James Taranto: "Rick Perry was awful in last night's debate. Just awful."

"The swaggering Texas governor kept scrapping with the chipper Mitt Romney, and he kept losing.... The low point came when he seized on Romney's greatest vulnerability and ended up babbling:"

"I think Americans just don't know sometimes which Mitt Romney they're dealing with. Is it the Mitt Romney that was on the side of against the Second Amendment before he was for the Second Amendment? Was it--was before he was before the social programs, from the standpoint of he was for standing up for Roe v. Wade before he was against Roe v. Wade? He was for Race to the Top, he's for ObamaCare, and now he's against it. I mean, we'll wait until tomorrow and--and--and see which Mitt Romney we're really talking to tonight."

Yeah, when I heard that I said: "Perry has a long 'he was for it before he was against it' routine to recite about Romney, but his delivery is slow and halting, like he's getting tired."

ADDED: William Kristol says: "Yikes...  no front-runner in a presidential field has ever, we imagine, had as weak a showing as Rick Perry.  It was close to a disqualifying two hours for him. "