Rick Perry gets U.S. voting age wrong in New Hampshire

WaPo ^ | 11/29/11 | Rosalind S. Helderman

[perfect_rovian_storm]

At a town hall meeting at the Institute of Politics at New Hampshire’s Saint Anselm’s College Tuesday, Rick Perry asked that all of the college students in the crowd who will be 21 by Nov. 12 support his bid for the presidency.

Say what?

The voting age in the United States is, of course, 18. And the 2012 election will be held on Nov. 6, 2012. (The New Hampshire Republican primary, which brought Perry to the state, will take place on Jan. 10).

“Those who are going to be over 21 on November 12th, I ask for your support,” Perry said, eliciting a few chuckles from the crowd.” Those who won’t be, just work hard. Because you’re... counting on us.”

The gaffe can be easily chalked up to a slip of the tongue. In fact after the event Perry spokesman Mark Miner said simply “the governor misspoke.”

But whiffing on electoral basics will hardly help Perry as he struggles to recover from a series of gaffe-filled and lackluster debate performances (the most memorable of which was the “oops” moment during a Republican debate when Perry failed to recall the third government department he would eliminate as president).

[Grunthor]

Oh you won’t catch me defending Cains’ gaffes.

I may yet vote for Perry, but I will never be defending him and am not currently impressed with either his inellect or his verbalizations of said intelect.

[Venturer]

Hard to blame it on the media when you stick your own foot in your mouth.

[trumandogz]

Rick Perry is so confident that he will win the presidency that he does not need the votes of those under 21.

[biggredd1]

obama just said hawaii is in asia.

[biggredd1]

obama just said hawaii is in asia.

[EternalVigilance]

The GOP presidential contest in 2012 is like musical chairs at the circus. The only question left is which clown will be left standing.

[biggredd1]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9hPXHD4WH0

[EternalVigilance]

Rick Perry is so confident that he will win the presidency that he does not need the votes of those under 21.

Or "heartless" conservatives.

[trumandogz]

[kevao]

I hope Rick “reassesses” his campaign soon; he makes the rest of us look bad.

[South40]

The GOP presidential contest in 2012 is like musical chairs at the circus. The only question left is which clown will be left standing.

I just hope it's not one of the pro-ILLEGAL alien clowns, Newt or Perry.

[EternalVigilance]

Willard the Clown. Perfect.

[Baladas]

He screwed up the voting age AND the date of the general election next year? Too bad Rick Perry isn’t smart, like Obama is.

[af_vet_rr]

Rick Perry is so confident that he will win the presidency that he does not need the votes of those under 21.

This has to be your new tagline LOL.

Still trying to figure out how Perry botched the voting age and the election date in one fell swoop.

[BillyBoy]

>>> It's called the Twenty-sixth Amendment to the US Constitution, Rick, and it's been the law of the land for 40 years. Look it up. <<

Shhh! You're ruining his latest "comeback week". Haven't you heard Perry has big mo now? He's on a surge and will hit 6% in the polls any day now. ;-)

I rate this one worse than the "57 states" gaffe. We've never had 57 states, unless Obama arrived in a time machine from the future. But we really did have a "21 year old" voting barrier...40 years ago. I genuinely think Perry was not aware that the voting age had been lowered to 18 nationally until his aides informed him.

[magritte]

At least we now know what was twirling around in Herb’s mind...

[txhurl]

Now which clown for POTUS are you supporting again? Was it Ron Paul?

[txhurl]

I’ve been working 12hrs/day for two days.. how many taglines have had Cain dropped from them today? Haven’t had a chance to survey it yet.

[GlockThe Vote]

Cain and perry along with Santorum need to drop out. They are becoming a laughing stock.

[South40]

Pay attention, you're months behind. Your fellow pro-ILLEGAL alien supporters made fools of themselves with similar accusations months ago.

How's RINO Rick doing, btw? Is he still in single digits and tied with Ron Paul for 4th place? Yes, I believe he is. LMAO!