Rick Perry: Clinton's Not 'The Anointed One'

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry said he doesn't believe former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is "the anointed one" for the Democratic nomination for president.

Appearing on Fox News Channel's "Hannity" Thursday after tossing his hat into the crowded Republican ring earlier in the day, Perry said Clinton hasn't yet escaped her record on Benghazi or her email records, donations to the Clinton Foundation, or big speaking fees for her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

"It gets tawdry from time to time when you look at the secretary," he said. "Even George Stephanopoulos has got to say it doesn't pass the smell test."

Perry laid out his own resume of leadership during his record 14 years as governor.

"They saw me lead when the space shuttle disintegrated over east Texas. They saw me lead when multiple hurricanes came into this country," he said. "They saw me lead when I opened up this state to massive amounts of people from Louisiana when the governor called me and said, can you handle them? I didn't call somebody and say can we handle them, I said send them."

His state even was ground zero for the ebola outbreak in 2014, he noted.

Perry said he showed leadership, too, when President Barack Obama refused his invitation to come to Texas' border with Mexico to see the challenges of keeping out illegal immigrants.

"I deployed our National Guard. I made sure our people were safe," Perry said. "It's not about a speech. It's not about here's what I would do. Here's what I have done."

America is down now, but has been down before, Perry said, adding that "The message needs to be: We can do this."

In 1979 under Jimmy Carter's presidency, America was suffering from a grain embargo, the Moscow Olympics were about to be boycotted, the labor participation rate was low and Americans were being held hostage in Iran.

"Ten years later, we saw the Berlin Wall fall and Soviet Communism defeated because we elected a president that believed and knew that when America is strong, the world is safer," Perry said. "It's time to do that again."

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