Rick Perry compares himself to Moses

Republican presidential candidate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry smiles during a campaign stop at Lizard's Thicket, Thursday, Jan. 12, 2012, in Blythewood, S.C.

/ AP Photo/Matt Rourke

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - Rick Perry's no stranger to gaffes, but he has tried to turn it into an asset, making self-deprecating jokes about it on the campaign trail.

On Sunday, he found an ally in speech challenges that drew laughs from the audience of the South Carolina Faith and Freedom Coalition prayer breakfast: Moses.

"Moses, he tried to talk god out of making him go lead the people," Perry told the crowd of about 300. "He wasn't a good speaker. Now, from time to time I can relate to that."

Perry's speech, which got a standing ovation from the crowd, urged the members in the audience to vote their values and reject the media narrative about which candidate was best prepared to beat President Obama (a thinly veiled reference to front-runner Mitt Romney.

"I ask you to think about the kind of leader you want to preside over our nation," he said. "Who will be faithful to your values? Who will see the job of the president as that of a faithful servant of the American people and to the God that created us?"

Perry has reiterated the vote-your-values message on the stump as he seeks to establish himself as the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney. So far, though, polls show him in the single digits.

[thebob-bob]

Did he explain that Hey-zeus tells us to urinate on our enemies, after we shoot them. The Evangelical alliance with Republicans brings shame to all real Christians.

[BWB2020]

Hey Rick Moses,

Why don't you lead the baggers who support you to the promised land, and out of America?

Then you can make a comparison about something positive.

[fedup12]

Michelle Bachman compared herself to Margaret Thatcher.

No big heads on you guys are there?

[dmoongo]

He may be on to something. I can see him wandering around on his ranch for 40 years trying to find the gate.

[hinoedd]

MOE OOPS HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

[antoniof123]

Rick Perry compares himself to Moses.....

This made my day what an idiot Rick Perry is....

[EffortPA]

Sorry, but Rick Perry is living proof that, on average, religious people tend to have lower IQ than non religious people. It doesn't matter if it is a suicide bomber in Iraq hoping to find lots of virgins in heaven, or an Israeli settler claiming that God wants him to build on the occupied territories, or an Iranian claiming that the Ayatollah has a direct link to God, or Bachmann claiming that the earthquake in Washington was a message from God, or any Christian arguing against evolution. They are all a bunch of idiots who have chosen to ignore all the scientific evidence and instead have chosen to believe something that they were told way before they had the ability to reason for themselves.

[EffortPA]

Perry's ability to speak in public is perfectly consistent with somebody who had a 2.***** in college. You simply cannot expect much from such a person.

[BOB-C]

This is what we're left with without Huntsman? Crazies? Pathetic.

[wag33]

Who do you believe? Putrid, phony blogsphere, or real people standing and applauding?

[MarkInOhio]

I'll go with the blogosphere. The people applauding are dopes.

[kansas1946]

There hasn't been a religious nut in history that didn't have folks standing and applauding. That is not a test of credibility. The problem is, he really thinks he is Moses and is going to lead his people (those applauding) to the promised land. A country run by religious theocracy. Fortunately, most Americans don't want that.