Perry touts experience as governor

by Mark Hensch - 06/06/15 4:52 PM ET

Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry said Saturday his time governing Texas made him the best candidate for the White House in 2016.

“This is going to be a ‘show me, don’t tell me’ election,” Perry told listeners at the inaugural “Ride and Roast” event in Boone, Iowa.

Perry cited the diverse range of challenges he had faced while governing Texas as proof he was ready to lead the nation.

{mosads}“No one gave me a manual that says, ‘Here’s how you deal with Ebola when it shows up on the shores of America and in your state,’ ” he said.

“No one gave me a manual when tens of thousands of people showed up on our borders and our federal government failed in its constitutional duty to keep it secure,” Perry said. “If you elect me president, I will secure that border.”

Perry said he would authorize the Keystone XL oil pipeline as a means of making the U.S. “energy secure.”

He also promised he would lower the nation’s corporate taxes, regulations he called the “highest corporate tax rate in the Western world.”

“Let’s make 2016 the great year of getting America back to being America again,” Perry told listeners.

“America’s freedoms are the greatest in the world, and we need to fight for them every day,” Perry added. “If you elect me the president of these United States, that is exactly what I will do for you.”

Perry touted past U.S. history as proof of American exceptionalism.

“We’ve been through a Civil War, we’ve been through two World Wars, we’ve been through a Great Depression,” he said.

“We’ve been through Jimmy Carter, we can make it through a President Obama,” he quipped.

The former Texas governor remarked that the right president could make 2016 the starting point of America’s brightest future yet.

“We are just a few policy changes at the top from the greatest days of our nation,” Perry said.

“This is an incredible country,” he added. “I am excited about the future of America.”

Perry launched his 2016 campaign Thursday from an airplane hangar outside Dallas.

“We have the power to make things new again,” he said Thursday, flanked by Marines, Navy SEALs and Medal of Honor recipients. “And that is why I am running for the presidency of the United States of America.”

Perry vowed he would approach the campaign trail with renewed resolve after his failed 2012 bid.

He has made his gubernatorial experience a central part of his campaign rhetoric since joining the race.

“Leadership is not a speech you give on the Senate floor,” he said Thursday. “It’s not what you say, it’s what you do.”

“I have been tested,” he added. “I have led the most successful state in America.”

Tags Joni Ernst Rick Perry