Rick Perry visited On The Record last night (1/2/12) where host Greta Van Susteren asked pretty good, tough questions. One unintentionally hilarious exchange occurred when Van Susteren challenged Perry about an attack ad that asked about his “friend,” Rick Santorum, “Why are these pigs so happy?”

Perry gave Van Susteren the opening she was probably waiting for (judging from the fact that she had a clip of the ad ready to go) when he said, “My friend, Rick Santorum… champion of earmarks… raised the debt ceiling eight times while he was in the United States Senate.”

Van Susteren said, “It’s sort of curious. You say, ‘your friend, Rick Santorum,’” She showed a clip from the ad which unmistakably drew an inference to Santorum as a pig. “I don’t make reference to pigs about friends,” Van Susteren continued, pointedly. It’s worth noting that Santorum is a former Fox News contributor and has been a frequent guest on On The Record.

Perry said that Santorum is both a friend and competitor. “I don’t have a problem at all (with the ad).” As Van Susteren continued to express skepticism, he added, “In Iowa, they love pigs. In Iowa, they love pigs. I love Iowa pork, I don’t like Washington pork.”

Some defense!

Van Susteren wasn’t buying that either. She pointed out that while Perry has been governor, Texas got $3.4 billion in pork. “So it must not have been too bad for you.”

Perry said, "That’s our tax dollars that went up there and for us not to try to get that money back into the State of Texas, now that would have been irresponsible.” He said, “Earmarks are dead when I come in… It’s just not gonna happen… Those (who) defend earmarks are part of the problem.”