Before Texas Congressman Ron Paul steps on stage to debate his fellow GOP presidential contenders tomorrow, he is already taking aim at one of the frontrunners, Rick Perry, by way of his latest campaign video.
While it’s unsure if Texas Governor Rick Perry will participate in Wednesday’s debate, Sen. Paul is taking a shot at the top-tier candidate off the stage. In his latest campaign video, Paul tries to alienate Perry from the Republican Party for the governor’s earlier attempts to “undo the Reagan Revolution.”
The latest promo from Paul pegs the Senator as a supporter of the Republican-worshipped era of Ronald Reagan, while blasting Perry for his support of Al Gore’s 1988 presidential run that undermined all that the Gipper accomplished through his two terms as commander-in-chief. The video remembers a younger Paul as a backer of Reagan back when “the establishment called him extreme and unelectable” and “the wrong man for the job” (sound familiar?). Paul, declares the promo, was one of only four congressmen to indorse Reagan’s first run for presidency.
While Reagan ran on a platform of lowering taxes and instituting a smaller government, says the video, the Gore campaign that Perry backed was one based on raising taxes and an increase on government spending.
A voiceover at the finale of the minute-long clip poses the question to the audience, “America must decide who to trust: Al Gore’s Texas cheerleader or the one who stood with Reagan?”
Americans will have a chance to check out the GOP contenders once again this week, with a Republican debate scheduled for Wednesday evening at the Ronal Reagan Presidential Library in California. Governor Perry was still unsure as of Tuesday if he would be able to attend, however, as he is making the wildfires ravaging the Lone Star state his top priority at the moment
Last month’s Iowa Straw poll put Paul in second-place among Republican candidates, losing out to Michele Bachmann by only 152 votes. Perry, however, did not formally announce his candidacy until that same day.
Earlier in the month of August, Paul came in first place on an online Straw Poll.