Texas governor and 2012 US presidential candidate Rick Perry made light of a cringe-worthy debate blunder during an appearance on a popular late-night US comedy show on Thursday.
Perry — fresh from a televised White House debate in which he vowed to eliminate two federal departments but then suffered a brain freeze and was only able to name two of them — appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman.
The conservative governor, who has said his campaign will continue, read the Top Ten List, a satirical nightly feature on the long-running CBS comedy show, which on Thursday was entitled Top Ten Rick Perry Excuses.
"Number seven: I thought the debate was tonight," Perry recited in front of the New York audience.
On Thursday Perry made a tour of morning talk shows in a bid to rescue his sinking campaign, cheerfully admitting he had made a mistake while insisting he was still the best candidate to take on American President Barack Obama.