Rick Perry's abrupt swing to the right
on gay rights has been described as smelling like desperation.
Perry's campaign on Tuesday released
a decidedly anti-gay ad titled Strong
in Iowa. In the ad, Perry linked faith to anti-gay sentiment.
(Related: Rick
Perry described as having “special a-hole privileges” in video
spoof.)
During a Thursday appearance on MSNBC's
Martin Bashir, political contributor Krystal Ball slammed the
new ad.
“It smacks of desperation because
Rick Perry knows that if voters go to caucus and they're thinking
about the economy or who has the best grasp of the issues or the best
leader, they won't vote for him,” Ball said. “So he has to frame
this as a values thing. It's the red meat about Obama and the same
race-baiting stuff they have been doing all along. But this is also
about Mitt Romney being Mormon, it's also about Newt Gingrich and his
past infidelities. So for Rick Perry, that's why he's doing this
very despicable and cynical framing.”
Perry laments in the ad that there's
something “wrong” with a country where gay and bisexual troops
can serve openly but children cannot openly celebrate Christmas.
“I want to point out how outside of
the mainstream this anti-gay ad is,” Ball added. “At the time of
repeal [of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'], 80% of Americans were supporting
repeal. Since repeal was instituted, even the public face of the
opposition, who was Marine General Amos, he said it's been a
nonevent. That's how far the GOP has moved outside of the
mainstream.”