Conservatives around the blogosphere widely agree, Rick Perry had a bad night and the consensus for his ‘jump the shark’ moment came when he gave a long-winded, stammering response to Mitt Romney, who had disputed Perry’s charge that he was ‘Obama-lite’:

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“I think Americans just don’t know sometimes which Mitt Romney they’re dealing with,” Perry hesitatingly said. “Is it the Mitt Romney that was on the side of against the Second Amendment before he was for the Second Amendment? Was it — was before he was before the social programs, from the standpoint of he was for standing up for Roe v. Wade before he was against Roe v. Wade? He was for Race to the Top, he’s for Obamacare, and now he’s against it. I mean, we’ll wait until tomorrow and — and — and see which Mitt Romney we’re really talking to tonight.”

Romney simply countered, “I’ll use the same term again: Nice try,”

Many conservative bloggers felt

Perry squandered his best opportunity to put a glove on Romney and gave a bungled come back. Michelle Malkin called it Perry’s “cringe-worthiest moment” and that he “botched what should have been his most potent attack on Mitt Romney’s chronic flip-flopping…Any random high schooler at the CPAC conference in Washington could have done better than this,” Malkin jabbed. “If this is how Perry’s going to take Obama on in debates, we’re in trouble. Someone inject him with some Red Bull and a dash of Herman Cain’s personality.”

Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey called the moment a “spectacular failure” for Perry. “Perry went for an obviously rehearsed attack on Romney as a flip-flopper. There’s nothing wrong with that as a debate strategy — if you can deliver the attack,” Morrissey zinged. “He needs a debate coach, and if he already has one, he needs to fire a debate coach and hire another.”

Watch the exchange below, courtesy of Fox News:
Tags: Michelle Malkin, Mitt Romney, Republican Debate, Rick Perry