Although the presence of Texas Gov. Rick Perry in the Republican presidential primary may be looked upon warmly in the press these days, don’t expect that to last. Speaking with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews on Tuesday, populist author and Texas Observer contributor Jim Hightower cautioned that there’s a “very ugly side” to Perry that won’t be relatively unknown for long.

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“They say the higher the monkey climbs, the more you see its ugly side,” Hightower said. “Well, Perry’s got a very ugly side. He’s going to get the kind of media scrutiny that he’s not had.”

“Republicans get a two’fer with him. One, they get one of the furthest-out of the far-out tea party right-wingers, sort of a Michele Bachmann with better hair. And also though, they get the real Perry, which is the exuberant, corporate Republican who never met a corporate lobbyist he wouldn’t hug as long as that lobbyist had a campaign check and a wish list.

“He really is kind of a George Bush plutocrat without the intelligence or the ethics. That’s the real Perry, is really going to be the corporate Perry. That’s the kind of governorship he has run.”

This video is from MSNBC, broadcast Tuesday, August 16, 2011.