Rick Perry Forgets Sonia Sotomayor's Name During 'Des Moines Register' Interview

Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry could not remember Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor's name Friday in an editorial board interview with the Des Moines Register before an editorial board member helped him out.

"Do you really think he [President Barack Obama] is waging a war on religion?" asked an editorial board member, referring to Perry's recent ad pledging to "end Obama's war on religion" and "fight against liberal attacks on our religious heritage" as president.

"I do because when you see his appointment of two -- from my perspective, inarguably -- activist judges, whether it was," he said, then trailing off for about six seconds trying to recall her name. "Montomayor," he said. Someone on the editorial board said Sotomayor's name. "Sotomayor and [Elena] Kagan, who are both activist judges," he continued.

(Video above via ThinkProgress.)

After this flub, Perry mentioned "eight unelected" justices when discussing school prayer. The Supreme Court has nine justices.

The controversial ad Perry was asked about compares gays openly serving in the military to children being able to celebrate Christmas in schools. The Huffington Post reported that the ad was created over the objections of his pollster, Tony Fabrizio, who called it "nuts." Nelson Warfield, a top Perry aide, said that the ad was all Perry's idea.

Perry's campaign has been plagued by gaffes. He misspoke Thursday and said that the U.S. was at war with Iran instead of Iraq, but corrected himself. During a presidential debate in November, he forgot one of the three agencies of government he had promised to abolish.

 

 

Comments

[cutesky]

10:45 AM on 12/11/2011

Rick Perry would forget his own name if his wife hadn't sewn it into all his clothes.

[mspender]

10:21 AM on 12/12/2011

that explains why he once referred to himself as Calvin Klein..

[cutesky]

01:52 PM on 12/12/2011

and another time he referred to himself as 100% COTTON.

[karaokekoncerts]

08:20 AM on 12/11/2011

Of course he couldn't remember her name. He is a backwards/backwoods religious wingnut who thinks women are beneath him. So WHY would he remember her name?!?!?

ANNNNNNNNNNYWAY..... Media: You have done successful damage to Perry. No get to work on reminding the public what a sleezeball fake/two faced "christian" Gingrich is. Then work on Romney about how 'liberal' he is. We want to see a campaign between the wingnut Bachmann and President Obama.

[l78lancer]

12:39 AM on 12/11/2011

Considering his level of ignorance, electing Rick Perry as president would be gross negligence on the part of the American voter.

[Razpooten]

01:58 PM on 12/11/2011

That is mildly stated.

[l78lancer]

11:31 PM on 12/11/2011

True. I'm hopong to win back the few that we've lost and hopefully gain a few others. The brazen and rash statemtents from the right along with verifyiable mistatements and reticence to use facts and data will continue to drive independents and some more moderate republicans away from the GOP.

Their loss will be our gain.

[silver45]

12:20 AM on 12/11/2011

Rick Perry may wish to find out why he's forgetting more than most right now.

[cutesky]

03:26 PM on 12/11/2011

He was goin' to but he forgot to do it.

[ArbitorA]

09:29 PM on 12/10/2011

What is less shocking is the big money and powerful interests within the conservative movement flew down to Texas and begged this guy repeatedly to enter the race.

They knew he was a buffoon they could control.

[ElBruce]

08:42 PM on 12/10/2011

Gaffe aside, Sonia Sotomayor is a practicing Catholic, and Elena Kagan is a practicing Jew. So now I need Perry to explain why and how he has singled them out with the claim that they're activists opposing religion.

[nazztea]

09:47 PM on 12/10/2011

They're not born-again Apostolic Christians, 'nuff said.

[Dropit]

11:31 AM on 12/11/2011

All unabashedly display their deep seated prejudices. But with Perry's memory, it must be a double burden trying to remember a name as well.

[michael429]

08:38 PM on 12/10/2011

i think he smokes too much medical herb.

[forkuu]

08:37 PM on 12/10/2011

the man is stupid ..keep him in texas

[bloomd]

11:56 PM on 12/10/2011

Do really think they want him?

