NEW YORK ? Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry on Friday criticized President Barack Obama for policies Perry said have endangered agents patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border, the latest attempt by the Texas governor to shift the focus from his GOP rivals and his struggling campaign to the Democratic incumbent.
But several of Perry's claims against Obama are either exaggerated or misrepresented.
Perry, in New York City to accept an award from the Federal Law Enforcement Foundation, said inadequate funding and "bureaucratic bungling" by Washington had made the southern border more dangerous.
He singled out Operation Fast and Furious, an arms trafficking probe run by the Justice Department that allowed AK-47s and other weapons to leak into the black market.
"Our own federal government provided more than 2,000 firearms to some of the most dangerous criminals in North America," Perry said, adding that Attorney General Eric Holder should show the same courage and sense of responsibility as agents in the field.
Holder has acknowledged mistakes in the operation, which focused on gun shops in Phoenix and tried to track gun-smuggling beyond straw purchasers to previously unreachable gun-running kingpins. Officials say agents lost track of nearly half of the 2,000 guns. Some of the firearms were recovered at crime scenes in Mexico.
The operation came to light after two assault rifles purchased by a buyer under scrutiny in the operation turned up at the scene of an Arizona shootout that killed a Customs and Border Protection agent.
Many Republicans have sharply criticized Operation Fast and Furious and some have called on Holder to resign.
The Associated Press has reported that an investigation into the operation has turned up Justice Department documents indicating that the so-called "gun walking" tactic also was used during the Republican administration of George W. Bush.
Perry's advisers hope his stepped-up criticism of Obama and Washington could help reinvigorate Perry's lagging effort less than seven weeks before Iowa's caucuses on Jan. 3.
Polls show Perry badly trailing several of his rivals in Iowa, including former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Georgia businessman Herman Cain.
Perry's latest campaign ad took out of context a comment Obama made and gave viewers the impression that the president had said all Americans are lazy. Obama was talking about the U.S. record of attracting foreign investment.
In an interview with Fox News, Perry wrongly claimed that Obama came from a privileged background and didn't understand ordinary people's problems.
"He never had to really work for anything. He never had to go through what Americans are going through," Perry said. "We need a president who has been through their ups and downs in life and understands what it's like to have to deal with the issues of our economy that we have today in America."
Obama was raised by a single mother who, at times, used food stamps, and his grandparents in a modest apartment in Honolulu.
Democrats are responding to Perry's new strategy by tweaking him for his well-publicized flubs.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi answered Perry's invitation to meet and debate his proposal for a part-time Congress by ridiculing a debate performance in which Perry forgot the name of the third federal agency he would dismantle.
"He did ask if I could debate here in Washington on Monday," Pelosi said. "Monday I'm going to be in Portland in the morning, I'm going to be visiting some of our labs in California in the afternoon, and I can't remember what the third thing was."
___(equals)
Elliott reported from Washington. Associated Press reporter Pete Yost in Washington also contributed to this report.
___
Follow Beth Fouhy on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bfouhy
Follow Philip Elliott on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Philip_Elliott
when is daylight savings time 2011 when is daylight savings time 2011 renaissance festival melanie iglesias catherine tate clemson theo epstein
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.