Governor Rick Perry is showing he can laugh at himself after his embarrassing brain freeze at the latest Republican debate. INSIDE EDITION has more.
Rick Perry tried to laugh off his epic brain freeze by appearing on David Letterman's Late Show to deliver his Top Ten excuses.
Perry's excuse number 10: "Actually, there were three reasons I messed up last night. One was the nerves and two was the headache and three…um...uh...oops," he said.
Reason number four? "I had a Five-Hour Energy drink six hours before the debate."
Reason number two was, "I wanted to help take the heat off my buddy Herman Cain."
Perry's appearance on The Late Show was a concerted attempt at damage control after his agonizing 53-second fumble and stumble during a debate on live TV.
Rick Perry's number one excuse?
"I just learned Justin Bieber is my father," he said.
"Goof Ball!" proclaims the New York Daily News. Perry's debate disaster was gold for the late night comedians.
Jay Leno asked his Tonight Show audience, "Have you seen anything like that in your life? I mean people stood there, their mouths open, they were speechless…and that was just Rick Perry!"
On The Daily Show, Jon Stewart had a field day with Perry's ill-conceived "Oops."
"'Oops!' That is not the four-letter word I would have gone with!" Stewart said. "'Oops?' Like it's a juice box. Oh, oh my God, oh! My chance to be the president of the United States! Oops!"
Now Perry is trying to salvage his damaged campaign by laughing at himself. Even his wife, Anita, is joining in.
"Everybody forgets something every now and then, but he remembered our anniversary last week!" she told Today.
The Perry campaign is using the embarrassing episode to his advantage, e-mailing potential donors, "We've all had human moments...Let us know what federal agency you would most like to forget...We promise we will write down every last idea. So we don't forget."
