Romney-distributed fliers in Florida say Perry "wants to kill Social Security"

[Mr. Morden]

Romney is pressing the Social Security issue in Florida:

http://www.tboblogs.com/index.php/news/story/in-flier-romney-hits-perry-on-social-security/

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Interestingly, I think perhaps the two biggest pre-Super Tuesday battlegrounds between Perry and Romney (assuming it remains a 2-way race between them) will be Florida and Arizona, both of which have large populations of retirees.  It'll be interesting to see if Romney can get any traction on this with them.

[tmthforu94]

Romney always seems to poll best with older voters anyways. This should only help.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Romney is 100% correct.

If Perry's nominated Obama should bring this up.

[Eraserhead]

I have been pretty impressed with Romney's campaign lately. He is running a far better one than in the last cycle.

[Politico]

I have been pretty impressed with Romney's campaign lately. He is running a far better one than in the last cycle.

Practice makes perfect, as they say.

Romney should be the next president. He is the best man for the job, and the campaign is really hitting on all cylinders when necessary.

With regards to Florida, this is the best approach to going after Perry because this is true. I mean, Perry himself called SS a "ponzi scheme." Enough said. Nominate Perry, and FL is in the bag for Obama, and therefore four more years of Obama. Support Perry if you want that; otherwise, support Romney.

[Reaganfan]

I have been pretty impressed with Romney's campaign lately. He is running a far better one than in the last cycle.

Agree. He seems to be much more subdued and seasoned.

Indeed, Nixon was said to be this way in 1968 as opposed to 1960 and Reagan in 1980 compared to 1976. Perhaps Romney has found his footing.

[Guderian]

Entitlement-scaring is a disgusting Democratic tactic so I'm not surprised to see Mitt take it up.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Romney is correct, of course, but Mitt in the past has himself signed on to privatization schemes, so I find this little back and forth amusing.

[Phony Moderate]

Entitlement-scaring is a disgusting Democratic tactic

[Citation Needed]

[pbrower2a]

Entitlement-scaring is a disgusting Democratic tactic so I'm not surprised to see Mitt take it up.

But it is a bad idea to toss the issue to the President and Democratic candidates for Congressional seats.

Social Security handles huge amounts of money efficiently and effectively. Private interests want it so that they can profiteer from handling the money and taking their  'piece of the action'. 

[Guderian]

Entitlement-scaring is a disgusting Democratic tactic so I'm not surprised to see Mitt take it up.

Indeed. Republicans would never attempt to scare older voters by threatening that their Medicare might be taken away or something.

No, Republicans in 2010 midterms made factual claims about Democrats sucking $500B out of Medicare to deliver Obamacare. That's different from making hyperbolic accusations about some possible future action.

What's especially dishonest is that the whole Mediscaring and SS-scaring is targeted at current seniors whose benefits won't be touched under ANY proposition. And it's especially dishonest on Romney's part to use these tactics since he admits that entitlement reform is part of his program too, but you see he's trying to save Social Security while Perry is trying to kill it. I'd be surprised if the Perry proposition and Romney proposition had any quantifiable difference as policy measures, it's all about the fact that Perry uses stronger language (Ponzi scheme).

Franky, I think these tactics have very limited effectiveness, which we all saw in 2010 Senate races in Wisconsin and Florida where Republican candidates rather easily blunted similar attacks with counter-ads.

[Marston]

Republicans hate Social Security for the sole reason that it works. Yes, we can argue about long-term solvency issues and such but, for the most part, Social Security has been a success. And that kills conservatives and libertarians for the sole reason that it flatly contradicts their rigid ideological belief that the federal government cannot efficiently redistribute resources in any manner.

[Likely Voter]

Perry can turn this around by just putting out his plan to fix social security. There are plenty of ideas out there so I am sure a small team of consultants can whip up a white paper within a week calling for various changes and even some privatization. He can then say "while Mitt Romney is fearmongering about Social Security I am telling the truth and standing up for a plan to fix it"

[© tweed]

Republicans hate Social Security for the sole reason that it works. Yes, we can argue about long-term solvency issues and such but, for the most part, Social Security has been a success. And that kills conservatives and libertarians for the sole reason that it flatly contradicts their rigid ideological belief that the federal government cannot efficiently redistribute resources in any manner.

to put it more concisely it's about the idea that every pillar of socio-economic life has to be market driven.

[milhouse24]

I know a lot of senior citizens that need social security to survive.  I don't think Perry or any other Tea Party republicans can justify eliminating social security.  And its even worse to privatize social security into the stock market because then their is the probability that there will be a huge loss on that investment.