Well, Rick Perry surprised me. I thought even Perry would have to realize that his statement implying Fed chairman Ben Bernanke should be lynched went way too far, and that he’d walk it back with one of the standard political non-denial denials.

Instead, Rick Perry’s campaign issued an official “clarification” … and didn’t disavow the implied threat of violence.

I asked Rick Perry’s spokesman if the campaign is offering clarification of his widely discussed suggestion yesterday that Texas would offer some “real ugly” frontier justice to Fed chairman Ben Bernanke if he were to print money between now and election day.

The spokesman, Mark Miner, emailed me this:

The Governor was expressing his frustration with the current economic situation and the out of control spending that persists in Washington. Most Americans would agree that spending more money is not the answer to the economic issues facing the country.

The important thing here is that this is the Perry camp’s official considered response — and he is not disavowing the implied threat in his original remarks. Instead, the campaign’s position seems to be that this was a legitimate expression of “frustration” with runaway Washington spending — one that other Americans surely share.