Perry Made 'Rookie Mistake' With Bernanke Comments

Rick Perry's comments about Ben Bernanke and treason continue to dominate the political chatter. A few takes:

• John Podhoretz, Commentary: "What Perry did was make a thoughtless blunder, an unforced error; we’re now going to spend a couple of days discussing whether he was summoning violence on Ben Bernanke’s head or not, which is of absolutely no use to Perry. ... This was a serious rookie mistake on the national stage."
• Mark Hemingway, Weekly Standard: "You may disagree with Perry substantively and his comments may not have been the most artful, but beyond that he seems guilty of little other than hyperbole, which last I checked, isn't exactly a crime in politics."

• Paul Krugman, New York Times: "Yes, he’s showing ignorance of the basics of monetary policy; yes, he appears to have implicitly threatened violence against my former department head." But the real sin: suggesting that Bernanke is OK with "playing politics" to help Obama get re-elected. "That’s a hell of an accusation to make—especially when you bear in mind that Bernanke was a Bush appointee."
• Ed Morrissey, Hot Air: "Perry needs to learn a lesson from this experience. It’s good to offer red meat to the base, but it’s bad to let yourself get caught up in the feeding frenzy."

(More Rick Perry 2012 stories.)