Gets creepier the more you get to know him (rickperry.org)
Sigh. All right, let's make this quick.
Salon:
A 1998 voting guide published by a leading neo-Confederate group and obtained by Salon not only endorses Perry for lieutenant governor but also describes him as "a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans." Perry's office did not respond to a request for comment about the governor's possible membership in the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
Ray Wainner, Texas division adjutant at the Sons of Confederate Veterans, told me that Perry's name did not appear in the group's membership records -- but that they only go back to 2001. The national office of the Sons of Confederate Veterans did not immediately respond to a request for comment. And Perry's office did not respond to a request for comment.
Wait ... Perry's office can't say whether or not he has been a member of a neo-Confederate movement glorifying secession? You can't just verify that one in, say, 10 seconds? I have to say, if someone asked me whether I was a member of a racist-enabling group waving Confederate flags around, I could pretty much answer that one off the top of my head.
Perry has recently made quite the national name for himself with his secessionist rhetoric, and is contemplating even turning it into, O irony of ironies, a bid for the presidency. But a card-carrying secessionist? Now that would be impressive fodder for the ol' presidential resumé.
So Gov. Perry: if you could just quickly check your wallet and get back to us on this one, that'd be super. Thanks.
7:04 PM PT: Salon has updated with this: Perry spokeswoman Catherine Frazier issues this denial: "[T]he governor never joined that group nor has he ever paid any dues to it." So now we can get back to just making fun of him over his other secession issues.
