DUBUQUE, Iowa – Gov. Rick Perry did not back down Tuesday, but he did not repeat his suggestion that the monetary policies of the Federal Reserve were potentially "treasonous" and could warrant "ugly" treatment should the chairman, Ben Bernanke, ever visit Texas.

"Printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history is almost treacherous – or treasonous in my opinion," Perry said Monday, taking a voter's question about the Fed and criticizing the possibility of the central bank's taking further steps between now and the election to keep interest rates low.

He added, "I don't know what y'all would do to him in Iowa, but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas."

The comments came at the end of a freewheeling and unscripted day of introducing himself to voters and highlighted Perry's penchant for provocative, hard-edged campaigning of the sort that speaks to certain conservatives even as it raises hackles elsewhere.

A video of the remarks quickly circulated, prompting a round of recriminations not just from Democrats but from some Republicans – a reminder of the old tensions between Perry and top advisers to former President George W. Bush.

Karl Rove, a longtime adviser to Bush, went on Fox News to declare, "You don't accuse the chairman of the Federal Reserve of being a traitor to his country, of being guilty of treason and suggesting that we treat him pretty ugly in Texas."

Lawrence H. Summers, Treasury secretary in the Clinton administration and a former top economic adviser to President Barack Obama, said, "This may be the least responsible statement in the modern history of president politics. ... The economic thinking is primitive, the mention of treason is outrageous and the intimation of violence is abhorrent."

The dust-up underscored the challenge facing Perry as he makes the transition from Texas governor to presidential candidate, where every phrase is parsed and ripe for criticism.

"Look, I'm just passionate about the issue," Perry said, as aides hustled him away from a lunch with business leaders in Dubuque. "We stand by what we said."

Perry did not directly name Bernanke, who was first appointed by Bush and reappointed by Obama, but he left no doubt that he was aiming his criticism squarely at Bernanke.

The president, on the second day of a Midwestern bus tour, passed on the chance to criticize Perry, telling Wolf Blitzer of CNN: "I'll cut him some slack. He's only been at it for a few days now."

While advisers to Perry sought to brush aside the matter, a new air of discipline surrounded him Tuesday. As he visited a roofing company in Cedar Rapids and a business luncheon in Dubuque, he kept his criticism confined to Obama's handling of the economy.

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