Was Rick Perry Hammered During His New Hampshire Speech or What?
I’m going with “yes.”
I’m not judging the man for drinking. (Hey, I loves me my scotch.) But if I were running for president, I probably wouldn’t give a speech wasted. (Probably.)
Check out the clip below, which went viral this weekend. If you don’t have the stamina to watch 8 minutes of Rick Perry (I almost didn’t), you should at least watch the first 3 minutes. It’s… um… interesting:
Fom Daily Mail:
Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas told Huffington Post after the speech: ‘It was different’, but added he had never seen anything like it beforeA Perry spokesman said in an email: ‘The Governor is passionate about the issues he talks about.’
Those in attendance said that passion is not a word to describe his performance, off the wall, bizarre and rambling though, were more adequate.
One Republican operative who watched the video called it ‘strange and peculiar’, and said it could prove fatal to Perry’s campaign. Others questioned whether he was on medication or if he had had a few drinks before he came on stage. Nevertheless, he appeared uncomfortable and erratic in parts and sweat glistened on his forehead.
His camp have yet to issue an official statement about the speech.
At least now we know what a pre-wagon George Bush would’ve sounded like.
[via Daily Mail]
[cross-posted at Angry Black Lady Chronicles]
At another blog where I watched the first few minutes of the clip (I think the sound quality made it hard to hear), I said he was drunk. A drunk clown. But it hit me later that he was a drunk, morose clown and not at all funny.
October 31st, 2011 at 5:30 pm
I do not know about this. I figured that Perry was not ‘ready for prime time’; but, this is odd.
October 31st, 2011 at 5:30 pm
Now, be nice. This man is your next president, after all.
October 31st, 2011 at 5:31 pm
Perry is like a drunk, dumber George W. Bush. How depressing is that?
October 31st, 2011 at 5:32 pm
There are a few moments where he looks remarkably like Nixon.
October 31st, 2011 at 5:33 pm
Isn’t he having back problems or something? Could be the pain, or the pain killers catching up to him.
October 31st, 2011 at 5:33 pm
Perry has had back surgery and supposedly has some pain associated with it. In my professional opinion (as a commenter on Balloon Juice) he used a combination of drugs and alcohol.
October 31st, 2011 at 5:33 pm
Hmmm….interaction between that tumbler of scotch and his back pain meds?
Could it be?
This guy may not be physically capable of running for president.
October 31st, 2011 at 5:34 pm
IOKIYAAR
October 31st, 2011 at 5:34 pm
Perry was debating John Barleycorn in that clip
October 31st, 2011 at 5:35 pm
Is there an unedited version somewhere?
October 31st, 2011 at 5:35 pm
@j low: I dunno, it’s reminding me more of some of Steve Martin’s Wild and Crazy Guy stand ups.
October 31st, 2011 at 5:35 pm
You may go with Yes. I’m going with He’s Toast.
October 31st, 2011 at 5:36 pm
I just thought it was his extended Foster Brooks impression.
October 31st, 2011 at 5:36 pm
And yet, people will actually vote for him. Hell, people in Texas have voted for him several times.
October 31st, 2011 at 5:38 pm
The only thing Perry is good for anymore is making Mitt Romney look bad, and this makes Mitt Romney look good, so eh, also Fox is taking a bat to Cain’s knees over the perv stuff so maybe we should focus on Mitt
October 31st, 2011 at 5:42 pm
@dmsilev: Did you hear Dick Mell wants to license all bicycle riders?
I guess getting his son-in-law on the fast track to be Governor and then fucking up the state just wasn’t a big enough success for him.
What a jackass.
October 31st, 2011 at 5:43 pm
Don’t get me wrong, ABL, I am always really happy to see an awkward video of a drunk racist Republican stumbling around in public so thank you
October 31st, 2011 at 5:44 pm
Fox News is running a bunch of ads in front of their video stories about how Mormonism is great for recovering alcoholics.
I’d say it’s synchronicity but it’s probably just Fox taking advantage of the TV-happy LDS to push Romney over Perry.
October 31st, 2011 at 5:46 pm
omg, he’s channeling a tipsy Colbert channeling a drunk Perry.
October 31st, 2011 at 5:48 pm
@BGinCHI:
He’s auditioning for the GOP Celebrity Roast.
October 31st, 2011 at 5:48 pm
If Rove’s smart he has busty blondes out ratfucking every also-ran Republican candidate by being handy with the drinks at campaign events. Romney’s the only one immune to this, because he’s
1) Mormon,
2) a freaky plastic Epcot Center automaton
October 31st, 2011 at 5:48 pm
Perry looks and sounds as if he’s channeling Steve Martin’s early comedy routines. OK, so Perry isn’t nearly so intentionally funny, but the many of Perry’s gestures are eerily similar. When Perry whips out that postcard-size piece of paper, I can almost hear him saying: “See this? I got it for five dollars!”
