So he did:
Rick Perry doubled down on his religion-based attack of President Barack Obama Wednesday, saying the president was preventing students from celebrating Christmas in schools. But just last year, Perry issued a holiday statement as governor of Texas that omits any mention of the Christian holiday.
In an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Perry said Obama and the political left were waging a “war on religious traditions,” including preventing students from praying in schools and having Christmas parties.
“What we’re seeing from the left, of which I would suggest to you, President Obama is a member of the left and substantial left-of-center beliefs, that you can’t even have a Christmas party. You can’t say a prayer at school,” Perry said in an interview airing on CNN’s “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.”
But in a holiday statement to troops issued by his office on Dec. 22, 2010 and posted on the governor’s website, Perry fails to mention Christmas at all, sticking instead to more general terms like “holiday season.”
Read the release yourself. No mention of Christmas or the Christmas season anywhere. Let’s contrast that with Obama’s statement when he lit the National Christmas Tree:
“More than 2,000 years ago, a child was born to two faithful travelers who could find rest only in a stable, among the cattle and the sheep. Christ’s birth made the angels rejoice and attracted shepherds and kings from afar. He was a manifestation of God’s love for us…
And this holiday season, let us reaffirm our commitment to each other, as family members, as neighbors, as Americans, regardless of our color or creed or faith. Let us remember that we are one, and we are a family.
So on behalf of Malia and Sasha and Michelle and our grandmother-in-chief, Marian — I wish you all the happiest holiday season, the merriest of Christmases. God bless you all, and may God bless the United States of America.”
Huh. Funny that - Obama seems to be a little more into Christmas than Perry suggests. I’m so shocked.
(h/t to S.P. on Facebook for leading me to the CNN article and cracking the “Scumbag Perry” joke.)
