Posted on 09/07/2011 8:55:37 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
On “GMA” this morning, Karl Rove noted that new GOP frontrunner has many strengths, but Rick Perry’s thoughts on Social Security are not among them.
Perry’s campaign has not backed away from what Perry wrote in his book “Fed Up” — that Social Security is a “Ponzi scheme,” a “failure,” “something we have been forced to accept for more than 70 years now,” and one of many New Deal programs that have “never died, and like a bad disease, they have spread.”
But Rove pulled no punches today, calling that stance “inadequate.”
“They are going to have to find a way to deal with these things,” Rove said.
“They’re toxic in a general election environment and they are also toxic in a Republican primary. And if you say Social Security is a failure and ought to be replaced by a state level program, then people are going to say ‘What do you mean by that?’ and make judgment based on your answer to it,” he said.
Our latest ABC News/Washington Post poll shows that Republicans believe Perry is the challenger best able to beat Obama. But Rove thinks it’s too early to make that judgment, and that Obama can still pull out an election that is the GOP’s to lose.
Republicans “can blow it,” Rove said, by “having a candidate who could not appeal to the swing voters in this election who are conservative minded independents, latinos and white working class voters…The primary has to be a process by which our candidate is strengthened not weakened and emerges from the end of it ready to conduct a general election campaign for the voters who are up for grabs in this election.”
As for Sarah Palin, Rove still thinks he’ll jump in the race but “wouldn’t bet the ranch on it.”
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Rove is an anvil on the GOP’s back.
I don’t think his views on SS are toxic. I do think his views on immigration are. but then Perry and Rove are of one mind on open borders.
Tokyo’s RINO views toxic to GOP.
Rove has become an attention whore for the MSM, who book him because they know that he’ll slam conservative candidates.
Shut up Karl, and go write your memoirs.
Tokyo Rove is at it again (and I don’t like Rick Perry).
The pot calling the kettle black.
I'm struck by the fact that Soviet Communism collapsed in exactly that time frame (70 years).
I could care less what Karl Rove thinks about anything!
Everyone’s been yelling “truth, truth, tell me the truth” at politicians for years but, according to Rove, those same people will be upset by one who actually does that! I don’t think so!
The BEST thing the GOP can do about Social Security is nothing. It will go broke, the GOP will be proven to have been correct all along.
Republicans “can blow it,” Rove said, by “having a candidate who could not appeal to the swing voters in this election who are conservative minded independents, ****latinos***** and white working class voters.
Gee wonder what’s on Roves mind?.
You know you’re onto something good with Karl Rove is opposed to you.
It’s well known that Bush and Rove had problems with Perry. Rove is just keeping the grudge going.
Social Security started with benefits for people who hadn't paid in all their lives and 16 workers to 1 recipient. Payments are made using taxes paid by existing workers. We're now at 3 (almost 2) workers to 1 recipient.
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...
Perry should just point to a living, breathing example of an alternative to SS that works http://www.forbes.com/sites/merrillmatthews/2011/05/12/how-three-texas-counties-created-personal-social-security-accounts-and-prospered/ and then ask his critics why they favor retirees getting only half the income they might from a private alternative that inherently is vastly more safe and stable than the current Ponzi scheme which relies on participants trusting that Uncle Sam won’t raid the trust fund whenever federal revenues run short.
The economic risks to one’s lifetime rate of return on retirement savings that are inherent in a privatized system are vastly smaller than the political risks. Given how SS has been mismanaged over decades, who in their right mind would trust those same folks to pay out promised benefits decades from now?
He just keeps plopping turds like this into the punchbowl.
Rove has now reached liability status for the GOP.
I agree.
Rove and Dana Perrino are a pair of ulcers left over from Bush II’s inglorious term.
THEY helped put B.O. in the White House with their incompetence.
Why in the world ANY Repuublican would listen to these two is beyond me.
Ss will never go broke, because they will just print however much money they need to keep it going, regardless of how worthless it makes our currency
Rick Perry’s ‘views’ on Social Security aren’t toxic. The stark differences between the ‘views’ that Rick Perry the candidate have from the ACTIONS of Rick Perry the elected official are the problem. If I thought I could trust his words as a candidate, his ‘toxic views’ would be a huge plus. As it is, they all add up to a big nothingburger.
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