In Rick Perry debating style, echoes of another Texan

In the aftermath, reviews of the Texas governor’s debate performances were devastating:

Canned responses. Stilted talking points. Dan Quayle-like in his opacity and twisty-turny answers.

Still, George W. Bush survived the rough patch to not just claim the White House in 2000 but also prevail over then-Vice President and supposed debate master Al Gore in two out of three (depending who’s doing the judging) debates in the general election.

Coming off his choppy and widely panned debate performance Thursday night in Orlando, Texas Gov. Rick Perry may take heart in the rocky start of his predecessor. That’s not to say Perry is destined to win the Republican nomination, much less the White House.

Still, it does suggest, as said in Ecclesiastes, there is nothing—or at least very little—new under the sun.

Read a 1999 article from the Times examining Bush’s stumbling debate performances and the questions it raised about his intellect and, yes, electability here.