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    Perry’s ‘oops’ moment may be the nail in his campaign coffin

    By MuddyPolitics on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 4:43pm |

    Texas Gov. Rick Perry may have squandered any chances he had of returning to front-runner status as the Republican presidential nominee following a gaffe that The Hill reported “could be a campaign ender,” that Politico called “potentially disastrous,” and that New York Magazine’s Jonathan Chait described as “epic brainmelt” in an overall performance that was “so world-historically awful” that his campaign “truly seems beyond all repair.”

     
    For details of the gaffe, let’s go to Politico:
     
    The Rick Perry comeback hit a potentially disastrous snag Wednesday night, as the Texas governor again froze on the debate stage while attempting to list three federal agencies he’d eliminate as president. 

After saying confidently that he’d do away with the Departments of Education and Commerce, Perry struggled through a long, awkward moment that ended with an “oops.” “I would do away with Education, the – Commerce and, let’s see, I can’t,” he said. “The third one, I can’t.” Perry used his next question, several minutes later, to clarify: “By the way, that was the Department of Energy I was reaching for a while ago.” 

But the damage may already have been done for Perry…
     
    That’s it. In this race, where Tea Party talking points are divine prophecy, forgetting which parts of the government you’re going to destroy as president is an automatic disqualification.
     
    This isn’t the only time Perry has stumbled – the jumbles of one-syllable words that Perry spits out as would-be sentences in that charming Texas drawl are as central to his candidacy as Mitt Romney’s flip-flopping – but this time is different.
     
    This time Perry’s word-salad showed that he may not have the core conservative values that Republican voters are looking for in the future leader of the free world: a commitment to eliminating government.
     
    His campaign was quick to go on the defense after the debate with a statement that said:
     
    We’ve all had human moments. President Obama is still trying to find all 57 states. Ronald Reagan got lost somewhere on the Pacific Highway in an answer to a debate question. Gerald Ford ate a tamale without removing the husk. And tonight Rick Perry forgot the third agency he wants to eliminate. Just goes to show there are too damn many federal agencies.
     
    It was a noble effort by his staff to once again provide some cover for the Texas governor, but it appears the media have written him off as unelectable, just as they’ve done to Herman Cain, who’s neck-deep in a front-page news coverage of the half-dozen women who’ve accused him of sexual harassment. Cain is still leading or tied in the polls, despite the scandals and despite the pundits’ views that this will destroy his odds of winning the nomination, but Perry…he crossed a line with a gaffe so detestable, so unforgivable, that he might as well hang up his cowboy hat.
     
    As Chait wrote, “Unless Perry happens to leap in front of a bullet intended for Nancy Reagan, there’s simply nothing he can do to atone for the cumulative damage he has done himself.”

     

    Comments

    I was bearish on Perry long after everyone had given him up for dead, but it's all over now. That was a Howard Dean scream for sure.

    Btw, here's the video for those who haven't seen it:

    And here is a dramatic reinterpretation:


    by Michael Wolraich on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 8:18pm

    Frank Caliendo says it best:

     


     

    Perry thought, hell, I can do that! hahahahah

    It is just that he is so bad at doing Caliendo. ha


    by Richard Day on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 10:21pm

    Caliendo is a riot.


    by AmericanDreamer on Fri, 11/11/2011 - 9:17am