Candidate News Thread - Rick Santorum

[Geee]

 

As a key member of the Gang of Seven (a group of seven freshmen Republican Congressmen), Santorum helped expose a scandal at the House Bank. The Gang of Seven's reform-minded agenda is often cited as a foundation of the 1994 Republican takeover of the House of Representatives.

 

In 1996, as a U.S. Senator, Santorum served as Chairman of the Republican Party Task Force on Welfare Reform.[citation needed]. The legislation passed with overwhelming bipartisan support and was signed into law by President Bill Clinton.

 

Richard John "Rick" Santorum (born May 10, 1958) is a former United States Senator from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Santorum is a member of the Republican Party and was the chairman of the Senate Republican Conference.

 

Santorum first became actively involved in politics through volunteering for the late Senator John Heinz.

 

After earning his Juris Doctor, Santorum became an administrative assistant to Republican State Senator Doyle Corman (until 1986). He was director of the Pennsylvania Senate's local government committee from 1981 to 1984, then director of the Pennsylvania Senate's Transportation Committee until 1986.

 

In 1990, at age 32, Santorum was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 18th District, located in the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. He scored a significant upset, defeating a seven-term Democratic incumbent, Doug Walgren. Although the 18th was heavily Democratic, Santorum attacked Walgren for living outside the district for most of the year. He was reelected in 1992, in part because the district lost its share of Pittsburgh as a result of redistricting. In Congress, as a member of the Gang of Seven, Santorum worked to expose congressional corruption by naming the guilty parties in the House banking scandal.

A barn painted with Santorum's logo and slogan. The barn was used in a 1994 political ad.

 

In 1994, at the age of 36, Santorum was elected to the U.S. Senate, defeating the incumbent Democrat, Harris Wofford, who was 32 years older. The theme of Santorum's 1994 campaign signs was "Join the Fight!"[citation needed] Santorum was re-elected in 2000 defeating Congressman Ron Klink by a 52.4% to 45.5% margin.

 

In 1996 he endorsed Arlen Specter for president.

 

In a 2002 PoliticsPA Feature story designating politicians with yearbook superlatives, he was named the "Most Ambitious".

 

As Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, Santorum directed the communications operations of Senate Republicans and was a frequent party spokesperson. He was the youngest member of the Senate leadership and the first Pennsylvanian to hold such a prominent position since Senator Hugh Scott was Republican leader in the 1970s. In addition, Santorum served on the Senate Agriculture Committee; the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs; the Senate Special Committee on Aging; and the Senate Finance Committee, of which he was the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Social Security and Family Policy.

 

In January 2005, Santorum announced his intention to run for United States Senate Republican Whip, the second highest post in the Republican caucus after the 2006 election.[16] The move came because it was presumed the incumbent whip, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, was viewed as having the inside track to succeeding Bill Frist of Tennessee as Senate Republican leader.

 

During the lame-duck session of the 109th Congress, Santorum was one of only two senators who voted against Robert Gates to become Secretary of Defense. He opposed Gates' advocacy of engaging Iran and Syria to solve the problem, saying that talking to "radical Islam" would be an error.

 

During his third term re-election campaign for his Senate seat against Bob Casey, Jr., Santorum introduced the term "Islamic fascism", while questioning "his opponent's ability to make the right decisions on national security at a time when 'our enemies are fully committed to our destruction.'"

 

Santorum is considered both a social and fiscal conservative. He is particularly known for his stances on the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Social Security, intelligent design, homosexuality, and the Terri Schiavo case.[3]

 

In March 2007, Santorum joined the law firm Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC. He was to primarily practice law in the firm’s Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C. offices, where he was to provide business and strategic counseling services to the firm's clients. In addition to his work with the firm, Santorum also serves as a Senior Fellow with the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., and was a contributor to Fox News Channel.

Wikipedia

 

 

Rick Santorum

Presidential 2012

 

Links to the Candidate News Threads

 

Herman Cain:

 

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Rick Perry

 

Mitt Romney

 

Gary E Johnson:

 

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Jon Huntsman Jr:

 

Ron Paul: Candidate

[Geee]

Santorum talks about possible presidency at WGV

 

Former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., spoke before a ballroom of hundreds of St. Johns County Republicans at the Renaissance Hotel in World Golf Village on Tuesday night.

