Politics admin on 10 Nov 2011 01:37 pm
Rick Perry: Brain Lapse or Shrewd Reaganism?
(FiniteTimes.com) – While many see last night’s debate misstep by Texas Governor Rick Perry as a potentially campaign-ending event for the beleaguered Republican hopeful, others claim it was a near-genius homage to a favored right-wing icon: Ronald Reagan.
“Sure, on its surface it was wince-worthy, but so were a lot of Reagan’s most enduring moments,” says political analyst Franklin D. Benjamin of Perry’s 45-second humina-humina-humina fumble for the name of the 3rd federal department he would look to cut (turns out it was Energy).
“I think you’ll find going forward that it was a brilliant and calculated dog-whistle to the base. I wouldn’t be surprised if his soft polling numbers get a solid bounce in the coming week or so,” Benjamin says.
Perry’s fellow candidates seem to have picked up on this as well. Far from criticizing Perry for his lapse, several candidates were exhibiting their own Reaganisms at campaign stops today. While Michele Bachmann told a crowd in Nashua that “bless their hearts, we’re going to start bomb bomb bombing Russia in five minutes!”, Mitt Romney was revealing to a variety of audiences his plans to have ketchup, then mustard, then capers designated as “America’s Official Vegetable.”
Herman Cain, meanwhile, spent the day calling random female attendees at his campaign rallies “Mommy.”
____________
Related Stories