October 31st, 2011 at 5:49 pm
@Amir Khalid: Please, sir, what have we done to so offend you that you would dare speak (okay, write) such a horror aloud (okay, on a blog)? Granted, I responded to an aggressive, immature and petulant faux Muslim earlier in the day. But isn’t this a bit harsh?
Blessed Samhain, my friend. Merry meet, merry part, and merry meet again.
October 31st, 2011 at 5:50 pm
@David in NY:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21z30aNO3cA
It calls itself the full, uncut version. I haven’t watched it yet.
October 31st, 2011 at 5:51 pm
John Denver talked about a natural Rockie Mountain High – Perry has a natural Texas hammered.
October 31st, 2011 at 5:52 pm
@BGinCHI: I must have missed that bit of absurdity. You’d think that being the person most responsible for unleashing Blago on the state would be enough to kill anyone’s cred, but I guess Illinois power brokers come from the same genus of cockroach as do Washington pundits.
October 31st, 2011 at 5:56 pm
@dmsilev: Agreed, but you’re being pretty hard on cockroaches. At least they run when the lights come on.
October 31st, 2011 at 5:58 pm
o.O
Is he shooting for the Colbert bump?
I’m just throwing shit out there, I got nothing really. He’s on the wrong medication or drunk.
October 31st, 2011 at 5:59 pm
@JPL:
i think you nailed it
October 31st, 2011 at 6:01 pm
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
Well, he could be your next president. (God forbid.) But you know what would be really horrifying? Suppose it turns out that he did give that speech while stone cold sober.
ETA: And, um, a Happy Hallowe’en to you too.
October 31st, 2011 at 6:02 pm
Merry Christmas, Karl.
October 31st, 2011 at 6:03 pm
Wait until you see Romney hopped up on spoiled milk.
October 31st, 2011 at 6:14 pm
He didn’t know he would called upon to speak.
October 31st, 2011 at 6:15 pm
Obama continues to choose his opponents wisely.
October 31st, 2011 at 6:18 pm
@vtr:
“I was told there would be no talking in these debates, or at these speech appearances…”
October 31st, 2011 at 6:20 pm
Maybe Perry was jealous of Romney being called a well-oiled weather vane so he decided to get lubricated before this event.
Them damned Texans and oil.
October 31st, 2011 at 6:23 pm
Wow, just… wow.
I have some friends who have big parties, and folks who live locally (one-lane dirt road, first gear all the way, or walk over the ridge close) sometimes get self-medicated to nearly an extreme. That’s how Rick looks in this video, self-medicated to an extreme.
This kills his chance at the Oval Office. No one wants a self-medicated a-hole with his finger on the button, any button.
October 31st, 2011 at 6:26 pm
He’s incoherent but not really slurry, and he seems a little overly hyped up and maudlin or something, so I’m thinking it’s a light painkiller or something in the ecstasy family to help him with his public speaking FAIL anxiety. Somewhere out there is the right combination of drugs for his dawning awareness that he’s not in Texas anymore and WAAAAAYYY in over his head and too far down the road to quit now. I’d be taking 8 balls now if I were him.
October 31st, 2011 at 6:30 pm
@cmorenc: It’s kind of spooky how much he resembles Steve Martin. He’s actually a little funny in spots, not so much in others. I too think he took a shot to limber up and it reacted badly with his pain meds. Even though I am from Texas, I haven’t seen him much, since he has always avoided debates and televised speeches (for obvious reasons), so I don’t know how much this is like or different from his usual personality.
October 31st, 2011 at 6:37 pm
@Villago Delenda Est:
Not so much.. JFK suffered from back issues with debilitating pain. I don’t think back problem should be some kind of litmus test for being President.
October 31st, 2011 at 6:43 pm
@Keith:
Please see the attendant to claim your Internet.
October 31st, 2011 at 6:46 pm
For once, I actually kinda liked Rick Perry in this video. A little more goofy.. of course, his talk is complete bs, but his delivery was definitely interesting.
October 31st, 2011 at 6:47 pm
Are you absolutely sure this isn’t an elaborate prank by the Bad Lip Reading people?
October 31st, 2011 at 6:50 pm
Yup. That’s a narcotic talking, with a couple belts of booze to sweeten the deal.
Jebus. Happy Samhain.
October 31st, 2011 at 7:08 pm
don’t people take beta blockers for performance anxiety? do they interact with booze or pain meds?
