During the 2011 Republican presidential primaries, former Texas Governor Rick Perry essentially ended his candidacy with one humiliating mental flub.
"It’s three agencies of government when I get there that are gone," he said on stage, holding up three fingers to begin counting. "Commerce, Education, and the um, what’s the third one there?"
"I can’t the third one," he said after a brief struggle. "I can’t. Sorry. Oops."
There must be something in the water, as fellow Texan Ted Cruz made a similar gaffe during Tuesday night’s debate.
"But on top of that, today, we rolled out a spending plan," Cruz said. "$500 billion in specific cuts – five major agencies that I would eliminate: the IRS, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, and HUD – and then 25 specific programs."
To be fair, five is more than three, and one can forgive Cruz for mistakenly listing the Department of Commerce twice. By all previous indications, his fifth agency was actually the Department of Education.
— Jonathan Weisman (@jonathanweisman) November 11, 2015
He also managed a smooth transition into his next point, instead of capping his mistake with an astonishing response like "oops."
But even if Cruz had managed to make it through his list accurately, that still ignores the fact that a serious presidential candidate wants to ax five vital organs of the federal government, not least of which is the agency responsible for collecting tax revenue.
Of course, under Cruz’s plan, the United States will have far fewer programs to fund.
If you can bring yourself to scroll through the “Cruz Gear” sale and “Cruz News” on the senator’s campaign website, you find what those "25 specific programs" really are. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting and National Endowment for the Arts would be eliminated, as well as a number of environmental programs, including the Regulation of CO2 Emissions from Power Plants and all Sources and the Regulation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Vehicles.
While serving critical functions, those programs do not account for much federal spending, and their elimination will do little to balance the budget.
Cruz’s policies may be alarming and mathematically unsound, but awards for the largest gaffes of the night really belong to the two Republican frontrunners: Real estate mogul Donald Trump and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 11, 2015
In criticizing the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership deal, Trump said that it "was designed for China to come in, as they always do, through the back door and totally take advantage of everyone." Rival Rand Paul quickly pointed out that China is not, in fact, part of the TPP.
Later, Carson stumbled through a question about US foreign policy in Syria. While that monologue contained a number of questionable statements – "we have to make [jihadists] look like losers" – the biggest puzzler was his claim that the region is made all the more complex by the presence of – again – China, probably the only major world power not currently active in Syria.
— Kasie Hunt (@kasie) November 11, 2015
