A new e-book from Politico reporters Mike Allen and Evan Thomas levels the charge that Rick Perry used painkillers to make it through the GOP debates, a possible explanation for his disastrous performances that include the now-famous "oops" moment. Perry had back surgery last summer, and his recuperation likely coincided with his campaign.
Via the Texas Tribune:
"It became an open secret that he was using painkillers in sufficient dosages to keep him standing through the two-hour debates," the book says.
The book also describes a scene in which the manager of a rival campaign found Perry before an October debate in New Hampshire singing "I've Been Working on the Railroad" in the bathroom.
"Wondering who was making all the noise, the campaign manager turned his head and saw, to his surprise, the governor of Texas,” the book says. “Nonplussed, the campaign manager made a hasty exit; as the bathroom door closed, he could hear Perry still merrily singing away: ‘I-I-I’ve been working on the ra-a-i-i-l-road, all-l-l the live-long day."
(This last is the most interesting detail; the melody of "I've Been Working on the Railroad" is the basis for UT's football fight song, "The Eyes of Texas Are Upon You." Perry, an Aggie Yell Leader, wouldn't have been caught dead singing the song.)
Hardcore election followers and viral sensation enthusiasts will also remember a speech in New Hampshire in which Perry seemed so inebriated that the performance became known as "the drunk speech." Prescription pill use could explain much of this erratic behavior, which seemed below par even to Perry's enemies.
Nonetheless, in his first debate Perry ardently defended his execution of 234 Texas inmates, claiming he had not lost a wink of sleep over them. This writer has been adamant that a man who doesn't doubt his own judgment when making the decision to execute someone has no right to the excuse of human fallability for his other mistakes. You don't get off the hook with "oops" after killing that many people, nor do you get to claim painkillers or anything else. Rick Perry can either be a human being, susceptible to weakness and mistakes of judgment, or he can be a conservative hero who murders criminals; he can't be both.
By the by, Perry's people deny the claim.
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Related: Mitt Romney Snubs Texas
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