On Friday, Texas Gov Rick Perry had another campaign stumble when he said there were just eight Supreme Court justices, and referred to President Obama’s appointee Sonia Sotomayor as “Montemayor.” On Fox News Sunday this morning, Perry said he wasn’t a “robot” who had “memorized” the names of Supreme Court justices.
“Well, obviously I know there are nine Supreme Court justices. I don’t know how eight came out of my mouth,” Perry said. “I can’t tell you, I don’t have memorized all of the Supreme Court judges.”
He said that what Americans really cared about was a president who would appoint “strict constructionists” rather than activist judges.
“They’re not looking for a robot that can spit out the name of every Supreme Court justice, or somebody who is going to be perfect in every way,” Perry said. “They’re looking for somebody whose got values that are based with a deep rudder in the water.”
He later reiterated that Americans wanted somebody who would, make the, “right decisions, not someone who can either read a teleprompter perfectly, or spit out by memory a list of names. That’s not what’s important to Americans.”
The problem with Perry’s ignorance is that in this case, Perry made the gaffe as he was trying to blast Obama nominees Elena Kagan and Sotomayor as “inarguably activist judges.” In a general election, independent voters wouldn’t exactly be convinced that Perry is accurately portraying an appointee as an “activist” judge when he doesn’t even know her name. It’s not a matter of electing a “robot,” it’s a matter of finding a candidate who can effectively prosecute the case against Obama.
