Rick Perry freely admitted Friday that he "wasn't prepared" for his run for the presidency in 2012, but this time around has spent a "lot of time in preparation for this moment."
"Anyone who has done this more than once is recasting themselves," the former Texas governor, who announced his new presidential candidacy on Thursday, told
MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program. "I'm pretty sure that Bill Clinton had to recast himself after his rather disastrous speech at a convention, so everyone does that."
This time, Perry said, he knew that to be a legitimate candidate he had to give himself "an opportunity to be successful," and "had to spend substantial time in preparation on monetary policy, domestic policy, foreign policy."
Story continues below video.
Perry, who was governor of Texas from 2000 through January of this year, started out strong in the 2012 race, which he entered about a month and a half after having back surgery.
However,
his campaign ended up being marred by a series of gaffes, including the infamous "oops" moment in a November 2011 debate, when he forgot the name of a third federal agency he wanted to shut down.
The former governor also made an appearance on Fox News' "Fox & Friends" on Friday, where he talked about the effects of his back surgery on his last campaign.
"I had major back surgery," Perry said. "Basically, I wasn't sleeping and [hadn't] slept for weeks for any extended period of time. I did the best I could, put it that way, and it wasn't good enough, but being healthy and being prepared, that's all behind us.
"We've stayed focused the last three years on really being prepared. When people see us on the stage, in debates, they'll see a very, very different individual."
But Perry said he's not afraid of competition, even with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's having announced, just shortly before Perry made his candidacy official, that he'll make his own decision on whether to run for the White House public on June 15.
"There's great talent and good competition out there in the field, and I've been used to competition for 14 years as the governor," Perry told Fox, noting that he plans to base his own campaign on "how to create a, an environment where people can have a job, a good job that pays well, using our energy industry to expand the manufacturing inside of it."
He also responded to a push from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on voting rights. Clinton, in Texas speech on Thursday, accused Republicans of hindering people from voting, including in Texas, where Perry signed a voter ID law.
"I think it makes sense to have a photo ID to be able to vote," Perry said. "When I got on the airline to come up here yesterday, I had to show my photo ID. Hillary Clinton may not have had to show an ID to get on a airplane in a long time."
On both programs, Perry reiterated his wish to push hard for national security if he is elected,
addressing the news about a cyberattack on government employees' information.
"We've known for a long period of time that we have great exposure on information and the technology has not been put into place," Perry told Fox. "I don't think the private sector is working with the federal government on a close enough or expansive enough way. Cyber is one of those areas that we should have been spending substantially more money on, more technology on, and working with our allies around the world."
Perry also said Friday he believes the Islamic State can be defeated, "just like I believe you can secure the border," but he believes a coalition of partners in the Middle East should be used.
"But your allies must, they must trust you, and I think that trust, that loss of trust is really hurting us around the world today, and I think the Chinese attack is a great example of it," Perry said.
Perry told MSNBC that he is also running because he thinks "America needs somebody in the White House every day. These veterans that are being so ill suited today by the Veterans Administration, they need somebody that goes to the White House every day and thinks about them and makes a phone call. I don't think the president today does that."
Perry also said that despite the rumors that he doesn't like Jeb Bush or his brother, former President George W. Bush, he believes that the "Bushes are a great family" and both of the Bush sons were good governors. He also thinks George W. Bush was a good president.
And as for the question over whether it was a mistake to go into Iraq, Perry said he would not have gone in if he knew then what he does now.
"Here's the more important question: Knowing what we know today, would Secretary Clinton and President [Barack] Obama have pulled out of Iraq in 2011?" he said.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.