Rick Perry denies drinking or drugs influenced his strange NH speech

[ProSense]

Rick Perry denies drinking or drugs influenced his strange NH speech

By Rachel Rose Hartman

Rick Perry denied Thursday that he was under the influence of alcohol or pain medication during a recent speech he gave in New Hampshire that prompted questions about the candidate's bizarre behavior.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

Responding to the suggestions by some political observers that the animated Perry may have been on pain medication for his past back surgery, the governor said: "No. I was just giving a speech."

In his interview with the Chronicle, the Texas governor said he had spine surgery on July 1, but was not taking medicine "or anything else" before last Friday's event, the newspaper's Carla Marinucci writes. Perry also rejected the accusation that his behavior-- marked by giddiness, clapping, strange speech patterns, mannerisms and comments-- was influenced by alcohol. "It wasn't that either," he said.

Perry suggested the hype was the result of a video that was edited to make him look bad.

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