TPM2012

Rick Perry And Wife Agree: They’ve Been ‘Brutalized’ Because Of Their Faith (VIDEO)

Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) introduces his wife, Anita Perry, at a campaign stop in Corona Del Mar, CA, on September 8, 2011.

Speaking at North Greenville University in South Carolina on Thursday, Anita Perry, the wife of GOP candidate Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX), admitted “it’s been a rough month” for her husband’s campaign. “We’ve been brutalized and eaten up and chewed up in the press,” she said.

“It is a comfort to know that I am in this place where I can feel the presence of God. We are being brutalized by our opponents, and our own party,” she said. “So much of that is, I think they look at him because of his faith.”

In a 15-minute speech filled with Biblical references, Perry spoke at length about how God has called her husband and other “true conservatives” to run. At points, she was clearly emotional as she reminisced with the audience about her grandfather who she said still speaks to her through hymns.

“We still feel called to do this,” Anita Perry said. “We didn’t have to do this. We are doing this because we want to do this. Because we want to save our children…we are fighting for the soul of our country.”

Speaking on Friday to ABC News, Perry said, “I stand by my wife.”

“My understanding is that she said I’m the most conservative candidate in the race and ‘he’s a Christian.’ So I haven’t got anything I can add to that and she’s hit me on my mark both times there,” the candidate told Good Morning America.

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