[cutesky]

03:27 PM on 12/11/2011

they voted for him!

[mspender]

10:28 AM on 12/12/2011

they've elected him governor three consecutive times. Probably didn't want another thinking intellectual like George W. Bush.

[kmweaver25]

11:58 PM on 12/10/2011

Bush can have another golf buddy!!

[TomMartin]

08:19 PM on 12/10/2011

The article is wrong, we are not at war with Iraq, we recognize the present Iraqi government as an ally, we are at war with extremists in Iraq. We were at war with Iraq only in the beginning of the war. But the war was a costly mistake.

[Dropit]

11:38 AM on 12/11/2011

Mistake? A costly lie that gave us a 2 trillion dollar debt and more - the loss of thousands of young men and women. Cheney's oil goes to China. Yet, not one of these interviewers, as good as they are, dare ask any of these fearless teapublicans for their evaluation of the Iraq War, and how they would have reacted. None of them are ever asked if they understand how we got to where we are and the effects of both wars. Their periodic light comedy breaks are infused with a constant reminder that they're "out to get Obama" - that's all. They are ignorant of the issues that eight years of Bush-Cheney did, and just pass it all off as Obama's fault.

[bartstew]

07:15 PM on 12/10/2011

Rick Perry may be the single worst presidential candidate in American history. Absolute rock bottom.

[IdahoBlue777]

08:26 PM on 12/10/2011

I don't know about that. Cain and Bachmann run pretty close for that "honor."

[michael429]

08:39 PM on 12/10/2011

Cain hs great entertainment value...i miss him..

[Dropit]

11:40 AM on 12/11/2011

Next to Romney, and the other seven.

[Scorpiaux]

06:59 PM on 12/10/2011

Imagine: February 2013
North Korea fires a missile at a US ship and misses.
President Perry doesn't know that North Korea and South Korea are two different countries,
Perry orders a nuclear weapons attack on Seoul and bomb carrying jets carry out the order under protest.
Rush Limbaugh blames Obama.
That couldn't happen, right?

[TednTulsa]

07:34 PM on 12/10/2011

why limit this to Perry? it could easily be President Bachman or President Palin or ….President Santorum would be thinking that the entire US NAVY is gay and getting married in Korean waters and should have been sunk and the entire US Air Force nukes the US Navy!

[IdahoBlue777]

08:27 PM on 12/10/2011

With Cain, the orders might swirl around in his head long enough for someone to set him straight.

[Razpooten]

02:01 PM on 12/11/2011

That is a very possible scenario.

[philliplojek]

06:46 PM on 12/10/2011

Perry should get the same type of teleprompter that Obama uses. That might help.

[TomMartin]

08:22 PM on 12/10/2011

Teleprompters are useless when answering questions.

[KMoore4318]

09:02 PM on 12/10/2011

Yes, but a blue tooth ear piece, with the puppet master at the helm would help.

[RoofinReality]

11:18 PM on 12/10/2011

You mean that same teleprompter that Obama used at the Repub conference back in Feb 2010?
The conf that went so badly for Repubs that even Fox commentators said that it was a bad day for the Repubs. So bad that they haven't had him back since.

Obama spanked them something fierce.
Oh wait, he didn't have a teleprompter. Nor did he have the questions in advance.

BTW, can you name the last President who DIDN'T use a teleprompter?

But to your point, a teleprompter won't work when youhave nothing but wrong answers. That seems to be Perry's problem, nothing but wrong answers.

[luddite00]

06:23 PM on 12/10/2011

No respect for this person at all. After his last campaign ad, all I can think of is what President Obama said back in October. Perry, the ignorant panderer, does not have the values or the fortitude to be President.
"You want to be commander in chief? You can start by standing up for the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States, even when it's not politically convenient," President Obama

[NevadaLiberal]

06:07 PM on 12/10/2011

After watching the video, I honestly think he was just preoccupied with thoughts of gettingMounted later that evening. So he called her Montamayor. No dig deal Rick, we understand.

[glendadover]

05:57 PM on 12/10/2011

Rick has more "Senior moments" then the seniors I know do.