almost immediately, his mouth began to get him in trouble. Trying to burnish his conservative bona fides in Iowa, the Texas governor ripped into Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Perry appeared to suggest that if Bernanke kept "printing more money," he might meet with a violent response should he ever visit Texas.
"I dunno what y'all would do to him here in Iowa," Perry grumbled, "but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas."
Perry's veiled threat took veteran Texas political observers by surprise. Even Texas Republicans were mortified. If the Fed Chairman were ever to grace the gilded homes of the Dallas elite, he'd likely be served a big plate of BBQ, a Shiner Bock and perhaps a pointed discussion about the dangers of runaway inflation while he enjoyed his brisket.
But be ugly or rude to him? That's not Texas.
The governor wasn't off to a good start, but that was OK, he'd catch his stride, Texans reassured each other. But he never really did. He came across as flat and uninspiring. At times, he would act a little goofy at the podium. After one particularly poor appearance in New Hampshire, the governor was forced to deny that he was drunk. Perry later admitted that he wasn't quite himself during the campaign because of complications from back surgery.
His seeming lack of effort gave off a whiff of entitlement, almost as if he didn't realize he was going to have to work to win over Republican voters. They weren't automatically going to be in his corner. And then in the Republican presidential debate in November in Rochester, Michigan, came Perry's infamous "Oops" moment:
