At Least Someone's Finally Saying It

No one will accuse Rick Perry of lacking guts...

Riding high in the polls, Gov. Rick Perry rode into Iowa on Saturday with tough talk on President Obama, the economy and foreign policy and a declaration that Social Security is not only a Ponzi scheme but a "monstrous lie" for younger people.


"If you're for the status quo in America, I'm not your guy," Perry told an overflow crowd eager to see the presidential candidate at The Vine Coffeehouse, where people repeatedly sang God Bless America - once to try to encourage Perry to come in from shaking hands with people outside.


Asked by a woman in the crowd about Social Security being viewed as an entitlement program, Perry reiterated the suggestion in his anti-Washington book, Fed Up!, that the program amounts to a Ponzi scheme.


"It is a Ponzi scheme for these young people. 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," Perry said. "It is a monstrous lie on this generation, and we can't do that to them."


Later, in Des Moines, when a reporter asked about the suggestion that his campaign was backing off some positions in the staunch states-rights book, Perry said, "I haven't backed off anything in my book. So read the book again and get it right."

I also loved this part...

Perry also was asked to explain his past support for Al Gore, in 1988 when Perry was a Democratic state House member.


"I never met a Republican 'til I was 25," said Perry, describing Texas' political past and his own, saying he "made both political parties happy" when he became a Republican in 1989.

At least Perry had the good grace to bail on Gore in 1989. What excuse do Democrats have for continuing to support him through 2000 and beyond?