News from The Associated Press http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TRUMP_2012?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-08-16-15-50-08

Trump also defended Perry’s suggestion Monday that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke would be committing a “treasonous” act if he pumped more money into the economy. “It was a meaningless phrase, it was just rhetorical. He’s very emotional about how the country is doing,”

Trump said of Perry, pushing back on President George W. Bush’s former political director Karl Rove and other Republicans who have criticized Perry’s comment. “Karl Rove is an empty hat,” Trump said. “We ended up with Obama because of Karl Rove and George W. Bush.”

My apologies for even mentioning this asshat, but the whole “treasonous” thing is not meaningless*.

Calling the Fed Chairman a traitor for “printing money” is dumb on so many levels I can’t evem….words fail….I’m going to have to find a PhotoShop.

Regardless, what Perry is doing is VERY SMART politics.  That stock market rally/dump last week?   The main reason is wasn’t completely one-sided was that Bernanke left the door open to QE3.   It probably won’t happen, but it brought some calm to some very dangerous waters.

What Perry is doing is pre-emptively  attacking any move by *anyone* that may do *anything* to improve our economy before 2012 as a partisan political move.   “He’s only helping you find work so it’ll help Obama, that bastard!”

The Republicans are playing a dangerous game here.  Running on a “failed recovery” for 14 months can get tiresome, especially when there is some improvement.   Constantly saying “it’s been raining all summer” when it’s been over 100 degrees for 48 of the last 50 days eventually wear’s thin, one would think.

But as the Idiot Billionaire notes, by that time everyone will have forgotten that it was Bush’s policies, not his personality, that led to financial collapse.  And if they sell it hard enough, Republicans might even convince enough folks that TARP, and the Stimulus, and the bailouts actually *caused* the worst financial crisis in living memory.

You’d be surprised what a catchy slogan and a billion dollars can do to shape a culture’s perception.   Heck, it can even re-write history.

* check that Constitution you love so much, Rick, for that thing you like to do to people so much you don’t really care if they turn out to be innocent after all.   There’s a specific penalty mentioned for that thing you just accused the Fed Chairman of.   You hoping to pull the switch yourself?  Or just hire a buddy to do it on taxpayer dime?

Funny note: From the linked article…

Dozens of studies have shown that witnesses’ memories of events often change when they are supplied with new contextual information. Itiel Dror, a cognitive psychologist who has done extensive research on eyewitness and expert testimony in criminal investigations, told me, “The mind is not a passive machine. Once you believe in something—once you expect something—it changes the way you perceive information and the way your memory recalls it.”

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/09/07/090907fa_fact_grann#ixzz1VFBGPmVy

[ahem..although what one mind finds logical often has more to do with emotion, curiously enough]