Press Pillories Perry Proving Pernicious

Press Pillories Perry Proving Pernicious

Commentary by Sanford D. Horn

November 10, 2011

Full disclosure, I am not a Rick Perry supporter – unless he secures the Republican nomination for president to become the party’s standard bearer in 2012.

Commerce, Education and Energy – those are the three federal departments Texas Governor and GOP presidential hopeful Rick Perry flubbed in the debate held on November 9 on campus at Oakland University in Rochester, MI.

Perry had a human moment during the debate in which his brain froze over the question of which departments of the federal government he would eliminate upon becoming president. He quickly recalled commerce and education, but forgot energy. The next 45-plus seconds must have seemed an eternity to him and the viewers who watched this painful train wreck unfold.

In the ultimate of post-game “gotcha” moments which will live on interminably virally, media from left and right have castigated Perry for his momentary lapse. The man is a human being prone to human frailties and not a robot. Although, Perry does often seem robotic in his debate appearances – stiff, unsure at times and verbally clumsy.

However, Perry just doesn’t seem to catch a break. Still a popular video is the appearance Perry made recently in New Hampshire, where some have described his ebullient nature as aided by substance. Quite frankly, Perry would present himself better to the public during the cavalcade of debates in the same manner in which the folks in the Granite State saw him.

And rival GOP candidate Ron Paul, a fellow Texan, was no help to Perry either. The two men were situated next to one another during the debate and when Perry was attempting to rattle off the three departments earmarked for his axe, he looked over at Paul. Paul made matters worse for Perry, already trying to recall a third department, when Paul said to Perry, “five,” meaning there were five departments designated for extinction.

Most people misspeak at one time or another; and in this case, misspeak is not a euphemism for lie, as is often used to lighten the blow. No one took fellow GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney to task for saying his marriage to wife Ann is 25 years in length, and then he quickly corrected himself, noting it is a 42-year union.

Is this a game changer for Perry? No. That may surprise some people, but those are the ones not paying attention in the first place. Perry has been in free fall mode since entering the race at or near the top of most polls and should be back to governing Texas fulltime shortly after the Iowa Caucus.

In life, to err is human; to forgive, divine. In politics, to err is to be pilloried on You Tube and in the media until the end of days. Let’s try and stay focused on the real issues of the day – ending the continued attempts of government to run our lives while borrowing to the point of economic oblivion.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.