George W. Bush took the cake when it came to presidential blunders, but Texas Governor Rick Perry may be shooting for the title of George W. Bush 2.0.
In the 2012 presidential election, Rick Perry was considered a strong challenger to Mitt Romney… at least until a series of epic missteps took him out of the race by the end of January 2012.
Now that the conservative Texas governor is giving the presidency another shot (with the added bonus of having an indictment hanging over his head), check out our 7 favorite blunder-ific moments from Rick Perry.
1. When he said that Social Security is literally a Ponzi scheme
Yikes. The thought of the American government acting as a con artist trying to swindle its constituents out of their money like Charles Ponzi is a bit scary.
You can bet older Republicans weren’t too happy with that quote.
2. The “oops” that even made Herman Cain cringe
Well, that third agency probably wasn’t important anyway right, Rick?
3. This… “speech” (if you can even call it that)
Political pundits had a bit of a hard time wrestling with this speech because no one could come to an agreement as to whether Perry was drunk, or on drugs.
Rick Perry himself steadfastly denied that he was intoxicated at the event – and he is probably telling the truth – but in 2011, it didn’t matter.
The cameras were already rolling – even Rachel Maddow said that this “weird” speech was enough to take Rick Perry out of the 2012 race.
And she was right.
4. A decade ago, during WWII… Wait what?
Oh man, WWII was already a decade ago? Oh how the time flies!
5. The “Mitt Romney’s voting record” tongue twister
We got lost in this speech… and apparently so did Rick Perry.
6. Turkey is run by Islamic Terrorists
In case you didn’t know, Turkey is a long-time ally of the U.S. and arguably one of the U.S.’s most vital partners in the region. Needless to say, Turks were pretty upset after that quote hit the airwaves.
7. When Rick Perry declared war on Christmas
Who invited Ebenezer Scrooge to the party? Santa wouldn’t like your naughty words to the LGBT community very much Rick Perry. Take it down a notch.
With Rick Perry taking another stab at the presidency, there will surely be some more blunders. Stay tuned, or sign up for our newsletter so you don’t miss it!
Update: As of December 13, 2016, President-elect Donald Trump announced he would name Rick Perry the head of the Department of Energy (see number 2).
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