Posted Feb 25, 2011, 1:19 PM PT by Jed Lewison • First broadcast: Feb 25, 2011


Earlier today, Jonathan Martin of Politico asked Texas Governor Rick Perry whether he supported Scott Walker's union-busting plan. Perry's answer was revealing: as you can see in the video and transcript below, he didn't offer a single word defending Scott Walker on the substance of his union-busting plan -- he completely took the fifth.
JONATHAN MARTIN (POLITICO): Governor Perry, has Governor Walker, somebody who I think you know pretty well, is he doing the right thing in Wisconsin? And if you had any advice to offer him, what would you say?
TEXAS GOV. RICK PERRY: [pauses, then chuckles] Well, the key for us, is, is, uh, you know, we've got fifty laboratories of innovation out there. I hope all of you have bought the book Fed Up! and absorbed the...
MARTIN: Fast plug, very fast plug.
PERRY: ...messages, though you'll here it more than once. But, my point is, my point is that we're fifty different laboratories, and frankly, you know, for me to tell [Maryland Gov.] Martin [O'Malley] how to run his state, or for him to tell me how to run my state is a little bit over the line form my perspective. But they key is you believe what you believe in. We had elections. I didn't get confused about what they were saying on the second day of November from the state of Texas. They said we want you to have cleaner, more efficient government. No they may not have told Martin that, but that's sure what they told us in Texas, and I think that's what Scott Walker heard. So, my point is, he knows what he believes in and he's expressing that, and the voters in Wisconsin, they basically said, this is the person that we want running the state. And, you know, that first amendment, it's a beautiful thing. Uh, and uh, you know, they're out there, expressing their free will, and what have you.
When you've got guys like Rick Perry refusing to defend Walker's plan, you don't need a poll to know how the politics on this one are playing out. Things are bad: for Scott Walker