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There’s some question whether, as a presidential candidate, Rick Perry would present himself more as a Tea Party fighter or a level-headed Establishment Man. (The trick, of course, is to straddle the two worlds, but it’s not easy.) In his comments on Wednesday about the debt limit sumo wrestling match underway in Washington, Perry was gushing hot Tea:

Gov. Rick Perry said he isn’t worried that a failure to increase the nation’s borrowing authority would trigger the kind of economic catastrophe that federal officials, ratings agencies and many economists have warned would occur if the debt ceiling isn’t raised. “There’s still gonna be revenues flowing in, so I think this threat that somehow or another the world is going to come to an end and the threat of ‘We’re not going to be able to pay our bills’ is a bit of a stretch,” Perry told reporters in Houston. “Most Americans know this: We’ve spent too much money. We’ve gotten our house in bad shape, and we need to stop spending.”

Fewer and fewer Republicans are hewing to this position — it’s incorrect, explains John McCain’s former top economic adviser — but Perry, who supports the House conservative “Cut, Cap and Balance” bill, is holding a hard line.