Perry: I was ‘arrogant’ during 2012 run

by Ben Kamisar - 09/30/14 12:06 PM ET

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) blamed his failed 2012 presidential bid on an “arrogant” mindset Tuesday, saying he had not prepared for his run.

“Preparation to run for the highest office in this country and the most influential position in the world requires an extensive amount of preparation, whether it’s domestic policy, whether it’s monetary policy, whether it’s foreign policy,” said Perry in an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

{mosads}“And I did not prepare. I was a bit arrogant,” he continued.

But Perry said he has been working furiously to prepare as he weighs a run in 2016.

“Preparation is the key to it, and that’s the thing that I’ve been working on for the last 22 months,” he said.

Perry said he’s met with think tanks across the spectrum, including the Brookings Institute and the American Enterprise Institute, as well as former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, to bone up on issues before a potential presidential bid.

Asked by co-host Mika Brzezinski if he wanted to run again, Perry said, “America needs a competent leader.”

He added that he believed he was competent but stayed mum on his 2016 plans, repeating his previous declarations that he would make a decision sometime next year.

The Texan’s star burned bright in the first months of his 2012 candidacy, as conservative GOP voters swooned over the three-term governor. But poor debate performances, highlighted by the infamous “oops” moment, during which Perry could not remember which government departments he would eliminate, left him lagging in the polls.

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On Tuesday, Perry also hit the White House for being slow to arm the Syrian rebels in their fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). He called for U.S. special forces to help destroy the terror group.

“You cannot do the damage that needs to be done to ISIS just with a few airstrikes, and particularly, you have to have assets on the ground,” he said.

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