The first clown exits, stage right

Today ex-Governor Rick Perry became the first Republican clown to exit the party’s clown bus. Clearly, no one will miss him. It was a very anti-climactic end to a political career that had once been touted as being on a trajectory to the White House. Oops.

It was actually his infamous “oops moment” that derailed his political career. It was in a debate on November 9, 2011—less than four years ago—when Perry couldn’t remember the third federal agency he’d get rid of should he be elected president in 2012: "I can’t. The third one, I can’t. Sorry. Oops." [a video of it is on YouTube]

He was widely ridiculed for that, and his campaign never recovered. When he announced his 2016 run, it was brought up again. And now that he’s leaving, the “oops” jokes have returned yet again.

I think that Perry probably didn’t deserve the attacks over his “oops moment” when there were so many batshit crazy things he espoused. But he never really got the chance to try and sell his snake oil this year because no one could hear him—they were too busy laughing at him.

Meanwhile, nearly all of the other Republican clowns candidates have eagerly tried to out-crackpot each other, making Perry, even at his most extreme, just another voice espousing extremist nonsense. In fact, the Republican clowns candidates are SO similar, it’s tempting to refer to the Republican Clone Bus—maybe the Republican Clown Clone Bus?

Back when the Republican clowns candidates first started piling on the bus, horns honking, seltzer bottles spraying, I didn’t think that Perry would be the first to drop out. Sure, I knew he’d never win the nomination, and I thought he’d exit the bus early, but there are plenty of others I would’ve thought would quit first. Oops.

Well, that’s one less clown to worry about, and he’s just the first of many who won’t still be candidates when the first Republican candidate selection votes are finally cast. I wonder if any bookmakers are taking bets on who will be next—although, with so many choices, there’s probably not much spread in the odds.

In the meantime, there are still FAR too many extremist and batshit crazy Republican clowns candidates.

And, there’s still 1 year, 1 month, and 28 days until the November 2016 elections.

Photo of Rick Perry in 2012 by Gage Skidmore [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons