The Huffington Post tonight is reporting on Republican U.S. Senate candidate Linda McMahon’s “little noticed” remarks made at a Tea Party event in Waterford in April about Social Security.
According to the report, McMahon made a vague reference to a Social Security Act “sunset provision” when asked about strengthening Social Security and Medicare.
It’s the kind of comment that can cause a bit of a distraction for a campaign and a candidate like McMahon, who simply does not have a reputation as a policy wonk, because opponents will fill in the blanks for voters. You can just hear the Democratic ads now, narrated by a woman, of course, to appeal to that segment of voters McMahon needs to win over: “Republican Linda McMahon told Tea Party extremists she wants to eliminate Social Security!!! Linda McMahon: Bad for the elderly and disabled!!!”
(For those who are interested, here’s what McMahon had to say about Social Security in an interview with our Hearst newspapers during her first Senate bid in 2010.)
All campaigns play the “this is what my opponent REALLY meant” game. “You didn’t build that,” anyone?
This same thing happened to McMahon during her 2010 race after she spoke that April to a Tea Party audience.