Perry: 2016 Will Be "Show-Me-Don't-Tell-Me Election"

Former Gov. Rick Perry, drawing a sharp contrast between himself and his less-experienced rivals for the White House, said Friday the 2016 presidential race will be a "show-me-don't-tell-me election" in which the candidate with the strongest resume will prevail.

"2016 will not be an election about lofty rhetoric, but it's going to be about a record of leadership," Perry said during a speech at the National Rifle Association's annual meeting in Nashville, Tenn. Voters, he added, are going to "look past what you say to what you've done. They want a leader with firm resolve, a leader who says what he means and means what he says."

Perry's declaration amps up previous statements he has made casting doubt on the viability of White House hopefuls who have not been in the trenches of public service as long as he has. He has pointedly questioned whether the country is ready for "another young, untested United States senator" — a dig at freshman Sen. Ted Cruz, a fellow Texan and the first major 2016 presidential candidate to get into the race.

While Perry was most emphatic about 2016, he started his speech with some appeals to the gun-loving crowd, hitting on the "delusional thinking of the left" that assumes criminals obey laws restricting the use of firearms. Playing up his devotion to the Second Amendment, he said the Constitution is not a "cafeteria plan" in which Americans can pick and choose which amendments to obey.

Read more: http://www.texastribune.org/2015/04/10/perry-2016-will-be-show-me-dont-tell-me-election/

Cross-posted in the Politics 2015 forum.