Gov. Rick Perry Backtracking on Social Security Stance

Texas Governor Rick Perry, who recently joined the presidential race, once made no bones about his feelings toward the 76-year-old Social Security program, calling it “a crumbling monument to the failure of the New Deal” in his book Fed Up! But these days he’s changing his tune a bit, or at least muffling it.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Perry is now being questioned by journalists and citizens alike about his negative outlook on the entitlement program. On Thursday, August 18, protesters planted themselves outside a café where Perry was, accusing Perry of trying to destroy Social Security.

Perry’s communications director Ray Sullivan admitted to the WSJ that Fed Up! could potentially raise a lot of questions about Perry’s ticket, but that the book was meant as “a look back, not a path forward.”

It was written, Sullivan said, “as a review and critique of 50 years of federal excesses, not in any way as a 2012 campaign blueprint or manifesto.”

Though Perry called Social Security a “bad disease” in his book, he’s now loosened his stance.

“The governor wants to see the benefits for existing retirees and those close to Social Security be strongly protected,” said Sullivan. “He believes a full review and discussion of entitlement reforms need to be had, aimed at seeing that programs like Social Security and Medicare are fiscally responsible and actuarially sound.”

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