Perry: I wasn't drunk or on drugs
(CNN) – Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry said he was neither on drugs nor drunk during a speech in New Hampshire Friday, as some observers and critics have suggested.
An edited clip of the speech, in which an enthusiastic Perry laughs and jokes with the audience, went viral on YouTube, prompting some to suggest he was on pain medication for a past back surgery or under the influence of alcohol.
But in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle published Thursday, the longtime Texas governor said he did not take pain medication or consume any other substance before Friday's Cornerstone Action annual dinner.
"I've probably given 1,000 speeches," Perry told the newspaper Wednesday. "There are some that have been probably boring, some that have been animated, some that have been in between."
When asked about comedian Jon Stewart's suggestion that Perry drank alcohol before the event, the Texas governor said, "It wasn't that either."
"It's not that I wouldn't love to sit down with Jon and have a glass of wine," Perry said. "If he'll buy."
With talk of the speech not dying down, a group of unaligned New Hampshire Republican officials, who attended the event, will hold a press conference Thursday to defend the governor.
Thursday's speakers have not endorsed Perry, but said coverage of the remarks has become a distraction from serious issues on the trail in the first-in-the-nation primary state.
- CNN Political Producer Rachel Streitfeld contributed to this report.
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As bizarre as his speech was, you almost wish he was drunk or on drugs. Wow.
The cowboy is actually making palin look a lot better.
I am glad there is a limit on number of presidential terms. Because if he became president, we would be embarrassed for only 8 years.
Hell, he is either crazy, or higher than two hippies in a high rise. Nothing else could explain his behavior.
What were the girl references about? The gloves are off now since he told on Cain. Rick Bush will be outed.
I am glad he showed the world a bit of his true colors. This guy is a snake oil salesman. As slippery as the crude oil industry he represents.
I wonder when rivals will focus on the fact that Rick Perry liked to travel lavishly on tax-payers dime in Texas and even personally lobbied individual state congress members this past summer to hide his travel expenses, rumored to be $1 million or more, for 18 months (until the elctions were over). Yes, it is 100% true – he lobbied to have state congress pas a bill to conceal his travel expenses until after the elections, and he succeeded.
I am a big supporter of transparency in government, and stores like this one involving Rick Perry make me sick. If you’re not treating tax-payer money as “sacred”, then you’re the wrong person to be in power.
If he says he wasn't drunk or stoned, it probably means he WAS, given that he lies about everything.
I don't know about the rest of you – but the thought of the future POTUS having to answer questions as to whether or not he was drunk or on drugs doesn't make me comfortable. Not presidential by any stretch of the imagination and I don't care which party you belong to.
I don't understand the lies. There was something going on. If he had a few before the speech, no one is going to hold it against him. Lying will. He was obviously under the influence of something, or he's losing his mind.
Now the USA sees what we've been putting up with here in Texas! But then again, in Perry's stronghold Texas cities, they all act like that! But not here in Houston!
The clip was doctored. This is a liberal conspiracy- cain monday, perry wednesday.
Could be Bi-polar.
Lets ask Dr. Sanjayy Gupta.
I would rather have heard the guy was drunk. If this is his "normal" then .............jeez
Who cares? Where's the story on ACCORN and their shenanigans trying to conceal their involvement at OWS?
( yes, it IS ACCORN under a new name)
Here's a thought: I think his campaign think-tank thought he couldn't think on his feet at the debates, so being from Texas they think big and they eventually came to think that thought-enhancing medications that are the rage with thoughtful college kids might help his thought process but thanks to the the side effects of these thought drugs he may be out of the race by Thanksgiving. So take thought and think twice before bringing unthinkable embarrassment to yourself with thoughtless use of thought drugs.
Seriously Republicans? Is this group of lying, egotistical, and bumbling idiots the best you can come up with? Obama is going to mop the floor with you people.
People do care? this is not penny anti as someone suggested. If president he represents us. Is this what you want the world to see.? Some jerk hugging a maple syrup bottle. Not me. The guy is a looney
Drunk on ego. Drunk on self love, and a desire to look in every mirror passed by. Drunk on desire for power. The same story for every lieing republican running for office.
Yeah this is the best I ever seen him. I think this is him that was dying to come out. DRUNK HIGH or whatever. I don't agree with him at all. But he didn't seem so weird.
This guy is a bigger fool then I thought...and I always thought he was a fool.
Heck when I first saw it I could've sworn it was a comedian spoofing the Teaxas Gov. Only to find out later that it was in fact Rick Wrinkles live and in color.
I wasn't drunk or on drugs...I'm just DUMB AS DIRT.
Even worse for Perry. If that's what he's like, it's not presidential at all. We've moved past the W. era, and the standard of conduct of The Commander In Chief has been raised by President Obama.
a bunch of misfits in the gop field, that happen to have a few extra dollars to mess off, and supersize egos