Good ol’ Ricky… went for the cheap applause and instead managed to insult a NATO ally before he even has a chance to be in office. Smooth.

During Monday night’s Republican pep rally debate Rick Perry said that Turkey is run by Islamic terrorists, and that they should be removed from NATO and all their foreign aid be dropped to “zero” (he even held up a big zero with his hand, by golly!)

Turkey is none to pleased with Perry’s assertion. Now, to be sure, there have been some significant declines in human rights in the last few months, and some sabre rattling toward Israel and Cyprus. But run by terrorists? Pretty strong claim. Needless to say, Turkish response is equally strong.

Some facts Ricky may not have been clued into:

• Turkey is the only Muslim member of NATO.
• Turkey receives virtually NO foreign aid as it is. The State Department requested $5m for construction and other activities, which in the sphere of “foreign aid” is non existent. And that money would not have gone to the Turkish government.
• Earlier in the day, Turkey had announced that a new NATO radar station had gone online. It’s part of a US-led missile defense shield program.

Yup, Ricky’s foreign policy cred is stellar. If he wanted to make arguments about Pakistan, he might have been closer. Instead, he actually chose to step in his own mess by attacking a NATO ally.