 

Santorum, who is expected to announce his presidential bid next month, was the keynote speaker at the St. Johns County GOP Lincoln-Reagan Dinner event. Santorum is in Florida this week to talk to Republican Party groups and participate in several radio interviews, according to a press release. “Florida has a big say in what is going to happen in the next election,” Santorum said during his address. “Its up to you to determine who to side with.” Santorum talked about his conservative views on social issues like abortion, including his work in creating legislation to end late-term abortions. The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act passed in 2003. The original GOP-led idea was vetoed by President Bill Clinton in 1997. He also addressed his opposition of President Barack Obama’s health care plan.

 

“These welfare programs take your money and give it to those who think they deserve it more than you,” Santorum said. “That does not make us a great country; it makes us like every other country.”

 

http://staugustine.com/news/local-news/2011-05-24/santorum-talks-about-possible-presidency-wgv

[Geee]

Rick Santorum’s Constituency of One

 

Gayle recently spoke with former Senator Rick Santorum about faith, politics, the presidency, and life. Click here to listen to our fifteen minute discussion or read the transcript below.

 

Gayle Trotter: This is Gayle Trotter, and today I’m speaking with former Senator Rick Santorum of the Great State of Pennsylvania. Thank you so much for speaking with me today, Senator.

 

Rick Santorum: It’s a pleasure to be with you, Gayle. Thank you for having me on.

 

GT: You think that President John F. Kennedy made a mistake about the role of religious faith in politics. What was his mistake?

 

RS: Senator Kennedy — he was a senator at the time — made his initial statement in his speech. He said, “I believe in an America where the separation of the church and state is absolute.” That is not an America that our founders would have understood. They believed that faith had a vital role in shaping and forming the discourse of our country. And that the provisions of the Constitution which were put in place to prohibit the establishment of religion, were put in place to protect faith from government, not to protect government from faith. And Kennedy went on and used the phrase that Thomas Jefferson had used in his letter to the Danbury Baptists, but that letter was written some eleven years after the Constitution had been ratified, and by the way, Jefferson wasn’t even involved in the writing of the Constitution. He was overseas at the time. But Jefferson wrote that in response to a letter from the Danbury Baptists who were concerned about the state interference with their faith and the practice of their faith. And Jefferson wrote that there was a wall of separation between government and the faith to protect the faith, to protect believers. And what Kennedy did was turn that on its head.

 

http://firstthings.com/blogs/evangel/2011/05/rick-santorums-constituency-of-one/

[Geee]

Santorum announces New Hampshire endorsements

 

 

Former Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum today announced several endorsements from Republican elected officials and activists in New Hampshire.

 

Here is the list from Santorum’s campaign to explore a presidential run:

 

• Hillsborough County Attorney Dennis Hogan represents two of the biggest cities in New Hampshire Manchester and Nashua. In 2006 he became the only person in New Hampshire history to run a successful write-in campaign for a party’s nomination for State Senate and in 2009 the Nashua Republican City Committee made Hogan their chairperson.

 

• State Representative Randall Whitehead of Nashua served as a Ward Chairman for Ronald Reagan’s campaign, and his endorsement of Senator Santorum is his first presidential endorsement since his work on the Reagan campaign.

 

• State Representative Don LeBrun of Nashua has served as a strong advocate for Veterans’ rights and is an outspoken supporter of Israel. In addition to his service in the New Hampshire state House of Representatives, LeBrun is a member of the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association.

 

• State Representative Bill Ohm of Nashua is an accomplished business executive who has more than 30 years of experience with high-tech companies, serving as Vice President and General Manager of ADE Technologies.

 

• State Representative Kevin Brown is a lifelong resident of Nashua and is a strong advocate for 2nd Amendment rights.

