Rove: Perry's Social Security Views Are Toxic

Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s description of Social Security as a failed “Ponzi scheme” is toxic, not just in a general election but also in a Republican primary, Karl Rove said today on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

Rove said the Perry campaign is going to have to deal with that assertion, which he made in his book, “Fed Up,” and another that described Social Security as one of many New Deal programs that have “never died, and like a bad disease, they have spread.”

“They’re toxic in a general election environment and they are also toxic in a Republican primary,” Rove said on GMA. “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 a judgment based on your answer to it.”

Rove, a former adviser to President George W. Bush, said it is too early to conclude that Perry is best suited to beat President Barack Obama.

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.”