Perry outlines plan to uproot and overhaul D.C.

Looking to save his faltering campaign after a disastrous gaffe that led Republicans to question whether he has the intellectual timber to occupy the White House, Texas Gov. Rick Perry unveiled Tuesday morning a plan to massively overhaul Washington’s ways.

In Iowa, which is in many ways a do-or-die contest for the Texas governor, Perry sought to put down stakes as the most radical change agent in the race, casting his rivals (mainly Mitt Romney) as small-bore, nibble-around-the-edges, managerial types, and casting himself as a massive wrecking ball that would level the political and economic Beltway culture.

“I do not believe Washington needs a new coat of paint, it needs a complete overhaul. We need to uproot, tear down and rebuild Washington, D.C. and our federal institutions,” said Perry, according to prepared remarks. “It is time to tear down the monuments to bureaucratic failure, and in their place build a smaller, more efficient federal government that puts the American People first.”

In his speech Tuesday, Perry called for reforming the federal judiciary by eliminating lifetime appointments, slashing congressional salaries and budgets in half, and for elected officials to spend half their time in their home districts.

In the speech and in a new TV ad, Perry called for jailing any congressman who profits from insider trading, an issue on which a recent 60 Minutes episode focused.

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