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In flier, Romney hits Perry on Social Security

Posted Sep 10, 2011 by William March

Updated Sep 10, 2011 at 03:05 PM

Mitt Romney didn’t wait long to begin his attack on Rick Perry over Social Security—his campaign is doing door-to-door distribution of a flier attacking Perry on the issue.

The flier, which a campagn spokesman said is being left at the doors of Florida GOP primary voters, portrays the GOP primary as a two-candidate race—“Two candidates. Only one will protect what’s important to you,” is the headline.

Of those two, it says, Perry is “reckless and wrong on Social Security.” The bold-face tagline: “Rick Perry: How can we trust anyone who wants to kill Social Security?”

Romney, it says, favors “entitlement reform,” but “wants to save Social Security.”

Perry has not directly advocated abolishing Social Security, although he has called it a “Ponzi scheme” and questioned whether it’s constitutional. In last week’s candidates debate at the Reagan Library debate, the two clashed on the issue, and Romney accused Perry of being “committed to abolishing Social Security. But during the debate, Perry promised emphatically that he wouldn’t do anything to affect the benefits of current retirees or those nearing retirement.

Romney isn’t paying attention to the nuances, however. In the nation’s biggest swing state, which happens to have the second-largest population of 65-plus residents, he clearly hopes to put Perry’s views into question.

Romney’s move makes it virtually certain his clash with Perry in the Reagan Library debate will be repeated Monday in the Tampa debate sponsored by CNN and the Tea Party Express.