Paul Begala: Perry's Smartest Move Yet?

Perry's Smartest Move Yet?
Nov 4, 2011 10:00 AM EDT

Whether or not Perry is behind Cain’s sexual-harassment troubles, there’s nothing “despicable” about giving reporters a tip about a candidate’s impropriety, says Paul Begala.


Herman Cain’s camp can’t seem to figure out which way is up. Midday Thursday, Cain’s campaign manager Mark Block stood down from his accusation that Rick Perry engaged in “despicable” conduct by leaking news of the first story about a sexual harassment complaint against Cain. But later in the day, Cain himself suggested again, this time on Sean Hannity’s radio show, that the Perry camp was behind the story. So which is it? Did Perry’s underlings leak the information?

If they did, it would be the first signs of intelligent life from the underachieving Aggie. What—me defend Rick Perry? Ordinarily I’d be right up there leading the charge against him for despicable behavior. I mean, Perry may have executed an innocent man. He ran an ad against a Latino that many Tejanos considered racist. His conduct in office has been so ethically challenged that even Sarah Palin has accused him of “crony capitalism.” He hugged a preacher who smeared Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith. Despicable indeed.

But none of those things sparked the ire of the Herminator. No, Cain and his team accused Perry of the “despicable” act of leaking information about alleged sexual harassment by Cain.

Puh-leez.

Since when is it dirty to encourage reporters to commit journalism?

snip...

Here’s the Begala Standard: if an attack is fair, factual, and about the public record, it’s not dirty. Business experience—and, yes, one’s conduct around the office or in an after-work watering hole—is relevant. Scrutinizing it is fair. You don’t attack someone’s race or religion or gender or sexual orientation. You don’t go after family. You don’t pry into private lives, but you look at public performance in office, or in prior campaigns; you look at business and financial matters, votes and quotes (and for the presidency and vice presidency I think health is a legitimate inquiry). And there’s nothing wrong with encouraging journalists to do so as well.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/11/04/paul-begala-herman-cain-s-mark-block-a-wuss-for-accusing-perry.html

Not "encouraging journalists to do so as well."

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