During Monday's Tea Haters debate, Rick Perry announced to the world that he could not be bribed for $5,000. Left unstated by the Texas Governor was how much it would take to bribe him, or whether he only accepts gold from Goldline or Republic of Texas banknotes. This monumental gaffe -- the kind of blunder that would have cost President Obama the 2008 election -- went completely unnoticed by CNN even though their post-debate coverage lasted for hours, and they elicited comments and appraisals from at least 10 talking heads.
You can find a video of the gaffe up at youtube here, but somebody has disabled the ability to embed. Here is the video at CNN.com, and the gaffe appears after the 1:59 mark:
For those that wish to avoid as much of the Tea Hater debate as possible, here's a transcript of the relevant portion:
BACHMANN: I just wanted to add that we cannot forget that in the midst of this executive order there is a big drug company that made millions of dollars because of this mandate. We can't deny that...
(APPLAUSE)
BLITZER: What are you suggesting?
BACHMANN: What I'm saying is that it's wrong for a drug company, because the governor's former chief of staff was the chief lobbyist for this drug company. The drug company gave thousands of dollars in political donations to the governor, and this is just flat-out wrong. The question is, is it about life, or was it about millions of dollars and potentially billions for a drug company?
BLITZER: All right. I'll let Senator Santorum hold off for a second.
You've got to response to that.
PERRY: Yes, sir. The company was Merck, and it was a $5,000 contribution that I had received from them. I raise about $30 million. And if you're saying that I can be bought for $5,000, I'm offended.
(APPLAUSE)
I do suggest that you watch at least the youtube video of the question and answer, as it goes straight to the meme that Rick Perry is dumb. During his short response, he stops twice, blinks his eyes, and ends with furrowed brows, as he just knew he was saying something excruciatingly stupid, but consarnit, for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what it was.
Some might think this to be a Freudian Slip, but I believe it's just a person who is not only dumb enough to fall for the "When did you stop beating your wife" routine, but who would, knowing that the question might come, foist that routine upon himself. The bigger story to me, though -- even bigger than Rick Perry's cold-blooded stupidity -- is the fact that the mainstream media has chosen to basically ignore it.