Perry Continues Push Against Big Government in Online Speech

By OMAR VILLAFRANCA

Updated 8:23 AM CST, Wed, Sep 30, 2009

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Taylor Jones/Getty Images

Gov. Rick Perry stood in front of a big Texas flag and some farm equipment Tuesday morning to talk about his campaign.

"Talkin' Texas" was an online event, streamed live over Perry's campaign Web site. But if you wanted to see it, you had to click a button saying you were a Rick Perry supporter. The speech was under 10 minutes long. (Watch it here if you register with the Web site.)

Twitter was buzzing after some people couldn't log on and see the speech because the site was temporarily overloaded. After the speech, Perry's campaign spokesman Mark Miner, issued this statement, “Today’s ‘Talkin' Texas’ webcast by Gov. Perry was deliberately interrupted by a denial-of-service attack, preventing countless users from logging in to view the Governor’s remarks. This planned and coordinated attack was political sabotage, and we are working to identify those responsible for this illegal activity. Before the attack was initiated, more than 22,000 users were able to log in and view Gov. Perry’s complete remarks, which will be distributed shortly.”

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's campaign fired back. Jennifer Baker, a spokesperson for Texans for Kay said, "what an embarrassing campaign launch. I'm sure the Governor is hacked, but we are skeptical their site was. After all, Rick Perry isn't exactly a stranger when it comes to arrogantly blaming others for his mistakes."

But when it came to the meat of the speech, Perry kept his familiar mantra: the federal government is bad.

In a jab at his GOP primary rival Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Perry said that the biggest threat to Texas is an overreaching federal government, which Perry said will hurt small businesses and the Texas economy.

"Washington has been an abysmal failure when it comes to the workplace," Perry said.

Perry also admitted that Texas was being effected by the global economic crisis, but said that "Texas is exerting a magnetic pull on jobs."

Perry did touch on illegal immigration during the short speech, telling viewers he wants to protect Texas jobs and keep them for people who are here legally. Perry said he'd support criminal penalties for businesses that hire illegal workers.