Tanker Helmet

tanker helmet Video Review

This is a WWII tanker helmet worn by tank crews in WWII all original.

Perry not first to stub toe in presidential politics spotlight

Didn&#x2019;t you feel <span class="italic">some</span> sympathy for Rick Perry?</p><p> Sure, it was a can&#x2019;t-look, can&#x2019;t-look-away moment in Wednesday&#x2019;s presidential debate: The GOP candidate, listing three federal departments he&#x2019;d eliminate, quickly named two, Commerce and Education. </p><p> The third? Uh, well, um ... let&#x2019;s see ... er &#x2026; sorry. Forgot.</p><p> &#x201C;I stepped in it last night,&#x201D; the Texas governor conceded Thursday, after recalling &#x2014; doh! &#x2014; it&#x2019;s the Energy Department that also needs to go.</p><p> Much of the commentariat quickly pounced on Perry&#x2019;s gaffe, labeling it as a near-fatal mistake for a candidate whose previous debates also have been considered less than stellar.</p><p> &#x201C;I thought he couldn&#x2019;t do worse than his last few debate performances,&#x201D; conservative columnist Rich Lowry wrote afterward. &#x201C;I was wrong.&#x201D;</p><p> Oft-quoted political scientist Larry Sabato, in a tweet, said: &#x201C;Is it possible that Perry&#x2019;s campaign ended tonight? Sounds harsh but it was that bad.&#x201D;</p><p> But who among us hasn&#x2019;t stubbed a similar toe while standing in the spotlight? </p><p> Ask Bob Dole. Or Al Gore. Or Mike Dukakis. Or other candidates, large and small, who have stumbled into a big mistake on a big stage.</p><p> Debate debacles, it turns out, are pretty common. And bipartisan.</p><p> &#x201C;Every candidate makes either a strategic or tactical mistake from time to time in debates,&#x201D; said Bill Lacy, director of the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics, and a veteran of several presidential campaigns.</p><p> Political gaffe connoisseurs have never reached agreement on the ultimate prime-time debate flub, but here are some good candidates:</p><p><span class="bullet_list">Bob Dole, 1976: The GOP vice-presidential candidate referred to &#x201C;Democrat wars&#x201D; in a debate with Walter Mondale. The reference was considered too partisan, reviving memories of the &#x201C;mean&#x201D; Kansas senator; some blamed the statement for Gerald Ford&#x2019;s defeat that year.</p><p>Gerald Ford, 1976: Or that loss might have been Ford&#x2019;s own fault. In his debate, Ford claimed some Eastern European nations did not feel they were under the control of the Soviet Union, a slip that opponent Jimmy Carter exploited in squeaking out his victory.</p><p>Michael Dukakis, 1988: The Democrat&#x2019;s clinical response to the hypothetical murder of his wife may have reinforced his image as an unfeeling technocrat. That, and the tank ride in a goofy helmet, may have cost him the White House.</p><p>Al Gore, 2000: In a contentious debate, cutaway cameras caught Gore audibly sighing and rolling his eyes during answers from his opponent, George W. Bush. It wasn&#x2019;t the only example of a visual gaffe. In 1992, Bush&#x2019;s father, George H.W. Bush, glanced at his watch during an exchange with Bill Clinton and Ross Perot. In both cases, political pros said the gestures reinforced voters&#x2019; opinions of the candidates&#x2014; Gore as arrogant, George H.W. Bush as aloof.</p><p></span> Of course, significant debate moments have not been limited to inadvertent boo-boos. John Kennedy&#x2019;s flattering makeup is widely believed to have helped him against a sweating Richard Nixon in 1960. </p><p> And zingers count, too: Ronald Reagan&#x2019;s &#x201C;there you go again&#x201D; buried Jimmy Carter in 1980, while Lloyd Bentsen&#x2019;s &#x201C;you&#x2019;re no Jack Kennedy&#x201D; stunned Dan Quayle in 1988.</p><p> Quayle was elected anyway, which suggests another important lesson. While it is relatively easy to draw up a list of debate blunders, it can be more difficult determining their ultimate effect.</p><p> Many political scientists think factors other than a debate miscue eventually become more important for voters. Others, however, contend a poor debate performance can reinforce the public&#x2019;s general perception of a candidate, particularly in a highly public presidential race.</p><p> &#x201C;The spotlight is so much more intense,&#x201D; said Mark Nevins, a consultant who helped run Kansas City Mayor Sly James&#x2019; campaign last spring. &#x201C;A mistake in a (presidential) debate gets repeated over and over &#x2014; it lives forever. In a mayor&#x2019;s race or a congressional race, you can make a mistake and it doesn&#x2019;t get bounced around the news for a week.&#x201D;</p><p> In Perry&#x2019;s case, the perception may be a candidate who is less familiar with issues than he should be, Lacy said, a concern for many Republicans who want a candidate who can ably debate Barack Obama.</p><p> &#x201C;This string of sub-par debate performances just really raises serious doubts (about Perry),&#x201D; Lacy added.</p><p> For his part, Perry brushed off the bobble during several TV interviews Thursday, including a planned appearance on the David Letterman show &#x2014; where a little self-deprecating humor can sometimes make gaffes go away.</p><p> As fans of the last World Series will remember, the joy of an 11th-inning walk-off homer can erase the anger over a dropped pop-up in the 5th.</p><p> &#x201C;There are going to be people who make mistakes, stumble over words or can&#x2019;t remember an agency as I did, but the seriousness is going on,&#x201D; Perry said. &#x201C;I may not be the best debater, the slickest politician &#x2026; but voters want substance, not necessarily the slickest debater.&#x201D;</p><p><span class="endnote_contrib">The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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