Fabulous:
Before going onstage the night of the debate, [Rick Perry] took his customary trip to the restroom. He saw Herman Cain standing just behind him. The Michigan debate came shortly after Politico reported that two women had accused Cain of inappropriate behavior when he was the head of the National Restaurant Association. The Cain campaign accused one of Perry's new advisors of leaking the story, a charge that was denied by Perry's campaign. Perry recounted to me later what happened next. "He looks over at me and he's always got that big smile on his face and I said, 'Herman, how you doing, you big stud?' That's a term of endearment that I would use. Then he kind of had a funny look on his face and I was like, 'God, I bet he thinks I'm making some kind of derogatory remark at him because of what's happened here in the last week.' I walked out of there and I came in and told that story [to his own advisors] and everybody was laughing."
So with Herman Cain fending off stories from multiple women that he had sexually harassed them throughout his career—and blaming Rick Perry for spreading those stories—Perry's idea of a friendly greeting was to call Cain a "big stud." And the funny thing is that Rick Perry really doesn't seem to have meant anything by it.
With anyone else, you'd think they were trying to be a passive-aggressive jerk, but Perry—who was just minutes away from gifting the world with his "oops" moment—couldn't have come up with an insult that clever if he had tried. It took a brain fart for him to do it. It almost makes you wonder what surprise he's got in store for us on Monday afternoon when he announces his future political plans. Almost.
p.s.: Dear NSA: If Rick Perry ever walks into a bathroom with Larry Craig, please, please, please release the tape. Thank you!