Mark Halperin: Despite Rick Perry’s Epic Debate Gaffe, Don’t Count Him Out

On Thursday’s Morning Joe, Mark Halperin defended Rick Perry‘s presidential chances in the fallout over his embarrassingly epic gaffe. “There’s no Romney alternative right now. Perry’s probably the only one in this race who would have a good chance of beating Romney if he got him one-on-one. He still has money in the bank. I’m not saying he’s got a good chance anymore, but I don’t make it zero.”

The other panelists were not as forgiving as Halperin, saying the moment fatally wounded Perry’s chances at the nomination and would haunt the Texas Governor for the rest of his life.

NY Magazine‘s John Heilemann said there were two problems with Perry’s epic gaffe. “The first is this builds on all the established narrative. He has made these mistakes in debates, not performed well. The scrutiny on his debate performance is higher, he’s got to do better than average, instead, he did this thing that confirmed everybody’s worst caricature of him. The second problem is that in this age of YouTube, this clip will live forever and it’s like the way that Katie Couric mockery by Tina Fey of Sarah Palin lives forever. It will be played forever on an endless loop. This defines him, reinforcing the stereotype, and it is timeless, never goes away.”

“I think it ends his candidacy as a serious candidate for president,” Mike Barnicle said bluntly.

Watch Mark Halperin and the Morning Joe crew’s take on Rick Perry’s epic gaffe:

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