Rick Perry: Top Seven American Political Blunders

Rick Perry and Ron Paul — Rick Perry tried to tell Ron Paul that he would eliminate three federal departments as president, but could only remember two of them. Reuters

Rick Perry's debate meltdown last night went down as one of the all-time political blunders.

The IB Times countdown the top seven.

7. It's Ted Kennedy whose slip of the tongue was successfully negotiated. I wonder what he was thinking about though...

6. They call the vice-president a heart-beat away from the presidency. So when Sarah Palin was fighting the campaign in 2008 people started getting seriously worried about her foreign policy credentials. Or should we have been?

5. Rick Perry cost himself the Republican nomination in these 45 seconds. Just a small tip Rick: Never say "oops" during a debate.

4. Even the great Barack Obama wasn't totally invincible in 2009 when he made this slip about the Special Olympics when he got too cosy in his seat next to Jay Leno.

3. When Joe Biden asked a disabled man to stand up during the last campaign, he quickly realised this

2. What a president Bill Clinton was. But when it came to PR, he didn't quite know how to handle himself. Here he is with the Russian President, who's taking himself pretty seriously.