Rick Perry's Oops Moment

It seems like Rick Perry cannot catch a break. Last week it was allegations that he was either drunk or high during a speech in New Hampshire. Now this week the only thing anyone can talk about is the “oops” moment that has left people asking if Perry should just drop out now. During the debate Rick Perry discussed his flat tax plan and how it will balance the budget and fix regulatory problems. He added that he will eliminate only three federal agencies to do this. That is when the situation became really awkward. Rick Perry turned to Ron Paul and began naming the agencies. However he could only name the first two agencies which were the Department of Education and Department of Commerce. He tried to remember, but could not think of the third one. One of his opponents says “the EPA?” Rick Perry begins laughing saying “EPA there you go” and then says no. The moderator asks Perry if it is really the EPA and Perry says that it is not, but the EPA does “need to be rebuilt.” The moderator asks if he can not name the third one. Rick Perry begins thinking and says he would do away with Education, Commerce, but could not think of the third one still. The most famous phrase from the debate was “The third one I can’t. Sorry. Oops” Perry, who was laughing about the situation earlier, seemed really deflated and disappointed and the moderator moved on to a question about the EPA. To be clear the third department Perry wants to do away with is the Department of Energy.
What followed for Perry was damage control with visits to different television shows. One of the shows he went on was the Today show. In the interview he said that he has no problem admitting that he messed up and that he is “human like everyone else.” Perry even turned the debacle into a joke saying that there are too many departments. He said that he will not drop out of the race and will continue to debate (and did on Saturday). He also went on the Late Show with David Letterman and made fun on the whole thing by doing a “Top Ten” segment. Aside from doing damage control with the American public he also reached out to his supporters. Rick Perry and his team sent out an email to his supporters regarding the debate. In the email he once again said that he is human and pointed out the different snafus of previous presidents like the when President Obama said he had been to 57 states in his campaign (Terkel). He also asked his supporters for their own input on what agencies they would like to eliminate and asked them to include $5 for every agency on their list (Terkel). The email also had a “donate today” button so his supporters could really donate to his campaign (Terkel).
A recent Reuters/Ipsos found that Romney was in first place of the candidates with 28 percent, while Perry was fourth with only 12 percent (Felsenthal and Wroughton). After the snafu an NBC News/Wall Street Journal found that 33 percent of the Republicans polled were “less enthusiastic” about Perry (Felsenthal and Wroughton). That number is up from 24 percent the previous week (Felsenthal and Wroughton). The Reuters/Ipsos poll also found that 31 percent thought that Perry should drop out, however, 52 percent say that Perry should stay in the race (Felsenthal and Wroughton). Since Perry has been plagued by problems and has not moved from his fourth place in the polls I think Rick Perry does not have a viable chance of winning the candidacy and I do not understand why he is still in the race.
Works Cited
Felsenthal, Mark, and Lesley Wroughton. "Perry Gaffe Has Him down in Republican Race, Maybe Not Out| Reuters." Business & Financial News, Breaking US & International News | Reuters.com. 13 Nov. 2011. Web. 13 Nov. 2011. .

Terkel, Amanda. "Rick Perry 'Oops' Stumble Serves As Base For His Campaign's Next Fundraising Push." Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. Web. 13 Nov. 2011. .