It’s been another bad week for Rick Perry and it just got worse.
The GOP presidential candidate is still struggling to remember which Cabinet-level government agencies he would like to eliminate if elected. Perry was asked about it today during a radio interview with Bill Edwards on WTKS in Savannah, Georgia.
“Three right off the bat, you know, Commerce, Interior and Energy, are three that you think,” Perry said. Oops!
Perry had previously suggested that he would eliminate the Department of Education, not the Department of the Interior.
During a Republican debate in Michigan two months ago, Perry famously could not remember all three agencies he would eliminate.
“I will tell you, it is three agencies of government when I get there that are gone. Commerce, Education and the — what’s the third one there? Let’s see,” Perry said.
As other candidates threw out suggestions in an attempt to help Perry, he continued to struggle, prompting moderator John Hardwood to ask if he genuinely couldn’t remember the third agency.
“I can’t. The third one, I can’t. Sorry. Oops,” Perry said.
Friday’s gaffe concludes what has been a long week for the Texas governor. On Monday, he was featured in our Psycho Talk segment for suggesting that we should re-invade Iraq (sorry, “Eye-Rack”), during Saturday’s debate in Manchester.
“We have more evidence Rick Perry is just a younger, crazier version of George W. Bush,” Ed said.
On Tuesday, Perry finished a distant sixth place in the GOP presidential primary in New Hampshire with only 0.71% of the vote. This, despite participating in two debates in New Hampshire over the previous weekend.
Then on the stump, Perry had to drop the phrase “vulture” capitalism in his attacks on Mitt Romney’s record at Bain Capital. One of his key financial backers, Barry Wynn, even switched from backing Perry to Romney. But the worst news of all may have come from the pollstars in South Carolina. They show the native Southerner, now in his third-term as governor, battling former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman for fifth place. Indeed, one poll shows him 1.5% behind Huntsman. And yet another poll, by the Democratic polling firm Public Policy Polling, had late-night talk show host Stephen Colbert in sixth place just two points behind Perry! These poor showings have prompted talk that Perry might not even qualify for some of the upcoming debates. He barely made the cut for the CNN debate scheduled for Jan. 19 and may be excluded from the Jan. 23 NBC debate. Why does Perry continue this painful process? Let us know what you think!
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