One of the many freakishly over the top moments in last night’s Fox News GOP debate was Rick Perry’s claim that Turkey is “run by Islamic terrorists.”

After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I realized that he probably has a vague awareness of Turkey’s struggles with secularism and radical Islam, but his caveman’s brain reduced it down to “Turkey = Islamic terrorists.” This is the kind of thing that, in any other election, a candidate would “clarify” the next day (read: backpedal furiously) after consulting with advisers.

But this year, Rick Perry just goes right ahead and doubles down on that mind-bending idiocy, and also manages to accuse Wolf Blitzer of “defending honor killings.”

Today’s GOP: ignorant, bigoted, and proud of it.