How close can Gov. Rick Perry be to dropping out of the Republican race for the presidential nomination? After Wednesday night’s 1, 2, uh, oops incident, he arguably made things worse by appearing on David Letterman’s show to deliver the Top 10 Rick Perry Excuses.
Self-mocking and self-deprecating humor can be effective. Or it can make things worse. After viewing his performance, it seems he accomplished more of the second than the first.
Rick Perry searching for No. 3 - AP Photo
See it for yourself here.
Ronald Reagan could pull off something like this. Others, say Jerry Sandusky, can’t and shouldn’t try. Somethings are easier – and funnier – to laugh about than others. Some things aren’t funny at all.
Granted, Perry’s failing wasn’t of the type of Sandusky’s. But it was not the kind of failing American voters are likely to tolerate much of when choosing the man to lead the nation out of the worst economic conditions since the Depression, or picking a leader to confront a nuclear-arming Iran. On any list of three things to do in either type of crisis, you don’t want the man in the White House drawing a blank when he gets to Number 3. Not funny.
We noted Perry’s failing at the microphone from the first debate and then each successive time he stood on stage. He couldn’t even recite his own talking points that first night, which turned out to be an all-too-true foreshadowing of his crash-and-burn performance in the last debate.
Perry, no doubt, will drag out his departure from the field of candidates. But from where we sit that would appear to only delay the inevitable.
The real question is not when Perry will be gone, but which of the remaining candidates will benefit most from his departure. Two weeks ago, it might have been Herman Cain. But Cain’s own implosion may remove him from the stage even before Perry. Our pick as beneficiary of Perry’s – and/or Cain’s – departure: Newt Gingrich.
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Rick Perry’s top 10 excuses… Really? is a post from: Orange Punch