 

http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/2011/05/25/santorum-announces-new-hampshire-endorsements/

[Pepper]

Candidate News Threads courtesy of Geee:

 

Herman Cain: Candidate News Thread

 

Newt Gingrich: Candidate News Thread

 

Jon Huntsman Jr: Candidate News Thread

 

Gary E Johnson: Candidate News Thread

 

Ron Paul: Candidate News Thread

 

Tim Pawlenty: Candidate News Thread

 

Mitt Romney: Candidate News Thread

 

RIck Santorum: Candidate News Thread

[Geee]

Santorum Poised to Enter GOP Presidential Contest

 

SOMERSET, Pa. -- Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum was set to announce on Monday what has been expected for months: He is running for president.

 

Santorum, the former No. 3 Republican in the U.S. Senate and a favorite among his party's anti-abortion rights bloc, planned to make official his White House aspirations from the western Pennsylvania coal fields where his Italian immigrant grandfather worked. He has already hired a small staff and has made frequent visits to early voting states New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina.

 

The blunt-talking conservative lacks the name recognition and fundraising organization of his better-known rivals, but the two-term senator's advisers are counting on social conservatives who have huge sway in some early nominating states and have yet to settle on a favorite candidate.

 

So far, those social conservatives are weighing already declared candidates such as former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and potential contenders Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

 

Santorum, a lawyer by training, had been laying the groundwork for a presidential bid when he lost a bruising re-election bid to the Senate in 2006. His opposition to abortion, gay marriage and embryonic stem cell research makes him an appealing candidate for conservatives. But his sometimes abrasive style alienated voters in Democratic-leaning Pennsylvania, and they replaced him with Bob Casey, an anti-abortion Democrat.

 

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/06/06/santorum-poised-to-enter-gop-presidential-contest/

[Geee]

Bono Has Better Taste than Miley

 

 

 

Miley Cyrus tweeted: “‘IF WE ALLOW GAY MARRIAGE NEXT THING U KNOW PEOPLE WILL BE MARRYING GOLD FISH.’ — Rick Santorum UO contributed $13,000 to this mans campaign.” Miley Cyrus was protesting the news that the president of Urban Outfitters has contributed to former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum. She was also taking some liberties with arguments Santorum has made about protecting traditional marriage.

 

(Apparently the longtime Disney star is a proponent of freedom of choice in retail and marriage but not in campaign giving.)

 

Such is pretty much the media life of Rick Santorum these days. Just Google him. When Keira Knightley took the advice of Daily Show star Jon Stewart that you do just that to identify the Republicans who participated in the first primary debate last month, the British actress reported: “I just Googled Santorum. I feel like my innocence has been taken away.” His political opponents have left a (not family-friendly) lasting impression of just what they think about him.

But it’s nothing new. And neither the insults and injustices of the political arena nor the 17-point loss he took in his last race (for reelection to the Senate in 2006) are keeping him from running for the Republican nomination for president in 2012.

 

The question many of those who follow the news are asking is: “Why would he bother?”

 

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/268839/bono-has-better-taste-miley-kathryn-jean-lopez

[Geee]

Santorum's record of politics trumping principle

 

Former Sen. Rick Santorum is running for the Republican presidential nominee as the principled, unbending conservative stalwart -- which means he's also running from his past.

Santorum's beliefs are conservative, and he's been a hero for pro-lifers nationwide. But last decade he exhibited the standard Bush-era misguided pragmatism of shunting aside principle in calculated gambits aimed at political gain. Unsurprisingly, these ploys often backfired.

 

Bush's principle-free game playing culminated in his bailout bonanza of 2008. Remember: "I have abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system."

 

But the height of Santorum's political scheming came in 2004 with his relentless and spirited support of pro-choice liberal Arlen Specter that proved decisive in the 2004 GOP primary against pro-life conservative Pat Toomey. Making it worse, Specter was in line to chair the Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over abortion law.

 

Many pro-lifers in Washington and Pennsylvania never forgave Santorum for Specter. But the incident wasn't isolated. It reflected the GOP mind-set at the time in which party leaders saw themselves as clever chess masters setting up long-term victory with the occasional retreat or flanking move. Santorum was a main player in this hubristic game.

 

Santorum championed No Child Left Behind, a marquee George W. Bush campaign proposal that trampled the conservative view that education was strictly a local matter. Santorum also supported Bush in creating a new entitlement, the Medicare prescription drug bill -- a defensive ploy to defuse Democratic attacks. Santorum was also a porker, despite his general fiscal conservatism.

