This is like the Tea Party — only it’s real. By the time this is over, it will make the Tea Party look like … a tea party.
Rick Perry’s insistence that Social Security is a “Ponzi scheme” has many saying he won’t be elected. As the Chicago Tribune’s Clarence Page wrote:
Who’s going to trust a man who calls the program a criminal fraud and, in effect, called Americans a bunch of suckers for believing in it for these many decades?
It very well may be that someone who insists Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, despite all evidence to the contrary, is not electable on a national level. But it’s worth remembering that last year, a tea partier in Wisconsin ran against Senator Feingold using the exact same line…and won.
The people of Wisconsin had a choice between the awesome Russ Feingold & the sleaze-bag Ron Johnson & they chose the sleaze-bag. When good people don’t vote, bad things happen.
In a move sure to disappoint many Wisconsin Democrats, former senator Russ Feingold told supporters on Friday that he would not be running for office in 2012.
Feingold was considered a potential candidate both for the Senate seat being vacated by Herb Kohl (D) and a recall campaign against Republican Governor Scott Walker.
Feingold lost his seat in fall 2010 to businessman Ron Johnson (R).
In his message, Feingold says he is “thoroughly enjoying the life of a private citizen” and simply does not want to return to public office at this time.
“I know that progressives are eager to reverse some of the outrageous policies being pursued by corporate interests at both the state and federal levels,” Feingold wrote in an email to supporters of Progressives United, the political action committee he founded in Februrary. “I am also well aware that I have a very strong standing in the polls should I choose to run again for the U.S. Senate or in a recall election for governor.”
But, he concluded, “After twenty-eight continuous years as an elected official … I have found the past eight months to be an opportunity to look at things from a different perspective.” […]
