Rick Perry Admits: ‘Debates Are Not My Strong Suit’

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who has been criticized for being less-than-stellar in his interactions with other GOP presidential candidates, made a surprising admission to reporters following Tuesday night's debate.

“Debates are not my strong suit,” he told journalists. The presidential contender made the statement after visiting nearly 100 members of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity house directly following the two-hour Bloomberg debate:

Interestingly, while addressing the fraternity, Perry also made a pretty embarrassing historical error. MSNBC explains:

The Texas governor was comparatively energetic at his stop at the Beta Theta Pi fraternity on the Dartmouth College campus, taking questions on energy policy, Social Security, and states rights.

But he stumbled in his answer to a young woman's question about states' rights; Perry said that one of the "reasons we fought the revolution in the 16th century was to get away from that kind of onerous crown."

Here's the video:

In addressing this verbal misstep, Mediaite's Alex Alvarez writes, "Sometimes, perhaps because they are nervous or impassioned or high on adrenaline, politicians get their facts wrong. It’s embarrassing, certainly, but they’re mostly human beings, and these things happen."

Embarrassing, indeed. But verbal flubs aren't uncommon among politicians. Remember, these men and women are likely sleep-deprived, as they travel the nation in an effort to convince Americans that they're uniquely qualified to take on the nation's problems.

(H/T: National Journal)