Mitt Romney: Rick Perry Hunting Camp Name 'Offensive'

WASHINGTON — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is criticizing rival Rick Perry for what he calls "offensive" language in the name of a Texas hunting camp his family once leased.

Romney told Sean Hannity's radio show Monday that he found the camp's name, "Niggerhead," inappropriate and said called on Perry to address it. The same day, the White House communicated a similar message on the matter, characterizing the name as "clearly offensive."

Perry's campaign has said Perry's father painted over a rock with the camp's name soon after he began leasing the site in the early 1980s. The campaign says the Texas governor and his family never controlled, owned or managed the property.

The Washington Post reported Sunday that the origins of the name were unclear and there was no definitive account for when and how the name first appeared on rock at property's gate. But it hasn't spared Perry criticism.

Comments

[mbbarfoot]

10:52 PM on 10/08/2011

Why is there no picture of the rock in question? It must be as hard to find as a birth certificate in Hawaii!

[seanny53]

10:30 AM on 10/04/2011

Is Romney playing the race card, or does that only apply to black people?

[boston996]

10:21 AM on 10/04/2011

I am not defending Perry. But, how is this a story?
It happened in the 80's, and the rock was painted over in the 80's.

[IWantTofu]

01:22 PM on 10/04/2011

Yes you are defending Perry.

[Stephen Stafford]

09:47 AM on 10/04/2011

Let us do some imagining. All now wonder what kind of family buys a camp named Niggerhead. What kind of community just accepts that is the camp's name?

When this was breaking I was not attending to the news, so I may have missed this. Usually, when there is some sort of wretchedness involving a locale, people of that community rise up to say there are good people in our midst, don't let the madness fool you. You would think Paint Creek would, well, be more sensitive to issues of paint, or they might as well change their name to Dry brush.

[boston996]

10:23 AM on 10/04/2011

I agree with you, not the best choice of names. But, read the story, the rock was painted over almost 30 years ago.

[Stephen Stafford]

11:43 AM on 10/04/2011

If I hear you correctly, you find it to be a mitigating factor, or leavening condition, that Rick Perry's family removed the painting on the rock spelling out the name Niggerhead, at the entrance to the camp they owned, in 1983.

I can tell you something about the olden days, some thirty years ago. There is no place in America where Niggerhead could be painted on entrance and not be noticed. To come from a place where Niggerhead is painted, everyone sees it and knows the place by name, is to have lived in an unusually hostile environment, alien to the core of American ideals and values. In 1983, there should not have been a place in America where any form on the n-expression should have been thought of or visible.

[AlwaysRight213]

09:22 AM on 10/04/2011

1980? Isn't that the year The Democrat controlled Senate elected "Clansman" The Grand Exalted Cyclops Robert Byrd as their Majority Leader?

[MyDawg1967]

09:05 AM on 10/04/2011

I'd wager Romney was for this offensive language before he was against it, wait for it.

[whatushouldvedone]

08:00 PM on 10/04/2011

And probably still is, though under cover, just as many democrats are...
The N word wasn't use by just some whites, but by all...

And is still very much in place today!

[jmvic123exit]

08:44 AM on 10/04/2011

PICTURE OF THAT ROCK worth a thousand words or big bucks

[wvchip]

08:41 AM on 10/04/2011

He is right about one thing: how much money he brings in from contributors. Google "contributors to Ron Perry" to see the huge numbers. No wonder he is oblivious to criticism. He makes your congressman look like an amatuer. Big money definitely makes them feel above the crowd.

[dmsdzinr]

08:40 AM on 10/04/2011

I do believe that Jimmy Rick Perry has just reached his "macaca" moment. Buh-Bye Jimmy!

[ruthtruth]

08:37 AM on 10/04/2011

This is just a symptom of the mindset on the right. While they deny that race plays any part in the minds of the TP/GOP, has anyone remembered when there has been such a focused campaign to get rid of a President? I have never, in my 60 years on earth, seen a whole political party put one objective in front of doing anything positive to get this country going again. Does the color of Obama's skin have anything to do with it. Of course and only a fool would think otherwise.

[Mark2100]

08:25 AM on 10/04/2011

This show what kind of President he would make - wait three days to see what everyone else thinks, then make a statement.

[1010TRAVIS]

07:01 AM on 10/04/2011

When he went from the democrat party to the republican party....he changed it. Just like he was supposed to.

[seanny53]

10:33 AM on 10/04/2011

When was Romney a Democrat? He was an independent who became Republican, but that's all I find.

[rltballer]

06:39 AM on 10/04/2011

All of the gop candidates are bigots. They all are ok discriminating against gay men and women. Does not surprise me racism issue is coming out.

[SteveDenver]

05:51 AM on 10/04/2011

The sad thing is that 50% of Perry's supporters don't understand this controversy.

[let them eatcake]

05:00 AM on 10/04/2011

Astonishing he is still in the race. Any other civilized nation would have tossed him aside as a serious choice for presidential candidate. They have to know he would be destroyed in a general election. Well, Rick. Youre on the big stage now. You gotta think these things out a little more carefully. 88% of the voters arent white gun toting, lone star flag waving, cowboy boot wearing republicans.

[mendelcrosses]

08:49 AM on 10/04/2011

Come on,dude,we are talking about a country that describes Sarah Palin as one of the best foreign policy experst they have ever seen.