Texas Gov. Rick Perry defended his unusually expressive speech Friday night in New Hampshire in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle Wednesday.
"I've probably given 1,000 speeches. There are some that have been probably boring, some that have been animated, some that have been in between," he said to the Chronicle before two Silicon Valley fundraisers. He also called the speech "pretty typical for me."
A YouTube video posted the most expressive parts of the speech, and has netted over 893,000 views as of Wednesday. The Huffington Post's Jon Ward reported on the speech:
While the video is designed to make Perry look bad, it does capture elements of his speech that were widely remarked upon in the crowd by those who saw the speech.
"It was different," Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas told HuffPost after the speech.
The host of the New Hampshire event said that Perry was not drinking at or prior to the event. Others speculated that Perry was taking painkillers, following his recent back surgery. Perry denied to the Chronicle that he was drinking or on medication.
Jon Stewart joked on "The Daily Show" Monday night about the speech. "Best-case scenario, that dude's hammered. Worst-case scenario, that is Perry sober, and every time we've seen him previously, he's been hammered," he said.
When asked about the Stewart joke by the Chronicle, Perry said he would have a glass of wine with Stewart "if he'll buy."