 

http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/2011/06/santorums-record-politics-trumping-principle

[Evad]

Great interview on Rush!

[righteousmomma]

Rush interview Wednesday, June 8:

 

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: We'd like to welcome to the program Rick Santorum, who is one of the Republicans seeking the presidential nomination of the Republican Party. Senator... How do you prefer to be referred to these days? You were last a Senator. How are you anyway?

 

SANTORUM: Well, Rush, thank you so much for having me on, and Rick works just fine. That's what... I was just in a diner in Nashua, and young lady asked me the same question. I said, "Rick works well," and so we're not in office anymore. I'm just out there trying to -- as a private citizen trying to -- make a difference in our country.

RUSH: Well, I was gonna ask you: Why now? Why? It's a crowded Republican field. There are a lot of candidates. You know, Republican Party is at war with itself in addition to being at war with Democrats and Obama. What is it about now that made you decide to toss your hat into all this?

 

SANTORUM: Well, I said this yesterday. The reason I went to Somerset County -- actually two days ago -- to announce was that's where my grandfather came to this country. He left fascist Italy, Mussolini's Italy in 1927 because he didn't want his family growing up with the government telling them what to think and how to do things. He had a good job, he lived in a beautiful little town in northern Italy on a lake. He left his eight brothers and sisters and came to this country and worked in the coal mines and ended up 'til he was 72 years old, and he used to tell me when I was a kid that the most important thing was freedom. I just believe with what we've seen in this administration over the past two years that we are at risk of losing our Founders' freedom.

 

We're at risk of losing what this country has fought for for 200 years, and I believe the linchpin in losing that is Obamacare. You know, Rush, that Lady Thatcher said after she left office and reflected on her career, that she was never able to accomplish in England what Ronald Reagan did in America, and she said that she blamed the British national health care system. What I said yesterday, or two days ago, was that once the government has an ID line to you, and they can withhold nutrition and withhold care, they can get anything out of America. They can grow bigger and bigger and more powerful. I just feel like we have to stop Obamacare, and I think we need a candidate who can be crystal clear on that and has a strong record on not just health care but on limited government and I believe that I can bring that to the table and someone who's been a very strong, consistent conservative over the years.

 

RUSH: Now, you've been doing some radio hosting.

 

SANTORUM: I have!

 

RUSH: You have. You have guest hosted for Bill Bennett on his show. So since you've done that you ought to be doing just about anything now, including be president. What did that teach you? I mean, you'd never done it before as a host. Did that have any factor here in you wanting to get back into your political career?

 

SANTORUM: Well, it was actually a really great way to stay, you know, in tune with what people are thinking, and it was very, very clear to me -- and I'm I listener to talk radio. I've been listening to you for 20 years, and, you know, really believe in the dialogue and interaction that goes into trying to understand where America is and I think talk radio is a great place for that and I certainly heard from listeners and in travel can you understand because after I started to do talk radio I started to do a lot more traveling because I was really concerned about Obama and Obamacare, and cap and trade and card check and all those things that were floating back at those times. I don't claim to be a Tea Party person because obviously I've been involved in politics for quite some time, but for really for the same reasons the Tea Party people decided to come out of the woodwork. I really decided to come out of my wood works and get back involved in this because I have seven children, Rush, and I think my duty to them is the same duty that my grandfather was to me which is creating -- to make sure that we pass on -- a country that's free and I really do believe that's at risk in America. I think this election is the most important one since the election of 1860.

RUSH: Why?

SANTORUM: Freedom. I really can't stress enough how I believe that Obama's view of America... I always use this quote that said in response to the Ryan budget. He was talking about Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, and he said that, you know, America's a better country because of these programs then he went on and said, "I'll go one step further: America would not be a great country without those programs." That man does not understand what makes America great. What makes America great was a government that was founded to be limited to doing one thing. I really believe the whole purpose of America, the aspirational value -- why everybody who wants to come to this country wants to come here -- was because we respected the dignity of every living person. Life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. It is to protect life and liberty. That is what America is all about. It's not to take care of people, but it's a belief that free people -- if given the opportunity to provide for themselves -- collectively we can build a much greater society. We can build a society that's a good and decent society, if government just stays out of the way and creates an atmosphere for opportunity, protects us from outside fources and creates a level playing field for all of us to be able to achieve in our lives.

