidential hopeful or a governor, Perry's made some pretty controversial statements on everything from jobs to taxes to the BP oil spill. This is a list of some of the most controversial Rick Perry quotes ever made.

Rick Perry is the state of Texas' longest-serving governor. Perry became governor when George W. Bush resigned to become president. Since then, he's been elected governor three times.Perry is well-known for his no tax, small government views, and several of these quotes reflect those platforms. He's also a conservative Christian, having no problem with publicly expressing his beliefs - like when he asked Texans to literally pray for rain in April of 2011. Apparently his prayers were largely ignored: The summer of 2011 saw the state of Texas in an unprecedented drought with billions of dollars in losses in livestock and crops.

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1

Texas Creates 40 Percent of All New U.S. Jobs

""Since June of 2009, Texas is responsible for more than 40 percent of all of the new jobs created in America. Now think about that. We’re home to less than 10 percent of the population in America, but 40 percent of all the new jobs were created in that state.""

Rick Perry made this pronouncement in a speech given to announce his candidacy for president on August 13, 2011. At the time, Perry was speaking to the RedState convention in Charleston, South Carolina. This speech, not surprisingly, was focused heavily on the state of the economy (and jobs).

But is this statistic, that Texas makes up 40 percent (!) of all new U.S. jobs created, right? Sort of. It's all how you interpret the numbers. There's no doubt that Texas IS adding new jobs, but as 'The Washington Post' points out, it's partly because energy prices have skyrocketed, opening up more employment opportunities for those who work in the oil and natural gas fields.
2

Half of All Americans Don't Pay Income Tax

"We’re dismayed at the injustice that nearly half of all Americans don’t even pay any income tax."

Again, this quote comes from Rick Perry's speech the day he announced his presidential bid. Does he mean here that he'd actually raise taxes for more people? Because that's sure how it appears. Probably not. Again though, this statement is somewhat misleading - you have to look at the specifics and that's where 'The Washington Post' comes in again: Perry is not talking about payroll taxes - and that's stuff like Medicare and Social Security (paid largely by middle and low-income taxpayers).
3

A President Who Apologizes for America

"We don’t need a president who apologizes for America. We need a president who protects and projects those values."

Yep, Rick Perry's quote here is pretty commonplace in most Republican presidential candidates' speeches. That's politics: Attack the opponent. In this case, Perry is obviously talking about President Obama - but is this correct? No. It's not. Obama has never actually apologized for America.
4

Ben Bernanke: Treasonous?

"If this guy prints more money between now and the election, I don't know what y'all would do to him in Iowa, but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas. Printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history is almost treacherous, or treasonous, in my opinion."

Rick Perry pretty much stepped in a big ol' pile of Texas cow patties with this one, basically calling Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke a traitor during a speech in Cedar Rapids,Iowa, on August 15, 2011 (right after he declared he'd seek the GOP nomination for president in 2012). It's one thing to totally disagree with Bernanke's policies but it's quite another to go this far.
5

The Black Cloud Controversy

Even if you don't agree with Rick Perry's personal and political views, the guy doesn't deserve to be quoted out of context. And that's exactly what happened when, on August 15, 2011, MSNBC's 'The Ed Show' totally jumped on a metaphor Perry used during a speech, where he described the nation's debt as "That big black cloud that hangs over America..." Here's the problem: 'The Ed Show' didn't air the second part of that sentence, the one where Perry says that the nation's "debt is so monstrous." Host Ed Schultz used the black cloud metaphor to imply that Rick Perry is a racist - that he was talking about President Obama.

So let's clear this up right now, shall we? Here is the FULL quote from Rick Perry that caused this brouhaha:

"I’m a pro-business governor. I don’t make any apologies about it, and I will be a pro-business president. Getting America back to work is the most important issue that faces this country, being able to pay off $14.5 trillion or $16 trillion worth of debt. That big black cloud that hangs over America, that debt that is so monstrous. There’s only one way you get rid of it that’s practical, that makes sense, and that is to free up America, free up American entrepreneurs."

And you can guess what happened from here: Other journalists picked up the story and ran full-speed with it. Schultz later issued an apology (sort of) for the matter, saying:

"Last night we played a clip of Governor Perry talking about the debt being a 'big black cloud' over this country. We did not present the full context of those statements and we should've...no doubt about it, it was a mistake and we regret the error. On this particular statement, we should not have included it in our coverage of his overheated rhetoric. That's our mistake. The full context of all of these other statements show who he is and what he stands for."

Again, no matter what you or I think about Rick Perry, any and all politicians deserve to be quoted fairly. Perry regularly spouts off controversial quotes (as you can clearly see from this list), but let's stick to the legitimate charges, shall we?
6

Cameron Todd Willingham Case

"Willingham was a monster. He was a guy who murdered his three children, who tried to beat his wife into an abortion so that he wouldn't have those kids. Person after person has stood up and testified to facts of this case that quite frankly you all aren't covering..."

Let's put this particular quote in context, shall we? On February 17, 2004, Cameron Todd Willingham was executed by the state of Texas. He was accused of setting a fire that killed his three young daughters in December of 1991. Willingham was convicted of murder and sent to death row, where he continued to maintain his innocence. As Willingham's execution date approached, Governor Rick Perry refused to issue a stay of execution, even in the face of new evidence that could prove Willingham's innocence.

There's more. Some have accused Perry of using his political influence to delay a commission looking into new evidence in the Willingham case. He actually removed several people from the panel and replaced them, appointing a brand new panel chair who promptly canceled the hearing! Despite all of this, Perry (in this quote and others), continued to maintain that Willingham was "a monster" who deserved to die...

Yes, this particular case, where a man was possibly wrongfully executed on Governor Perry's watch, could come back to haunt him during his presidential campaign.
7

Texas Secession

"When we came into the nation in 1845, we were a republic, we were a stand-alone nation. And one of the deals was, we can leave anytime we want. So we're kind of thinking about that again."

Rick Perry definitely raised eyebrows when, in April of 2009, during a discussion with some tech bloggers in Austin, he threw out the idea of Texas seceding from the U.S. To some degree, this isn't a surprising quote coming from Texas' longest-serving governor. Come on, it's Texas, people: They've been threatening to secede for decades! For the record, Perry's spokesperson emphatically denies that his boss is a secession advocate.

Everything's bigger in Texas, including controversy. Remember the Alamo, people...
8

The BP Oil Spill: An Act of God

"And until we know that, I hope we don't see a knee-jerk reaction across this country that says we're going to shut down drilling in the Gulf of Mexico... From time to time there are going to be things that occur that are acts of God that cannot be prevented."

How, exactly, is a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico an "act of God?" Unless God somehow screwed with BP's drilling equipment and caused an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig that killed 11 people, injured many more (and, oh, yeah, resulted in the biggest oil spill in history). Yeah, maybe that was it. This major disaster was caused by a Higher Power. Talk about protecting your interests (see: Offshore Oil Drilling) at the expense of others!