Perry makes fun of himself

Rick Perry appeared on the David Letterman program on Thursday night to give his “Top Ten Excuses” (in ascending order) for his disastrous brain-freeze in the GOP debate the night before. While it’s not exactly dignified for a presidential candidate to perform on a late night talk show, you have to hand it to Perry for carrying it out with style and comic presence. He seems to be a natural, and several of the “excuses” were quite funny. The one I liked best was number nine: “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I thought things went well.” That was very apropos, since, as I’ve said before about Perry, when he blows it, he doesn’t seem to realize he’s blown it.

Parodoxically, by making fun of himself, Perry gains back a measure of the dignity he lost on Wednesday night. And by handling himself so deftly, he shows he’s not the lumbering ape he sometimes appears to be. Still, I don’t see how his candidacy can recover from his now long series of self-damaging performances in the debates.

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LA writes:

I’d be curious to know how all this was put together in 24 hours. Here’s a possible scenario: Perry’s campaign realizes that have to launch an instant, full scale blitz to recover from the debate disaster. Among other things, they call the Letterman program and ask to come on. Either Perry’s people or Letterman’s people suggest a “ten top excuses” routine. Then Letterman’s writers write it. Then Perry comes in to rehearse it. Then Perry comes back for the taping of the show, which I presume takes place in the early evening. To do all this in less than 24 hours is impressive.

November 13

Michael S. writes:

You wrote:

Then Perry comes back for the taping of the show, which I presume takes place in the early evening. To do all this in less than 24 hours is impressive.

It might be even more impressive than you think. I think the show is taped in the mid-afternoon. I’m not a big Letterman fan, but at least once among the few times I’ve caught parts of his show, he’s been outside the studio on the street talking to people while the show is taping (that is, while the studio audience is inside, he gets up from his desk and goes outside). I distinctly recall the sun being in the west (for a time I worked not too far from the Ed Sullivan theater, so I know what morning and afternoon look like there).

Posted by Lawrence Auster at November 12, 2011 07:56 AM | Send