Expert: Perry's 'brain freeze' not unusual

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Nov. 11 (UPI) -- Rick Perry's debate "brain freeze" could happen to anyone and is not a sign of mental impairment, a Purdue University speech expert says.

On Wednesday night in Michigan, Perry said he would cut three agencies from the federal government but could only name two of them.

"Commerce, education and the -- what's the third one there? Let's see," Perry said, with an awkward pause.

"This seems to be a case of normal word-finding difficulty that can happen to anyone, but in this arena it has huge consequences and has gotten him so much media attention," Christine Weber-Fox, a professor of speech, language and hearing sciences, said in a Purdue release Friday.

A presidential candidate can't diffuse the situation at the moment with a joke or an "oh-you-know-what-I-mean" quip because, Weber-Fox said, we expect leaders to be eloquent and in control at all times.

"But Perry is turning it into a positive by poking fun at it on David Letterman and on his own Web site," she said.

"Since most people can relate to word-finding difficulties, and because of the way he is handling it with humor, this won't be devastating for him -- unless it happens again in such a public arena."