Let's face it. We've all had our flubs or gaffes or "stepped in it" before. But when you're running for president of the United States, it just seems a whole lot worse.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry has been the butt of just a few jokes since his failed attempt Wednesday night to name three federal agencies he'd like to get rid of. His last word on the matter has been dubbed "the 'oops' heard round the world."
Sure, many a politician before him has frozen in front of the camera, from Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer to former President George Bush, who stared into space in a fruitless effort to name his "biggest mistake." There's even a scientific explanation for it: a "retrieval failure" in a moment exacerbated by stress, according to The Washington Post.
Now in damage control overdrive, Perry has been trying to make people laugh with him as he smiles and jokes his way through interviews, culminating in an appearance Thursday on the Tonight Show with David Letterman.
His campaign even sought to do some fund-raising off the gaffe, encouraging supporters to send $5 for every government agency they "would like to forget."
How about you? What's been your most embarrassing pregnant pause? We promise not to tell!
I take an anticonvulsant that has aphasia as a common side effect. I was talking to my boss's boss recently and in the middle of a sentence just went blank. Hadn't a clue what our conversation was about. He smiled at me, and I smiled at him, and after a VERY long pregnant pause, I said, "Could you excuse me for a minute?" Nobody at work knows I'm epileptic but if this sort of thing continues, I'll have to start telling people.
I forgive Perry for his "senior moment" in the debate but appearing on the Letterman is unforgivable. Appearing on Letterman cemented Perry as a candidate not to be taken seriously. His mannerisms shows that Perry is not as "macho" as I thought he was.
You are a complete MORON. His mannerisms weren't macho enough for you? Let me guess: you live in a trailer park.
Was Clinton a serious candidate after an MTV appearance? Are there different rules for Democratic candidates?
Ready...aim...
Oops...
He is BMOC.......big man on campus. He will bring about change that we can all believe in. HOBAMAMA had his day...week....years. Now is time for white man from big state to run the show.
Do us all a favor and SPEAK FOR YOURSELF, you with your white man comments definitely represent the smallest denominator... but you know what I think, when I look at Perry I see a coward, I see the status quo... he's the kind of man who runs away in battle to save himself. He takes bribes, he exploits the weak, he basically represents everything wrong with this country. Enough time wasted on this nitwit.
I hate it when these hillbilly racists post comments here. The "white men" who've run America have SUCKED at it for centuries.
LOL, rep are so desperate they're ready for any clown. This one has no hope.
Hahaha......Even 74 year old Ron Paul doesn't black out for 53 seconds. Perry is done.
How about the time when President Obama misquoted the number of states which make up the United States? Forgot ....or referring to another situation???? Ooooops
I have to speak to groups on a weekly basis and completely understand his situation. Anybody ... let me say that again ... ANYBODY, can have a 'brain freeze'! Let those who condemn him get up and speak before large audiences and see how they will do. He handled it wonderfully. I am considering him ... after I get all the information ... not just discounting him after one small slip of the memory. Come on America, Focus ... Focus on the Main Issues.
It wasn't a brain freeze, he's stupid and his plan is stupid.
i agree with you
While I'm not a Perry supporter, he's definitly not stupid. He's very smart but not a good debater. He does well in a speech, but the debate format isn't his best venue.
I was going to write three things, but I can only remember two, now I can only remember one. Can't figure it what was I thinking about. That is how America will be run. Oh, by the way do you know I am a life long member of the NRA. Do you suppose that gunpowder affects brain cells? Well we had a dummy for four years who got us into two nice wars, so lets do it again.
how can he lead the country when he cannot remember something
hes not a big man on campus......hes another tool from Texas....and another GOP candidate that will never stack up against Obama. The white man from the big state did run the show.....are you forgetting how GWB ran this country into the ground and handed it to Obama......your lucky we have a smart man in there to get it fixed not some cornpone from the tea party
I had high hopes for Rick Perry as a Presidential candidate. I knew nothing of him, but he looks Presidential and that's where it ends. We've all had "brain freezes" under pressure and simply due to distraction. The pressure of the Presidential Office of the United States will be exponentially higher than those of a televised debates that seem to be the undoing of Perry. He can't handle the debates, how can he expect to handle the Presidency? In times of crisis, is he just going to curl up under his desk and let others handle it?
It's time for Perry to withdraw from the GOP race which gets more pathetic with each passing week. Obama won't need to campaign, the GOP is making sure he's going to be the default winner in November 2012.
Ain't gonna happen. America has had enough of Obama's kind of "change".
Yeah, and when we "step in it", there are usually consequences. Brain freeze in a job interview, chances are, you won't be hired.
Why make such a big deal about this. We all have them, we are human, gee CNN, sometimes you just can't stop.
This ass clown suffers from a bad case of "Mad Cowboy Disease" and is a total embarrassment to all of us who live here in Texas, which is still a decent place to live despite Rick Perry's BubbaMachismo schtick. Sorry America, for this Pathetic Political Pandering Preacherman. Hey Rick – you didn't have the cajones to debate H-town's Mayor Bill White for Governor but ya think you're gonna step onto the national stage and compete, you arrogant fool! What else could we expect from a man who proclaims "I will always error on the side of life" but governs one of the most pro-capital punishment states in the US. Oh ya – and that big Jesuspalooza event you "were called" to hold in H-town right before you announced running for President, how far do you have pander to your ignorant base in order to win votes – cheeseball!
Sarah Palin's male counterpart.