Perry touts jobs record to Iowa crowd, hammers Obama on food stamps

Des Moines Register:

Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry said in Iowa tonight that he doesn’t mean to brag, but that his jobs record as governor of Texas is evidence he can help the national economy.

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Since he’s been governor, Texas has created more than 1 million jobs while rest of country lost 2.5 million, he said.

“The difference is, we weren’t riding an American wave of prosperity. We were swimming against the current. The point is not to brag, the point is to say as a nation we can, we must, do better and when I’m president we will.”

Perry said under President Barack Obama, one in eight Iowans are now on food stamps.

“That is a testament to the widespread misery created by this administration, that the state known for feeding the world has so many residents now dependent on their government just to pay for food.”

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The food stamp argument is a new one. The jobs argument is not new, but it addresses an argument made against him, that Texas was already creating jobs when he took office.

This is Perry's second trip to Iowa. Some of the corn farmers are upset with him for saying that ethanol needs to compete with the market without subsidies. Ron Paul and Thaddeus McCotter also attended the event.