Obama’s Team Continues to Claim Rick Perry Has Secessionist Sentiments

In an interview with Savannah Guthrie on Meet The Press Sunday morning former White House press secretary and current Obama For America campaign advisor Robert Gibbs once again alluded to the notion of Texas Gov. Rick Perry having secessionist sentiments. An assertion that was already categorically invalidated before Gibbs spoke of it for the second time in six days, and an assertion The Blaze took to task before, too.

"Rick Perry is the governor who two years ago openly talked about whether Texas should leave the union. I think for Rick Perry to have at one point talked about secession from the union as early as 2005, I think it's good that he's professed his love for his country."

On Tuesday, the Alabama-raised senior Democratic press operative expressed similar opinions that Gov. Perry, who served in Europe, South America, and the Middle East as a pilot in the U.S. Air Force, must have had a "remarkable turnaround" since 2009 and just now "this campaign has caused him to profess his love for the United States."

Current White House Press Secretary Jay Carney first implied that Perry "wanted to secede from the union" before his predecessor floated the notion twice. On the same day Gibbs made his first claim relating to Perry ever wanting to lead Texas out of the union, Pulitzer Prize-winning PolitiFact.com determined the notion to be false:

"We rated Perry’s recap of his 2009 remarks Mostly True because he didn’t acknowledge in the later interview either his position that Texas has the right to secede or his initial speculation about 'who knows what may come' from people angry about actions in Washington.

Also, in June 2010, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Bill White said Perry had threatened to secede, a claim we rated False.

Via the Nexis search tool, we found 169 major newspaper articles as of that time linking Perry and secession. But none quoted Perry threatening to push for secession, though critics and comedians framed his words in that way.

Our conclusion was that in a politically theatrical moment, Perry stated an old (and factually incorrect) claim that Texas retains the right to leave the union. That is not the same as his saying giddyap, I want to leave. Perry didn’t call for secession then and hasn’t since.

We rate Carney’s statement False."

From Ed Schultz's Black Cloud to Chris Matthews' Perry/Bull Connor comparison to a story linking the Obama campaign planning to portray Mormon candidate Mitt Romney as "weird," some commentators have expressed frustration that it seems that the left has gotten away with race-baiting and prejudice campaigning in this early primary season with nothing more than a few half-hearted apologies. The Washington Examiner's Timothy P. Carney writes on the perceived double standard:

"Liberals commonly charge conservative politicians with employing racial 'dog-whistle politics': speaking in code to excite white racism while maintaining plausible deniability.

Dog whistles are real -- and Republicans do employ them -- but Carney, Gibbs and Rangel sure look like they are blowing on a dog whistle of their own. Team Obama talks about Perry and birth certificates, secession, and slavery, setting the tone without having to actually charge racism -- they leave that up to the talking heads who hear the whistle."

It's been two and a half long years since the inauguration of "Hope," "Change," and "Yes We Can." Do you think this administration has brought out the political and social transformation which many voters were sold on in 2008?

Or just the worst in American politics.