#RickPerryIndicted updates — no sympathy from the #TeaParty

Working off the good new column by Jonathan Tilove at the Statesman, here's the basics:

1. The Tea Partiers, as I expected and predicted in my original post, have little love lost for the Trickster. Read this, from JoAnn Fleming, chair of the Texas Legislature's Tea Party Caucus Advisory Committee, starting here:

(W)e can say there is a basis for raising the questions, and it centers on the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT). …
 Proper oversight was missing from CPRIT from the very beginning. With Republicans in charge of all statewide offices and both the House and Senate, this lack of oversight can hardly be laid at the feet of Democrats.

Why This Matters: A scathing January 2013 CPRIT audit report released by State Auditor John Keel cited a weak evaluation process for grant applications, poor verification of compliance with funding agreements, and lack of controls on spending. 

Well put. The TP folks are still claiming there's a political angle, but not that it's the primary one.

2. Ricky's got a new PAC. Coincidence? Tilove isn't certain:

(This) makes you wonder whether this whole indictment, Wag the Dog style, was cooked up by Perry's image consultants to grab the national spotlight, put "oops" in the past, improve his numbers and maybe even get a little street cred in an era when hip hop artists virtually schedule prison stints to up their game.

Wouldn't surprise me. 

3. The basically non-partisan Wayne Slater also shoots down the "raw deal" narrative.

Result? Well, some national blatherers are walking back some of their stupidity. Like David Axelrod. Tilove snarkily wonders if he mixed up Perry and Rod Blagojevich.