President George Bush’s Senior Advisor Karl Rove escalated his rivalry with Texas Gov. Rick Perry this morning telling ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America that Perry’s views on Social Security are “toxic.”. The George Soros funded Center for American Progress pounced, posting video of the exchange under the header, Karl Rove: Rick Perry’s Extreme Views On Social Security Are ‘Toxic’
Here is the transcript of the exchange:
STEPHANPOLOUS: So much talk about his books and what he’s written in his books, “Fed Up!” … And I think he’s gotten the most attention for what he said about Social Security, calling it a Ponzi scheme. Compares it to a “bad disease” that’s been “imposed on us for 70 years.” You know how much trouble that can be for a Republican candidate in a general election. So how does he handle it and must he disavow some of these statements in the book.
ROVE: Well,what they’ve done thus far is, I think, inadequate. Which is to basically say, “look, we didn’t write the book with the presidential campaign in mind.” Well, okay, fine. But they are going to have to find a way to deal with these things. Cause, as you say, they are toxic in a general election environment and they are also toxic in a Republican primary. I mean, 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. Each candidate has strengths. Each candidate also has challenges. This, for Governor Perry is his challenge. Now he’s got formidable strengths. But this is his biggest challenge.
ROVE: Well,what they’ve done thus far is, I think, inadequate. Which is to basically say, “look, we didn’t write the book with the presidential campaign in mind.” Well, okay, fine. But they are going to have to find a way to deal with these things. Cause, as you say, they are toxic in a general election environment and they are also toxic in a Republican primary. I mean, 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. Each candidate has strengths. Each candidate also has challenges. This, for Governor Perry is his challenge. Now he’s got formidable strengths. But this is his biggest challenge.
Just in case Republican primary voters didn’t get Rove’s message he followed up by explaining how the GOP could blow the 2012 election:
Well they could blow it by ending up having a candidate who could not appeal to the swing voters in this election, who are conservative minded independents, Latinos, white working class voters, the same kind of people that gave us a huge margin in the 2010 congressional elections. The primary has to be a process by which are candidate is strengthened not weakened, and emerges at the end of it ready to conduct a general election campaign for the voters who are up for grabs in this election.
