News Roundup for 8/29/11

Drunk man in cowboy hat and speedo
Texas Governor Rick Perry

-Headline of the Day-
“Rick Perry: Social Security Is, In Fact, A Ponzi Scheme.”

“Sometimes campaign spin works to distance a candidate from his controversial past statements,” writes TPM’s Evan McMorris-Santoro. “And sometimes the candidate comes back and makes a hash of all the work his staff has done for him.”

Guess which one this story is about? That’s candidate extracts foot from mouth, only to immediately jam it back in there. See, Rick Perry continues to try to have his cake and eat it too, with alternating attacks and defenses of Social Security. First it was unconstitutional, then it wasn’t, now it’s a scam. Tomorrow, it probably won’t be. It all depends on who he’s talking to, I guess. And if he remembers which stance he’s supposed to be taking.

“It is a Ponzi scheme for these young people,” he told an audience in Iowa, “The idea that they’re working and paying into Social Security today, that the current program is going to be there for them, is a lie. It is a monstrous lie on this generation, and we can’t do that to them.”

Does that argument sound familiar? It should; every rightwing nut has been making that argument since SS began in 1935. For the record, exactly zero of them have been right. But hey, what’s a perfect historical record mean to a Republican?

Not a lot, that’s what. (Talking Points Memo)

-Hurricane Dimwit-
Can we start calling Republicans soft on national defense now?

Click to view at McClatchy
Click to embiggen

Because they are. (McClatchy)

-Bonus HotD-
“Is Rick Perry dumb?”

Yes. Next question, please. (Politico)