At the same time, his inability to remember the third department he'd cut if he were president is understandable. I've drawn a blank under pressure like that, and I suspect most of us have. Unfortunately for Perry though, it fits the narrative that's already hurting him, that he's not very bright and he's too lazy to prepare for debates.
But to build on the point I posted about a few days ago, the gaffe isn't the reason Perry should be finished as a candidate. The more we get to know about this guy, the more clear it is that he's a lot like George W. Bush- not too bright, and more importantly a man with no intellectual curiosity or sense of seriousness. We can't picture him soberly sitting down and studying an issue. Like Bush, I'm sure he'd make decisions "from the gut", and we saw how that went in the 2000s.
As an aside, I'm reminded again of the puzzling Republican talking point that Obama can't speak without a teleprompter. Obama is remarkably articulate and good at thinking on his feet- he's actually great at speaking extemporaneously. Rick Perry is the guy who really needs a teleprompter. Sometimes I think Republicans have gotten so good at creating negative narratives of their opponents that they just pick issues that don't even have a grain of truth, just to prove to themselves that they can do it. It's like they get bored 'cause it's so easy for them.
"Hey, let's start hammering Obama for the way he talks so technocratically and boringly now that he's president!"
"No, that's too easy! Let's say he's so dumb he needs a teleprompter all the time!"
"No way- that's so obviously untrue that Americans will never buy it"
"Hey, let's try it anyway! A hundred bucks says I can pull it off"
"Alright, you're on!"
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