Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) got into only more trouble after his poor performance at last night’s GOP presidential debate when he told a local ABC affiliate that the American Revolution took place two hundred years before it did. Asked about states’ rights during a post-debate visit to the Beta Theta Pi fraternity at Dartmouth College, Perry said:
“Our Founding Fathers never meant for Washington, D.C. to be the fount of all wisdom. As a matter of fact they were very much afraid if that because they’d just had this experience with this far-away government that had centralized thought process and planning and what have you, and then it was actually the reason that we fought the revolution in the 16th century was to get away from that kind of onerous crown if you will,” Perry said.
Of course, the Revolution took place in the 18th century. “Debates are not my strong suit,” Perry told Politico last night. Apparently history is not either.
Update:
Audio of Perry’s comments via Brendan Nyhan. Listen here: