March 11, 2010 09:29 PM UTC

Jane Norton Still Spending Her Time Out in Left Field

• 0 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

And starting again out in left field…Jane Norrrr-tonnnn.

We’ve expressed amazement in this space before at Republican Senate candidate Jane Norton’s apparent message strategy we dubbed “Out of Left Field” Norton. And we’ve said before that it sucks to be Norton’s spokesperson. You never know what Norton is going to say, or when she might say it, and more often than not, she’s not saying something good.

Well, it’s happened again. A new video is now online in which Norton tells a Republican Party forum in Colorado Springs that “with regard to Social Security, it has turned into a ponzi scheme.”

Why on earth would Norton say this? There are some 600,000 Coloradans on Social Security, with hundreds of thousands more hoping to be able to cash in sometime soon. Norton might even have a valid point in here somewhere about Social Security needing an overhaul, but you don’t compare it to a ponzi scheme!

By talking so critically about Social Security, Norton gives the impression to a lot of voters (which will no doubt be clarified in an attack ad down the line) that she does not support Social Security. And that’s not a good idea. We all know that Senior Citizens might forget to put in their teeth, but they never forget to vote; and you absolutely don’t want to come across as unsympathetic to one of their primary concerns.

Norton’s statement would be bad enough if it were just a one-time thing, but if you are a Republican who views her as your best shot at winning back a Senate seat, you’ve got to be concerned about Norton’s complete lack of message discipline and apparent willingness to say anything, anytime. In the last two months alone, Norton has served up a half-dozen or so giant meatballs for her opponents — Republicans and Democrats alike — to use against her later. This is not what you would expect to see from the supposed GOP “frontrunner” in a U.S. Senate race.