Republican communications consultant Matt Mackowiak lately has been Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s biggest supporter, but that wasn’t always the case, and his GOP colleagues are ticked.
Mackowiak, a former flack for Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), wrote several Huffington Post pieces blasting Perry and supporting Hutchison. Hutchison’s campaign never employed Mackowiak, though it did benefit from his attacks on the Texas governor.
“Perry’s unyielding attacks on all things Washington may be politically popular, but in truth his rhetoric stands in stark contrast to his record,” Mackowiak wrote in the Huffington Post in August 2009. Later that year, Mackowiak accused Perry of political hypocrisy again. “It’s important to not just watch what Gov. Rick Perry’s says, but what he does,” he wrote.
Things have changed. Recently, Mackowiak has been speaking out in strong support of Perry’s potential presidential bid. “Rick Perry is the strongest candidate to beat Mitt Romney to become the [Republican presidential] nominee,” Mackowiak said on Andrea Mitchell’s show Tuesday.
“The man, moment and the opportunity have converged,” he wrote last week in the National Review online.
The GOP communications community is fuming about the Mackowiak flip-flop. “This is precisely why Matt has little to no credibility,” a senior Republican aide tells HOH.
“I spent 11 months living in Waco last year on a Congressional campaign,” Mackowiak says. “I got to know the governor and his positions better. I’m not convinced that there is anyone else in the field that can beat President [Barack] Obama.”
Rep. Bill Cassidy has his blood drawn by Alesha Barbour during a free hepatitis screening in the Rayburn House Office Building hosted by the Congressional Viral Hepatitis Caucus to recognize "National Viral Hepatitis Testing Day."
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