Ron Paul Campaign Attacks Rick Perry, Lists 5 Sins Against Conservatism

The Ron Paul campaign has stepped up its attack against fellow Texan politician and GOP 2012 frontrunner Rick Perry.

The front page of the Ron Paul 2012 Web site contains a link to a scathing open letter against Perry written by Jesse Benton, Paul's campaign chairman.

Benton highlighted two of Perry's past liberal affiliations, including supporting Al Gore and being a former Democrat himself. These associations, however, are not his biggest problems.

Instead, Perry sinned against the Republican Party by supporting ideas inconsistent with how most Republicans understand conservatism, wrote Benton.

Ironically, Perry now tries to swagger [his] way into the Tea Party, he wrote.

Specifically, Benton listed the following infractions:

- Supporting Hillary Clinton's health care plan

- Pushing for federal bailout and stimulus funds

- Supporting welfare for illegal immigrants

- Trying to forcibly vaccinate 12-year-old girls against sexually transmitted diseases by executive order

- Raising taxes twice

Benton also pointed out that state debt doubled under Perry's tenure as governor, pushing Texas to the brink of its constitutional debt limit.

Borrowing a common criticism used by Republicans towards Obama, Benton accused Perry of using great rhetoric but lacking a record to back it up.

Perry's side, meanwhile, has attacked Paul for once leaving the Republican Party to run as a Libertarian candidate in the 1988 presidential elections.

One of Paul's defense to that criticism, which has been frequently lobbed against him in recent years, is that in America's two-party system, it's impossible to be elected President as a third-party candidate.