The Top 10 Everything of 2011

Watching Rick Perry fail to recall the third government department (after Education and Commerce) he aspired to eliminate in a Nov. 9 debate was like seeing a thoroughbred get euthanized on the track after a nasty fall. It was shocking, grisly and impossible to look away from. After a full minute of hemming and hawing (and, in desperation, a pleading glance at Ron Paul), Perry finally stuttered, "I can't. Sorry. Oops." Fifteen minutes later, he found his answer. "By the way," he said, "it was the Department of Energy I was talking about." The damage was already done.