“I think a lot of people get offended when the media elites try to paint everyone from the South who has a twang to their voice as somehow being racist,” Rick Perry told the Des Moines Register in an interview published last night.

“When my family had the opportunity to paint over that word on the rock, we did it,” Perry added. “I’m very proud of how we have dealt with the issue of racial diversity in the state of Texas, having appointed more qualified minorities than any governor in Texas history, including the first African-American to the Texas Supreme Court. That is a record I am very proud of, and will continue to do that as the president of the United States.”