Rick Perry Drops Out. His Gaffes Revisited. The only thing more puzzling than Rick Perry's decision to drop out of the presidential race two days before the next primary, in South Carolina, was his decision to skip New Hampshire and put all of his hopes on that state. That's not counting his decision to run in the first place. In announcing his withdrawal, Mr. Perry said he has "come to the conclusion that there is no viable path forward for me." The rest of the country came to that conclusion long ago, but why not just stay in, take what will probably be a sad showing on Saturday, and then drop out? Maybe he thought he was going to lay down his marker on the race (and on conservative politics, and maybe on a future job?) by endorsing Newt Gingrich, whom he called a "conservative visionary." He refrained from offering the usual disclaimer, about everyone voting his conscience, before telling his remaining follower to back Mr. Gingrich, but the endorsement was a little odd nonetheless. "Newt is not perfect, but who among us is," Mr. Perry said. Meanwhile, ABC News was busily leaking details from an interview with Marianne Gingrich, Mr. Gingrich's second wife, in which she reportedly says Mr. Gingrich asked her for an "open marriage." "Not perfect" sure is a relative term. In honor of Mr. Perry's departure, I thought I'd borrow from American Idol, where every contestant who is voted off the stage gets a little video retrospective of their magical journey to near almost-stardom. It's usually set to music, so with apologies to Dan Hicks, I thought the appropriate theme song here would be, "Now We Can Miss You Since You're Finally Gone." Here is a partial list of Rick Perry's Greatest Mis-Hits (with help from my own memory, the Daily Beast and Jezebel). When Kim Jong-Il, the North Korean dictator died, Mr. Perry sent out an email statement calling him "Kim Jong the Second." He offered a rather more mindless attack on judges than the usual mindless Republican attack, critiquing President Obama's appointment of two "inarguably activist judges," and then forgetting one of their names. "Not Montemayor..." he said. No, not Montemayor. Maybe he was mixing up Sonia Sotomayor with Monte Hall? It's a mistake anyone can make, or at least anyone who also thinks, like Mr. Perry, that there are "eight unelected" justices on the Supreme Court. At a CNBC debate, Mr. Perry said he wanted to eliminate three government agencies as soon as he took office, but could only name two. At another debate, he "said" the following, and I put "said" in scare quotes because what came out of his mouth doesn't deserve that noble verb. 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? After delivering his stump speech at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College, Mr. Perry said: "Those of you that will be 21 by November the 12th, I ask for your support and your vote. Those of you who won't be, work hard. Two gaffes there: 21 for 18, and November 12 for November 6. Unless he was trying to capture the crucial six-days-younger-than-21-on-election-day voting bloc. He once claimed the Revolutionary War was fought in the 16th century. It is a little confusing, the way centuries work, what with 18th century meaning the 1700s. It's possible he thought he was supposed to subtract, not add. It's like i before e. Relatedly, Michele Bachmann thought the Revolutionary War started in Concord, N.H., rather than Concord, Mass. There are more, but that's enough for a respectable musical farewell to Mr. Perry, who somehow, I can't really imagine how, managed to get elected governor of Texas three times.