Last night Perry had no answer.
And you thought Rick Perry couldn’t get any worse. You thought his awkward, stumbling, bumbling debate performances in September and October were pretty bad. They were the primary reason for his rapid decline in the GOP Presidential nomination polls. And then…there was last night when Perry pulls off a gaffe of such historical proportions that it will be played again and again on tv and the internet as long as they have Presidential debates.
Remember Lloyd Benson‘s bitch slap of the weak and smallish looking Dan Quayle in the 1988 Vice Presidential debates? Quayle’s image and reputation never recovered. Do you remember Ronald Reagan dismissing Jimmy Carter so easily and classically dismissing the President, Jimmy Carter, in a 1980 debate by simply saying, “There you go again”. My favorite is when Reagan was debating Mondale in 1984 and he dissed Mondale’s age and inexperience when the question to him was about his advanced years. It was brilliant.
Last night’s Perry blow-up may not rise to the level of those and other memorable debate moments for the simple reason that last nights was just a party primary debate two months primary to the first official vote being cast and because Perry is soon to become an afterthought in the Presidential Primary elections of 2012. If you didn’t see it Perry was enunciating his own economic plan and listing the three Federal Government cabinet level offices he was intending to eliminate. He quickly named Education, and Commerce then blanked completely on the third. He hemmed and hawed for a few minutes. He plaintively looked at Ron Paul, seemingly for assistance. Then finally gave up. The moderator was proper and incredulous in asking him “You can’t remember the three offices you want to close?” (Or words to that effect); and after feebly trying to come up with it one more time Perry admitted, “No I can’t. I’m Sorry. Oops”.
Three months ago I was eager for the man who had led Texas for over ten years and presided over the largest job growth amongst the states during the course of our deep recession to come into the Republican Presidential race. Now, I can’t imagine voting for him. It disappoints me because the list of who I would consider voting for is quickly diminishing.
I won’t vote for Bachmann, Cain, or Paul because they are either unqualified, nutty, or both. Rick Santorum couldn’t even win his latest election in his own state of Pennsylvania; besides he is seemingly so snotty. That leaves Romney, Huntsman, Gingrich and Perry. Ahh….Perry? No. That leaves Romney, Gingrich and Huntsman. Jon Huntsman isn’t going anywhere. Though I do believe he deserve consideration. He’s accomplished, knowledgable, and likable in many ways. I don’t understand why he is absolutely dead in the polls. Gingrich is GREAT! Yes I believe he is great. He’s utterly brilliant. I believe in most of his policies. And he’ll probably get my vote. But he has so much baggage, real dark and dirty baggage too? Personal stuff that is quite unattractive. But I guess he’s gonna get my vote because Romney says and does all the right things, NOW. But he seems to be too much the Republican version of Bill Clinton. Too slick, too wishy washy. I can’t trust him.
Still it’s very, very early and Perry has a fine record as Governor so I’m hoping he can somehow redeem himself. I leave room for having my mind changed again.
Thanks for visiting. Comments are welcome.
M Schuett blah blah blah 