Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) has a problem with Ted Nugent’s past criticism of President Barack Obama.
Perry was asked about Nugent previously calling Obama a subhuman mongrel. The question came in response to to Attorney General Greg Abbott, the likely Republican gubernatorial nominee, campaigning with Nugent.
“I have a problem calling the president a ‘subhuman mongrel,'” Perry said Thursday afternoon during an interview with Wolf Blitzer. “That’s an inappropriate thing to say. Again, people were saying that all the time.”
CNN pressed Abbott on Nugent’s past remarks and the attorney general repeatedly deflected questions about Nugent’s comments. The attorney general’s communications director also tried to stop CNN from pressing Abbott.
In the new CNN interview Perry repeatedly denounced Nugent’s past remarks (Nugent also called Obama a chimpanzee).
“He shouldn’t have said something like that about the president of the United States. I would suggest to you that the job situation in Texas and what a Republican leadership has done there and Greg Abbott will continue to do is what people really care about,” Perry said. “A comment by someone who has come in and endorsed him in the campaign, I will suggest to you, is not what this campaign is going to hinge upon.”
