Political Strategists Slam Rick Perry Indictment As 'Outrageous'

by JASmius

It's official, ladies and gentlemen: JASmius Echo Syndrome is now a pandemic:

Texas Governor Rick Perry's indictment on Friday by a state grand jury on charges stemming from a funding veto he made last year is "outrageous" and nothing more than "the criminalization of political differences," Democratic pollster and analyst Doug Schoen told Newsmax.

"I've never seen anything like this in politics," he said. "It looked to me like what Perry was doing was right, reasonable and responsible."

Schoen cautioned, however, that the Democrats needed to be very careful of using the indictment to dash Perry's chances should he choose to run for the White House in 2016.

"It is one of the worst things that the Democrats could do: to try to go after a partisan Republican with a partisan criminal indictment," he said. "It is a further sign of really the destruction of our nonpartisan — seemingly nonpartisan — criminal justice system.

"It is very depressing, sad and just plain wrong." [emphasis added]

In other words, don't make a martyr out of Governor Perry on an issue on which four-fifths of the American people are behind him and against Democrats, as well as keeping that issue in the headlines in the worst possible way for the latter - says a Democrat.

Things that make you go "hmmmmm...."

Here, BTW, is what prompted pretty much universal calls for the Travis County DA's resignation:

McCrum, who is based in San Antonio, spent months presenting evidence and calling witness while investigating whether Perry broke the law when he publicly promised to deny $7.5 million over two years to the public integrity unit of the office of Travis County Democratic District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg.

Lehmberg pleaded guilty to drunken driving in April 2013 — with a blood alcohol content of nearly three times the legal limit for driving — but spurned Perry's calls to resign. She served about half of a 45-day jail term but remained in office.

Perry had contended that Lehmberg's behavior was inappropriate. A video recording made at the jail showed her shouting at staffers to call the sheriff, kicking the door of her cell, and sticking her tongue out.

"The Travis County District Attorney appears to me to be way out of line, especially given her own conviction for drunken driving," Schoen told Newsmax on Friday. [emphases added]

Does it even merit pointing out how this story would have been cast had Rosemary Lehmberg had been a Republican?  "Lush," "bimbo," and "Animal House" are headline terms that come immediately to mind.  The withering ridicule and calls for her resignation from Democrats would have been deafening, and likely unnecessary, as she'd have almost certainly resigned without any prompting.  But Democrats are, of course, above protocol, above standards of decent, civil, adult, <*ahem*> sober behavior, and, of course, the law.  So [BLEEP] you, Texas, and [BLEEP] you, Rick Perry, for having the temerity, the unmitigated gall to try and hold Rosemary Lehmberg accountable for her own personal conduct using his constitutional veto power to play the same kind of partisan hardball that Democrats have waged against the GOP for decades.  Or, put another way, holding Democrats accountable to the law is now "officially" against the law.

Fran Fawcett gets the last word:

Perry's indictment is just another of the many "witch hunts" by the county district attorney's office, former Houston-area broadcaster and GOP philanthropist Fran Fawcett told Newsmax.

"The Travis County District Attorney's Office has long been trying to ensnare Republican officeholders," she said in an email.

Fawcett referenced Ronnie Earle, Lehmberg's longtime Democratic predecessor who brought charges against DeLay. He also sought indictments against former Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson when she was state treasurer and other Republicans.

Earle was first elected in 1976, serving until January 2009, when Lehmberg was sworn into office.

Fawcett said that Earle was "unrelenting in using extreme tactics of personal destruction to try and smear Republicans. That his successors would indict the governor for exercising his legitimate power is simply more of the same.

"The real crime here is the amount of taxpayer dollars the Travis County D.A.'s office uses in its witch hunts," she said.

UPDATE: You didn't think Ted Cruz could keep his oar out of these chum-gorged waters, did you?:

Unfortunately, there has been a sad history of the Travis County District Attorney’s Office engaging in politically-motivated prosecutions, and this latest indictment of the governor is extremely questionable. Rick Perry is a friend, he’s a man of integrity – I am proud to stand with Rick Perry. The Texas Constitution gives the governor the power to veto legislation, and a criminal indictment predicated on the exercise of his constitutional authority is, on its face, highly suspect.

I'm a Scott Walker backer all the way, but that doesn't remotely avert my awareness of the backfire potential of this attempted ham-fisted, White House-inspired retaliation for Governor Perry's courageous leadership in taking what steps he can to control the border - or from standing with him as well and rooting for said blowback to be swift and devastating.



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