I was there.  I saw it.  I lived through it.  I know it’s a damn lie.

When he was asked if he was prepared for the supposed negative ads that Barack Obama is going to run against him, Rick Perry replied ….

“Can I share with you this one little short story?” Perry asked.

He talked about his first actual run for governor, which was in 2002 (he said 2003, though the race was the November before) after he was elevated to the job when George W. Bush left Texas. His rival was Laredo businessman Tony Sanchez.

“My name ID might have been 30 percent if you gave ’em a few hints,” he said. “I ran against an individual who spent we think conservatively $50 million in Texas just on negative ads.”

Rick Perry, who ran ads accusing Tony Sanchez of being a major player in the Mexican drug cartels is pointing his pinky finger at somebody else?  Rick Perry, whose ads against Kay Bailey Hutchison were vicious and bitchy, is saying he doesn’t go negative?

What a damn knucklehead.

But if you want to know the true Rick Perry, take it from my fellow Texan, Paul Begala.  “It takes a lot of balls to execute an innocent man,” is a line you’ll never forget.

Thanks to David for the heads-up.