It’s going to be tough for Rick Perry to top last week’s embarrassing gaffe — he apparently thinks the Supreme Court has eight justices — but when we reflect on the 2012 race and come up with the governor’s top 10 funniest screw-ups, this one will probably make the cut.
While criticizing President Barack Obama for picking winners and losers in the energy industry, he bungled the name of the most famous energy company to go under despite government assistance.
“No greater example of it than this administration sending millions of dollars into the solar industry, and we lost that money,” Perry began. “I want to say it was over $500 million that went to the country Solynda.”
First, it’s Solyndra, not Solynda.
Second, it’s a company, not a country.
And third, federal loan guarantees in the energy industry have generally been pretty successful, and have enjoyed bipartisan support for many years.
Other than this, though, Perry’s on firm ground.
