Perry Commits Revolutionary War Gaffe
The Texas governor tells Dartmouth students that the war took place two centuries before it actually did.
| Posted Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011, at 2:14 PM
Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images.
Maybe Rick Perry should have cut his losses and called it a night after Wednesday’s Republican debate in New Hampshire.
After a noticeably lackluster performance in the economics forum on the campus of Dartmouth College, Perry paid a visit to the school’s Beta Theta Pi fraternity, where he fielded questions on energy policy, Social Security, and states’ rights.
It was the last topic that produced, in the words of NBC News, a "head-slapping gaffe."
The Texas governor answered a female student’s question on the topic by saying that one of the reasons our founding fathers "fought the revolution in the 16th century was to get away from that type of onerous crown."
For those of you who aren’t history buffs and have no motivation to fact-check with Google: The Revolutionary War was fought in the 18th century.
While the historical slipup appears to have just been a stumble at the end of a long day, the Washington Post notes that it was on a topic that is near and dear to Tea Party supporters, who make up much of the Texas governor’s base.
Watch Perry's goof below:
