Perry’s Latest “Oops”

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how Republican Presidential hopeful Rick Perry was considering skipping upcoming debates, hoping to salvage his sinking poll numbers from previous bad debate performances.  Obviously he didn’t take his own advice.  Rick Perry is starting to become a political gaffe machine.  This story highlights Perry’s embarrassing brain freeze at the most recent republican debate.  When asked about which government agencies he would get rid of, Perry said “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.”  It didn’t stop there, when he was asked again, Perry dug himself into a deeper hole saying, “Commerce and, let’s see, “I can’t. The third one, I can’t. Sorry. Oops.”  After the debate, Perry immediately went into damage control.  He appeared on countless television shows, trying to explain his embarrassing gaffe.  He even appeared on Letterman to present his “Top Ten Excuses.”  It will be interesting to see how this will affect his campaign for the White House.  It is unfair to brand Perry as an idiot for his less than impressive debate performances, because he is far from it.  Rick Perry has an impressive resume as the Governor of Texas.  Everyone has their share of mishaps during a long election, but it is how a candidate handles the aftermath is what is important.