So was Rick Perry drunk or stoned during his babbling, hilarious speech he delivered in New Hampshire over the weekend? The jury is still out, but in the meantime the GOP hopeful tells ABC News that there is a good reason for his bizarre behavior.
According to the Republican candidate, he just, well — he was just feeling good, alright?
“It was a great crowd. Good response, and I guess you can do anything you want with a video and make it look any way you want, but I felt good, felt great,” Perry told reporters with ABC today from a Des Moines eatery today. Following his appearance on Sunday in New Hampshire, the presidential hopeful has already retreated to Iowa where the state has been conducting a series of straw polls.
Perry himself looked like he was conducting something, perhaps an imaginary orchestra or a make-believe band of insects as he waved his hands frantically, gestured with enthusiasm and belted out hilarious quotables on Sunday that will be sure to haunt him for what little time is left during his run for the Republican nod. Once a frontrunner, Perry has plunged in the polls in recent weeks, now taking a backseat to pizzaman Herman Cain’s surge in popularity.
Regardless of how the media is making Sunday’s speech out to be (and believe me, they are having a field day), Perry doesn’t seem too bothered by the aftermath which has since left bloggers, pundits and the American public asking “What the Hell was Rick Perry on?”
Perry managed to attract a great deal of criticism following Sunday’s speech, where he offered up such whimsical and brilliant political fodder that only a president could come up with, such as “This is such a cool state — I mean, come on. Live free or die? You gotta love that!”
Perry tried to appeal to the New Hampshire audience by relating his home back in Texas to the local crowd as well. “I come from a state where they had this little place called the Alamo and they declared victory or death,” said Perry. “We’re kinda into those slogans, man. Live free or do; victory or death. Bring it!”
“I think the message got across very well, so it was a good speech,” Perry told reporters at Drake’s Diner earlier today while munching on a veggie rarebit burger alongside Iowa Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds .
A veggie rarebit burger? Sounds like someone’s got a case of the munchies.
Following Sunday’s speech, Manchester, New Hampshire Mayor Ted Gatsas described the rant, often punctuated with exaggerated arm motions, squinty-eyed smiles and double-thumbs up as “different.”
“The governor is passionate about the issues he talks about,” a Perry spokesperson responded after the event.