Will Rick Perry’s brain freeze at the GOP debate cost him the presidency?

Let’s say you’ve been one of the most effective opposition parties in the history of America. You’ve consistently denied a once-popular president any legislative leeway, and you’ve turned his rare legislative victories into political losses. Thanks to your consistent efforts, he’s now considered an underdog for re-election.

Naturally, facing such a “weak” opponent, you’ve got plenty of people clamoring for your party’s nomination for the presidency.

Most are unworthy: a former pizza guy, a tiny former gynecologist, a woman who implied the Census was going to be used for internment camps, among many others. You have one candidate who has a legitimate chance of winning the presidency, but your voters are bloodthirsty and extreme. They do not accept this moderate and are seeking an alternative.

They settle, for a while, on a governor of Texas, because the last one did such a great job, right?

At first, this seems like a match made in heaven, a love affair for the ages. But soon, Perry turns out not to be such a great candidate. He owned a farm with a name that would make Klan members blush.

Then he goes to New Hampshire and gives the weirdest speech in presidential history — many speculate he was mixing something potent with his Sprite. The video of the speech goes viral.

And then there are the debates. Ah, the debates.  

Never before have primary debates been so influential in destroying a candidate. Never before has any one human being displayed such tremendous ineptitude in argumentation. But this train wreck of a performance reached its zenith last Wednesday in Michigan.

After declaring that he would eliminate three government agencies when elected, Perry blanked on the third agency. Completely and totally. Other candidates even helpfully suggested agencies, to no avail.

The video is hard to watch. Consider this a disclaimer: It’s cringe-worthy. Watch at your own peril. But it’s not a death sentence for Perry, if only because Perry’s campaign was never really alive.

He was the cute girl that the nerdy Republican voters dreamed of asking to prom before buckling down and taking their cousin Mitt.  

On “Saturday Night Live,” the cast joked about Romney putting Perry out of his misery with a gun, mercifully.

If only the voters could find the same mercy and stop leading Perry on.