Gov. Rick Perry is BuzzFlash's GOP Hypocrite of the Week for Blaming Deficits and Government Spending on Everyone But Himself

Rick Perry

Each GOP hypocrite seems to have his or her own particular set of weakness, be they related to family values, sex, taxes, religion, military service, sex... You name it, there's a hypocrite for that! And for secessionist Texas Gov. Rick Perry, it's all about the Benjamins.

When Perry rejected stimulus funds that would help the state pay for unemployment benefits this spring, he had a healthy cadre of other obstinate governors behind him. But then he realized that -- oopsie daisy! -- Texas needed that $550 million to pay out unemployment benefits. So he applied for a loan from the federal government in order keep the program functioning. Because goodness knows where his re-election campaign would be now if he just stopped writing checks to his needy constituents.

Did someone say re-election? Fire up the hypocrisy mobile!

Yes, Perry is at it again. In a fierce fight against Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) for the Republican Party nomination for the gubernatorial race, Perry decided to hit her where he figured it would hurt most: fiscal responsibility. Perry accused Hutchison of being a Washington big spender with all the millions of dollars in earmarks she brings back to the loan lone star state. Ugh! How dare Hutchison properly fund state programs! That is not the Texas way!

Well, turns out that she dared to do so because Perry was sitting in Austin begging her to. Hutchison's campaign released several letters in which Perry and his staff asked for help securing federal funding for a variety of state initiatives. In response to the accusations of hypocrisy leveled by Hutchison's campaign, Perry's spokesman criticized Hutchison for not bringing home the Washington bacon.

Make up your mind, Perry! You can't have it both ways.

Or maybe he can. After all, Perry is a well-seasoned GOP hypocrite, especially in terms of fake financial responsibility.

As we noted back in 2007, Perry -- in his zeal to get noticed in the race to the Republican presidential primaries -- threw his former boss George W. Bush under the bus. He criticized the former Texas governor for "spending money," saying the man had "never, ever been a fiscal conservative," even when he was in Texas. Well, during that whole time Bush was spending Texas' money, Perry was lieutenant governor, rubber-stamping every budget that came out of the governor's office.

So, I guess what they mean when they say "Don't mess with Texas" is "Gimme all your money and stop asking so many gol-dern questions!" And that's why Rick Perry again wins BuzzFlash's GOP Hypocrite of the Week Award.

Remember our motto: So many Republican hypocrites, so little time.

Catch up with you soon.

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This is Rick Perry's second GOP Hypocrite of the Week Award. He also won on Dec. 21, 2007. You can see a list of all previous nominees here.

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