Evan McMorris-Santoro October 25, 2011, 8:59 AM

Rick Perry is rolling out his flat tax proposal today, a highlight of his campaign that’s supposed to be the first step toward getting the listing governor of Texas back on his feet in the presidential race.

On the other hand, the day could be all about this:

“I’m really not worried about the president’s birth certificate [but] it’s fun to poke at him a little bit and say ‘hey, how about let’s see your grades and your birth certificate.’”

That’s a quote Perry gave CNBC’s John Harwood that aired Tuesday morning on MSNBC. It comes on the heels of a Parade Magazine interview published over the weekend in which Perry said he doesn’t “have any idea” if President Obama’s long-form birth certificate is real.

Perry goes a step farther with Harwood, bringing up the idea of Obama’s college grades — which is a key component of a less-than-subtle birther conspiracy that Obama got into Harvard for reasons, you know, other than his intelligence.

Yesterday, Karl Rove expressed dismay that Perry is going down the birther path. Other Republicans called the topic a “distraction” and one that could prevent the GOP from fighting Obama on the jobs front, where even Rove acknowledges the White House has been doing well lately.

In the interview with Harwood, Perry notes that his college grades have been the subject of press scrutiny and were discovered to be less than impressive.

Watch:

2012, 2012 Presidential Primaries, Birther, Rick Perry