Although, this happened last week I thought Rick Perry’s speech deserved its own blog post. I heard about the speech and decided to watch the whole things myself. The whole speech is twenty five minutes long and Perry was addressing the Cornerstone group in New Hampshire. Throughout the speech Rick Perry seemed very animated. Even though there were points in the speech where Perry was serious including a discussion of his life and his pro-life stance, a lot of the time he was giggling and acting very giddy. For me some of the New Hampshire speech highlights included him admiring New Hampshire’s slogan “Live Free or Die” and comparing it to the slogan of the Alamo. While doing this he was very animated using hand gestures and the words “man” and “cool” more than once. Perry said that he loves slogans like that. Also, I like the jab he made at Tim Geithner by pulling out a notecard to illustrate his tax plan. He said that his new tax plan was so easy that even Geithner “can get his taxes in on time.” He also poked fun at Herman Cain’s nine percent plan. While doing this he scrunched down his neck and giggled saying that he loves Cain and that he is an interesting guy.
Perry denies that he was either drunk or high during the speech saying, “No. I was just giving a speech. I've probably given 1,000 speeches. There are some that have been probably boring, some that have been animated, some that have been in between” (Peoples). He also went on saying that the New Hampshire speech was "a pretty typical speech for me” (Peoples). Although, I have not seen many of Rick Perry’s speeches, he did not seem this lively and giddy during the debates. With that said and from watching the whole speech myself, I have to say that I do not think he was high or totally wasted during the speech. He was very giddy and giggly. I have no seen enough Rick Perry’s speeches to make a judgment whether or not he is always like that or maybe he did have a drink beforehand. However, he did not seem completely drunk as some news reports first lead me to believe. To his credit Perry’s deliverance of the speech made it more interesting to watch and it seemed like the audience really enjoyed it. The audience kept laughing and clapping throughout and even gave Perry a standing ovation at the end.
With that being said, if this is Perry’s behavior during other speeches he needs to tone it down. If the case was that he had a beer beforehand, then he needs to not do it anymore. It is one thing to give an interesting and lively speech and connect with the audience; it is another when you have newspapers pondering if you were high or drunk when you were speaking. Doing anything to raise those kinds of questions is not proper presidential behavior. I think Rick Perry is trying to capture the image of George W. Bush and wants to be seen as the candidate "most people want to have a beer with." However, he also needs to be seen as a serious candidate for the nomination. Perry needs to learn to find a balance between the two.
Works Cited
Peoples, Steve. "Rick Perry Drunk At New Hampshire Speech? No, Say State GOP Leaders." Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. Web. 06 Nov. 2011.
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