Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has all the jokes. The Tea Party star took a moment to poke fun at Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s potential run for President, jesting about Perry’s ‘three agencies’ gaffe in a 2012 debate.
Following Perry’s decision not to run for a fourth term as Governor, there has been speculation about his intention to make another presidential run in 2016. Although Paul — long thought to be a 2016 contender — has not officially stated his own intention to run, on a Monday night Hannity appearance, he made it clear how he feels about the Governor’s chances.
“If Governor Perry decides to run for President, I think there are three good reasons he could be President: Texas is a big successful state, he’s a long-term Governor and — I can’t remember the third one,” Paul joked.
During a 2012 Republican presidential debate, Perry made an unforgettable and hilariously uncomfortable gaffe when he wasn’t able to remember the third government agency he would cut if elected.
“I would do away with the Education, uh, the, um, Commerce, and let’s see. I can’t, the third one. I can’t. Sorry. Oops,” he said at the time, after struggling for several seconds to remember.
On a more serious note, Paul appeared on Fox News again this morning to talk about the military coup in Egypt. He called for the U.S. to end foreign aid to the country due to the military overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi.
“The law says that when a military coup happens, foreign aid should end,” Paul said. “We’re not supposed to be in favor of supporting military overthrow of democratically elected government.”
Furthermore, Paul thinks that if the U.S. does give foreign aid, it should go to Israel first.
“I’m a big supporter of our alliance with Israel and nothing should come between that, but I would say that we’re also big allies with Britain and we don’t send them any money,” he said.
The Obama administration has not yet determined whether the situation in Egypt is indeed a coup.
“If the President says this is not a coup, he’s violating the law, he’s outright saying ‘I will not obey the law because I am above the law,’ and that’s the problem with this President,” Paul said.
When asked if he was surprised that the President didn’t mention the U.S. foreign aid going to Egypt yesterday, Paul replied, “He has a few scandals that he’s trying to keep up with, he may not have gotten to this one yet.”
