Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, others unfit to change Washington, Perry charges

WASHINGTON, Iowa -- As the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses loom closer, Texas Gov. Rick Perry continued to attack his rivals who served in Congress as insiders unfit to change Washington.

"The fox guarding the henhouse is like asking a Congressman to fix Washington: bad idea. Their years in Congress left us with debt, bailouts," says a narrator in a new televsion ad to air in Iowa. It was not clear how often the ad, called "Fox," would run.

"Congressmen get paid $174,000 a year. We get the bill. We need a solution," the narrator intones against a background of cartoons.

Perry then appears onscreen in the form of footage from the most recent Republican debate in Sioux City.

"That's the reason I've called for a part-time Congress. Cut their pay in half, cut their time in Washington in half, cut their staff in half, send them home. Let them get a job like everybody else back home has," he says, before signing off with an approval of the message.

The ad does not name or picture his rivals, but Perry communications director Ray Sullivan left no ambiguity in a statement accompanying the ad.

"Senator Santorum, Congressmen Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich and Congresswoman Michele Bachmann have long backed congressional earmarks and pork. Expecting them to overhaul Washington is asking a fox to guard the henhouse," Sullivan said. "Rick Perry never served in Washington and has strongest, most credible plan to overhaul Washington by creating a part-time Congress and cutting their pay, staff, and meeting time in half."

Perry's calls for a part-time Congress are a staple of his Iowa stump speech and a line that typically receives hearty applause from his audiences. He has released other ads in the state with the same message.