Rick Perry stands by Bernanke remarks despite criticism

Rick Perry is not backing down from his threatening remarks about Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, despite being denounced by both the White House and high-profile Republicans.

Perry, the Texan governor who has become a leading Republican presidential candidate since entering the race Saturday, said it would be “almost treasonous” for Bernanke to print more cash ahead of the 2012 presidential election.

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Despite the backlash that followed, Perry told CNN he was standing by his comments and insists he is “just passionate about the issue.”

Karl Rove, a former strategist to President George W. Bush who has also advised Perry in the past, said on Fox News that Perry’s comments were "not a presidential statement.”

“You don't want to accuse the Federal Reserve chairman of being guilty of a crime punishable by death, which is what treason is,” Rove said.

The White House responded to Perry's remarks by saying it is important for the Fed to remain independent.

"I certainly think threatening the Fed chairman is not a good idea," White House spokesman Jay Carney said in Iowa, where Obama was on a campaign-style bus tour, according to Reuters.

Perry has a double-digit lead over former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, according to a poll released Tuesday, CBS News says.

Rasmussen Reports showed Perry with 29 percent support from likely Republican primary voters. Romney came in second with 18 percent, while Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann placed third with 13 percent.

Bachmann also waded into the economic debate this week with an attack on Warren Buffett’s call in the New York Times for the rich to pay higher taxes, ABC News reports.

“We also believe, unlike Warren Buffett, that taxes are high enough already,” Bachmann told supporters at a campaign event in South Carolina.

“I have a suggestion. Mr. Buffett, write a big check today," said Bachmann, who supports lower tax rates for wealthy Americans. "There’s nothing you have to wait for.”

Perry, who many consider a frontrunner for the Republican nomination for the White House in 2012, is known for his blunt statements, the BBC says.

Last year, he described the devastating oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico as "an act of God.” In 2009, he suggested that Texans were so fed up with federal tax policies that they might consider secession from the United States.

"If this guy prints more money between now and the election, I dunno what y'all would do to him in Iowa but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas. Printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history is almost treasonous in my opinion," Perry said Monday when asked about his views on the Federal Reserve.

Under Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve has embarked on a strategy of quantitative easing and there has been speculation that he could announce a third round.