Clinton backs Perry on immigration
Former President Bill Clinton attends the Starkey Hearing Foundation’s ‘So The World May Hear Awards Gala’ 2011 at River Centre on July 24, 2011 in St. Paul, Minnesota. On Thursday, CNN released an video of an interview with Clinton where he discussed his new diet.
Republican presidential candidate and Texas Governor Rick Perry received praise Monday from an unlikely source: former President Bill Clinton.
In an interview with USA Today, Clinton expressed support for a Texas law signed by Perry that grants instate college tuition to illegal immigrants brought to the state as children.
"It makes my skin crawl when they attack Rick Perry for one of the best things he did," Clinton said of the other Republican candidates in the race. "What would they like? …Would they like the kid to stand on a corner and sell dope or something?"
Perry has defended the law, though he has walked back comments he made at a Republican debate in late September, when he said that "[i]f you say that we should not educate children who have come into our state for no reason than they've been brought there, by no fault of their own, I don't think you have a heart," according to The Huffington Post.
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In his interview, Clinton also warned Democrats not to underestimate the Republican candidates.
"It's always a mistake to underestimate your opponent," he told USA Today. "People grow in these campaigns. How many times have you seen somebody get better in the course of an election? And it's also unpredictable what happens."
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