Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) has disavowed views put forward in his book Fed Up!: Our Fight to Save America from Washingtonjust one week into his presidential campaign and only 9 months after it was first published in November 2010.
In the book, Perry blasted the expansion of the federal government and criticized programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. He attacked social welfare programs as "fraudulent systems designed to take in a lot of money at the front and pay out none in the end."
Perry also called Social Security "a crumbling monument to the failure of the New Deal," which was implemented "at the expense of respect for the Constitution."
But his communications director, Ray Sullivan, recently told the Wall Street Journal that the book is not meant to reflect the governor’s current views on Social Security, describing the book as "a look back, not a path forward." He added that the book was "not in any way as a 2012 campaign blueprint or manifesto."
Perry now wants Social Security benefits for existing retirees and those close to retirement to be strongly protected, according to Sullivan, but the governor also seeks to reform the program to insure it is fiscally responsible.
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