Jason Embry at the Austin American-Statesman reports that Rick Perry and his Chief of Staff, Ray Sullivan, attended a donkey roast of a meeting with Washingtonian republicans:
Gov. Rick Perry’s broad criticisms of Washington Republicans aren’t sitting well with Washington Republicans.
In a closed-door meeting Thursday in Washington with Perry chief of staff Ray Sullivan, several top aides to Texas Republican U.S. House members expressed anger over the language Perry is using as he tries to fend off a challenge from U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. Perry often criticizes Hutchison in code by complaining about Washington.
Stoking their anger was a Sept. 14 fundraising letter in which Perry contrasts Texas’ relatively healthy budget climate with the Washington model of “more government, pork barrel spending and fiscal ruin.”
But instead of just talking about Democratic congressional leaders or President Barack Obama, the letter calls out Republicans.
“Let’s be frank,” the letter says. “Washington Republicans got us in this mess.”
Later in the letter, Perry writes, “If Washington Republicans hadn’t spent like Democrats for 12 years, they might have maintained enough votes to actually kill Obamacare.”
Hutchison’s campaign sent the fundraising letter to Republican chiefs of staff on Capitol Hill.
One would think Perry switched back to the Democratic party after reading Embry's post. We tip our hats to Jason's muckraking style of reporting. Embry's report continues with:
According to two sources in Thursday’s meeting who did not want to be named because they did not want to draw attention to their bosses, Sullivan was unapologetic. “He was nice, but he said, ‘We’re running against somebody from Washington and that’s the strategy,’ ” one source said.
Another said of Sullivan’s reaction, “I think there was shock and awe with the arrogance of it all.”
