Posted on 11/09/2011 8:50:24 PM PST by This Just In
Why Rick Perry's Brain Freeze Matters
By W. James Antle, III on 11.9.11 @ 10:49PM
Everybody has at some point lost their train of thought. I've set out to make multiple points on television and forgotten one, or forgotten if I had run through them all, before myself. So on one level, Rick Perry's inability to remember the third federal agency he would eliminate is simply part of being human.
Unfortunately, it also seems to be a big part of what it means to be candidate Rick Perry. There are small debate gaffes that seem to sum up what's wrong with an entire campaign -- Bob Dole's "Democrat wars" line in 1976, George Bush looking at his watch in 1992, Al Gore sighing prissily and behaving like a lunatic in 2000. This is one of them.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
That is just scary...we can’t have that in a debate against Obama...the press would destroy him and paint him as 5 times the dunce the painted Bush......
I love the way Perry is able to laugh at himself and that he is human. Makes all the others appear so robotic.
Perry is not the candidate of “D’Oh!”
He’s the candidate of Hell “D’Oh!”
I couldn’t think of 3 government agencies I wouldn’t cut or abolish. lol.
“Makes all the others appear so robotic.”
Or more capable of debating other presidential candidates, and fielding questions they should know the answers to.
Of course it matters. Perry is finished. He needs to drop out gracefully over the next week or two.
lol
Look Perry just can’t go the full distance in debates. So he goes for a good 5 or 6 innings, tires and then send in his relief debator.
Just send in his wife Anita in the closer role. Use the Clinton line—you get two for one if Perry wins the presidency. Voila...
Well it’s a good thing you’re not running for president. :^)
he shouldn’t stretch it out. Don’t go “gracefully” (as a one-legged blind penguin in the glassware department likely), just go.
It’s not like Perry was asked the name of the second assistant to the undersecretary for contraception of Zimbabwe...it was his own point that he could not remember!
If he truly believed in what he was saying, it would flow naturally from his heart, instead of a sub-optimally memorized list of debating points.
This is the top tier?
Jump.
Rick had obviously spent long hours working on questions and the appropriate responses. Sadly, tonight he displayed symptoms of a neurological problem, not just a momentary memory lapse. When you combine his speech patterns and deer-in-the-headlights moments with this latest ‘brain freeze’, I’m afraid Mrs. Perry needs to take Rick home and enjoy what time they have left together. He is a nice amn, and he means well, but he is not well, IMHO. The stress is not good for him at this stage in whatever is wrong.
Good grief. It’s Perry’s record as governor that I like not whether or not he’s silver-tongued and slick like that weasel Obama.
Unfortunately, our idiot electorate mistakes campaigning like a scripted movie star with substance. Perry is actually very good on federalism, spending, energy, taxes, and a host of other issues and knows how to get things done. Nevertheless, the situation is what it is. Now we are stuck. Flakey Newt, 2 candidates who just don’t have the wattage, a man who is far too principled and partly wrong about foreign policy, and one who is damaged because of a well orchestrated smear campaign. This is a mess.
Cain is probably the best of what is left.
I’m curious, Knowing the structure of the Texas Legislature what pray tell has Perry done, except like GWB, get the hell out of the way? Our LT. Gov has more power than him.
If it was just a one debate - goof, that would be understandable. But looking back to debate 3, I see a pattern.
Perry -
“I think Americans just don’t know sometimes which Mitt Romney they’re dealing with. Is it the Mitt Romney that was on the side of — against the Second Amendment before he was for the Second Amendment? Was it — was before — he was before the social programs from the standpoint of — he was for standing up for Roe versus Wade before he was against first — Roe versus Wade? Him — he was for Race to the Top. He’s for Obamacare and now he’s against it. I mean, we’ll wait until tomorrow and — and — and see which Mitt Romney we’re really talking to tonight.”
Welcome to Free Republic.
I understand your point, and our central focus are our candidates platform and public record. The concerns surrounding Rick Perry’s performance are legitimate. Antle rightly recognizes the fact that if Perry were to be the presidential nominee, his debating Obama would be a disaster. Again, the author here is not focusing on one gaffe. As he pointed out, Perry doesn’t possess the gift of gab, if you will, and his public debates are a perfect example of these facts.
Also, if Perry can’t consistently think on his feet, how can he lead the free world? Furthermore, Perry was answering a question to an issue he introduced himself. Even Mr. Perry acknowledges this serious blunder.
The question isn’t whether or not a candidate misspoke. The question is whether or not the mistake is a symptom of a deeper problem.
“”I love the way Perry is able to laugh at himself and that he is human.””
Watch the video again, after the little laugh, he continued to struggle, with his demeanor going from a tough talking cowpoke, to someone cornered, looking towards Romney for mercy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6an4zSj8LhU
Texas Toast.
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