October 31st, 2011 at 7:11 pm
I think he is intoxicated. But it would have to be really pretty drunk…not a little. Maybe the meds with a couple three martinis would do it, but he’s wasted, I think.
October 31st, 2011 at 7:15 pm
Is October 31, 2011 the day Romney won the GOP Presidential Nominating Primary?
ETA: Watched part of it with the sound off. Creeped me out.
October 31st, 2011 at 7:16 pm
I find him oddly less offputting in this state. He’s definitely high, and apparently always dreamed of doing stand up comedy. Its like he finally relaxed and took the stick out of his ass—note: not an anti gay joke—but you know now that I’ve written that I think I might be on to something. Perry always looks and sounds like someone who is in terrible, hidden pain (to me) a fake, slightly depressed, and very stiff. Its like he took enough of something to lubricate him and take the weight of the permanent lie he’s living off his shoulders.
aimai
October 31st, 2011 at 7:18 pm
It would have helped if you’d included the first few seconds of the clip when Perry announces “Hi. My name’s Ricky and I’m an alcoholic.” “Hi, Ricky.”
The “payoff” comes at about six minutes when Perry says, “...nook-kew-lur.” OMG. It must be a requirement in Texas if you want to be governor.
October 31st, 2011 at 7:20 pm
Weird, yes, but the joke about Tim Geithner’s tax return was pretty funny.
October 31st, 2011 at 7:23 pm
Yes, but the question is, would he have been that eloquent?
October 31st, 2011 at 7:31 pm
Ibogaine
October 31st, 2011 at 7:34 pm
looks like someone slipped him a brownie or something.
Dude is Sooo high.
if he had surgery and was recently in Vt .. Medical exemption maybe.
October 31st, 2011 at 7:40 pm
For me, what’s of interest, and somewhat disturbing, is the stark contrast between this Rick Perry and the Perry we have seen up until now and what might be the cause (what may be the effect, for that matter?).
October 31st, 2011 at 7:42 pm
In other breaking news, NASA spots Lorne Michael’s boner from space.
This will be a great 12 months for fake debates. And even faker debates.
October 31st, 2011 at 7:52 pm
he was on something
October 31st, 2011 at 7:53 pm
He sounds goofy, definitely, but, like aimai, I actually found his hamminess a lot more entertaining—and warm—than his usual act.
October 31st, 2011 at 8:12 pm
Looks like somebody hasn’t developed an immunity to Jerk-o-caine Powder after all.
October 31st, 2011 at 8:13 pm
All I can say is, “Ooooohhh, myyyyy”
You know, it’s Halloween, so to all suggesting it’s booze or drugs or some combo thereof, [holds flashlight under chin], “What if he’s just that waaayyyy????????”
Bwahahahahahahaa….
[vanishes in a puff of smoke]
October 31st, 2011 at 9:04 pm
Rove again. Instead of dropping the dime on Perry like he did on Cain, he just dropped a tab of some Owsley acid on Rick
October 31st, 2011 at 9:42 pm
@JR in WV:
Oh?
Really?
Then why did the American public elect Dubya twice?
October 31st, 2011 at 10:10 pm
@Cliff in NH:
Mooshi, mooshi, mooshi
October 31st, 2011 at 10:36 pm
Yep. Bad case of drunkyface.
October 31st, 2011 at 10:38 pm
@nastybrutishntall:
That’s the kind of thing the 70s cast of SNL might have actually done.
October 31st, 2011 at 11:16 pm
Aimai kind of alluded to it I think.. watching this, he not only seems a few drinks and painkillers in.. I’m struck about how fey he seems at moments.
Really out of character, especially for a Texas governor. I’m gay, and I really don’t credit or have truck with rumors- I know in politics those rumors have a purpose. I go out of my way to be skeptical of gay rumors, when it comes to politics especially. (I also take people at their word, I’m not out to “claim” anyone for “our team”, sigh. )
But I have to say, whatever got Perry into that uh relaxed mood.. he reminded me of the sort of fun gay guy who could do some campy impressions when the party gets going. So strange.
November 1st, 2011 at 2:21 am
@Arundel: Agree, a little bit of his inner Paul Lynde slipped out in that appearance. For example, look at the part where he gets the bottle of maple syrup and clutches it to his breast. Maybe he wouldn’t be such an asshole if he were like this more often. But don’t forget the 200+ executions.
November 1st, 2011 at 6:02 am
I think he was conciously trying to do a stand up bit or interject lots of jokes. There are points where you can see him mentally fishing for a slogan.
He didn’t look ‘hammered’ to me. Could have been a bit tipsy though.
November 1st, 2011 at 10:44 am