Rick Perry tiptoes away from Social Security slams

AP Photo/Cheryl Senter

Updated 3:36 p.m. Eastern Time

In his book "Fed Up!" Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry has some harsh words for the "crumbling monument to the failure of the New Deal" known as Social Security.

In the book, released in November 2010, Perry criticizes the program as emblematic of the "entitlement state" created by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt which meant "violently tossing aside any respect for our founding principles of federalism and limited government."

He casts Social Security as a Ponzi scheme, which he describes as "fraudulent systems designed to take in a lot of money at the front and pay out none in the end." On Fox News Sunday last November, Perry said the program is so bad that it would "even [make] Mr. Ponzi feel pretty bad if he were still alive." In an interview with Newsweek around the same time, he said America would be better off without Medicare and Social Security and suggested the programs are unconstitutional.

"I don't think our founding fathers when they were putting the term 'general welfare' in [the Constitution] were thinking about a federally operated program of pensions nor a federally operated program of health care," he told Newsweek. "What they clearly said was that those were issues that the states need to address. Not the federal government. I stand very clear on that. From my perspective, the states could substantially better operate those programs if that's what those states decided to do." In "Fed Up," Perry called the program a "bad disease" created "at the expense of respect for the Constitution and limited government."

As Slate points out, Perry added in his book that "if you say Social Security is a failure, as I have just done, you will inherit the wind of political scorn." But he says politicians should have the "courage" to speak out to keep the country off "the fast track to financial ruin."

Perry was right that outspoken criticism of Social Security can be a headache for a politician. Last Thursday, he was confronted by protesters who said he called the program unconstitutional; he responded, ABC News reported, by putting "a generous piece of popover in his mouth" and saying, "I've got a big mouthful." Outside the restaurant, protesters yelled, "Hands off Social Security and Medicare!"

That same day, Perry's campaign put forth word that the candidate was essentially repudiating his earlier stance on Social Security. As the Wall Street Journal reported, Perry communications director Ray Sullivan said he hadn't heard Perry suggest Social Security is unconstitutional and cast "Fed Up" as "a review and critique of 50 years of federal excesses, not in any way as a 2012 campaign blueprint or manifesto." The book, Sullivan told The Journal, is "a look back, not a path forward."

The comment came despite Perry's regular references to the book on the campaign trail. Asked about entitlement programs the day after he entered the race, as the Journal notes, Perry said, "Have you read my book, 'Fed Up!' Get a copy and read it."

Asked to elaborate, Perry spokesman Mark Miner told CBS News, "Fed Up reflects the governor's view of how our nation got into the mess we find ourselves in today and reflects his understanding of what the role of government should look like in our lives."

"In short, government should be as close to the people as possible," he continued. "That will guide the governor's thinking as he lays out his plans to get America Working Again."

Perry's apparent walking back of his controversial position on Social Security nicely illustrates that it's a lot easier to have the "courage" to oppose Social Security when you're not in the middle of a campaign. Perry noted ruefully in his book that "only retired senators chair entitlement commissions," since anyone who opposes such programs and needs to be elected can too easily be cast as a "heartless Republican." His presidential campaign seems to be proving the point.

20 Photos

Rick Perry on the campaign trail

[bmirarck2]

Comments from another rich man!

[steeepe]

Perry wants to end social security. It's in his new book and in his statements. Now, with a national focus on him, he claims he's changed his mind. He's a slick liar who will gobble up votes of the uninformed and gullible. He's a radical who wants to get rid of the EPA and doesn't understand science. People who support idiots like Perry should have their IQs checked to see if they're as smart as they think they are.

[wdrussell1]

Social Security does nothing to benefit the wealthy, so it is not needed.
Rick says screw the other 95% of America.

[Lifeson2112]

Well we could benefit the poor by having the government buy them all new cars but that wouldn't be constitutional either. Nice try.

[jnostromo]

I hope he keeps opening his mouth..his foot is big enough to fit in it...His state is no shining example...He is a do nothing puppett controlled by the same corporation billionaires who are the ultimate architects of this country's descent into the third world...Funny how they love to attack social security but say nothing about the golden parachutes afforded to ceo's fro eliminating jobs and driving companies into the ground...The greatest generation preserved this country, the greedy generation is destroying it.

[rwassel]

Wait, you mean there is a Republican who is being hypocritical? I am shocked....SHOCKED...I really thought he was different from all the other politicians :)

Even more laughable are the folks on here trying to spin it in support of Perry. Keep on drinking the Kool-Aid!

[notyrants]

Perry doesn't represent the american people. He does his bidding for the oligarchs of the non-democratic corporate government empire. The banks took bailouts and received over one trillion dollars in near zero interest loans and Perry, servant of the Lords, has the despicable intent to dismantle an proven successful program by lying about it. The people must stand up to these immoral lying tyrants. Send them back to their caves where that bastardized the word of Jesus to their dumb minions.

[Lifeson2112]

Wow, that's a pretty good extremist conspiracy theory you've got there.

[Tjagolf33]

He's not walking back what was said in the book at all. He's been touting his book all across the campaign trail. Having said that, the man isn't trying to be nominated to the 1937 Supreme Court. He's running for president in an America that's already enacted and judicially upheld the systems of Social Security and Medicare. Stopping the implementation of Social Security before it went into law 75 years ago is a lot different from outright abolishing it out of the blue today. Ergo, someone can oppose the original imposition of something while simultaneously wanting to fix it after it's already been imposed. However, I wouldn't be surprised if part of Rick's solution is gradually handing the system over to the states to allow them to tailor the system to their needs and to get it off the federal government's back. That's something he seems to have pretty consistently supported.

[Excalibrationist]

I agree. The idea of a smaller federal government is on the mind of every conservative, while the opposite is true with the Democrat Party. If a business person doesn't like the regulations imposed by one state, they can move, or initiate, their business to another. It's much more difficult to move to another country.
Inasmuch as the SS system, my wife, who works at SS, says approx. 50% of the claims there are for bogus disability (most of which are sent over from the welfare offices!).

[rwassel]

Excalibrationist - wow, thanks for the in-depth research on Social Security fraud. Since your wife works there, and says that, it must be true.

By the way, if you're so opposed to it, why is your wife working for it? Hypocrite much?

And the idea of a smaller federal government is NOT even close to being on the mind of every conservative. Just ask all the conservatives who supported Bush's Medicare Prescription Plan, No Child Left Behind, the Patriot Act, etc. etc.

[julesarcher1]

At first, when he got into the race, I was a bit concerned because he came in with so much force and fanfare.

But then he opened his mouth and that will continue.

So there's nothing viable here.

[Excalibrationist]

Other than "Media Matters", I haven't seen another news center so ---l bent on denigrating ANY potential presidential candidate against the infamous Obama~Blames, other than this left-slanted, CBS.
I go to a couple of other forums, RE: Fox News, but there are so many comments made there that I cannot keyboard quick enough to keep up with the pace (...and I'm quick!)
Here at CBS, I can take a BR break for fifteen minutes mid point of my comment and still post on top!
These are only more indications, albeit small as they are, that Obama~Blames will go down in flames election time next year!

[tsigili]

The programs would be fine, if the taxes were set aside for the use they were intended for, and the government wasn't borrowing the money for other uses.

SS is the 4th largest holder, of US debt.

[notyrants]

The oligarchs who are never satisfied will milk the people of their last ounce of wealth till they, the oligarchs die. Like bacteria on a petri dish, the greedy eat themselves out of auger and die.