 

RUSH: Now, Rick, in that answer -- which I liked -- I heard a lot of references to what some would call the "social issues." I remember you've said when you announced your candidacy -- and you've gotten close to it here, too -- you said you wanted to make sure that there is a conservative in the race who has a track record of leading on moral, cultural issues. Now, you know as well as I do that within the what I call the inside the Beltway elitist or ruling part of the Republican Party, they don't want any part of the "social issues," Rick. They don't want to go there. They don't want candidates who are gonna make a big deal out of the social issues 'cause they're afraid of abortion rearing its head and becoming an issue. Does that present you a problem? 'Cause this is one of the areas where the Republican Party is in a war with itself. You know, what I call the -- for lack of a better term -- intelligentsia of our party just don't want to go there. They want to keep it supposedly strictly on the fiscal side, but you're fearless going after the moral and social issues as you've just done here.

 

SANTORUM: Yeah. Look, I believe as you heard, "We're endowed by our Creator with certain rights: Life, liberty..." I mean, America is a moral enterprise, Rush. The idea that Republicans can win elections if he go up there and just say, "All we care about is money..." People don't care... Of course we care about our jobs, we care about money, but we care about our families. We care about our communities. We care about, you know, the dignity of life; we care about living good lives that add to the greatness of this country, and the idea that we can have limited government, Rush, without strong families?

 

The family is the first economy. If the family breaks down, well, government gets bigger because of the consequences of family breakdown. We see in the neighborhoods where there are no marriages and there are no two-parent families. You can't ignore the reality that faith and family. Those two things are integral parts of having limited government, lower taxes, and free societies. We are either gonna be constrained by internal controls, internal restraint on our behavior or we're gonna be restrained by external restraints -- and when people say, "We can live free and people can do whatever they want to do," show me an example of that in human history. It doesn't work.

 

So I am gonna talk about it. Look, I understand, you heard me say, Rush: The most important issue is obviously freedom and repealing Obamacare and getting government out of people's lives, lowering taxes and creating growth -- and you know that I was a leader on welfare reform. I was the guy that led the charge in the US Senate and actually wrote the bill when I was in the House. I was the guy that actually helped end the federal entitlement. I embraced the Ryan plan and said it's a good first step and frankly I would go even farther than that, and I'm out talking about all the important issues of the day, but you can't ignore the entire picture, and I don't think Americans want us to ignore the entire picture either.

 

RUSH:....Now, you are obviously -- in addition to being self-described people just heard it -- a social, fiscal conservative. You first won a House seat -- you're from western Pennsylvania -- in a heavily Democrat district.

 

SANTORUM: Thank your old radio station KQV where you were a disc jockey.

 

RUSH: (laughing) Yeah, that's right.

 

SANTORUM: As you know, they turned into a news format. They were the only station in the area that actually covered me, but I beat a 14-year incumbent after I was not given any chance. Six months before the election, I had 6% name recognition. So we go about it the old-fashioned way. This is my 18th visit to New Hampshire. We're working hard.

 

RUSH: That's what I was gonna ask you.

 

SANTORUM: Yeah?

 

RUSH: You won your House seat in that district, you then went to win the Senate twice in a state that most people would not consider to be majority in support of you.

 

SANTORUM: Yeah.

RUSH: So you can tell us how a social conservative can win in a blue state like Pennsylvania or in several blue states. How would you do it today versus what you did then -- and why do you think you lost the last time you sought the Senate?

 

SANTORUM: Sure. Well, I think you're right. I won my first four races. I'm four out of five -- not bad -- and three of the first four races I ran twice for the House, once against this incumbent Democrat. The second time I got redistricted into a 71% Democratic district against another incumbent Democrat. I won that seat. The third time I ran for the Senate in Pennsylvania with 600,000 more registered Democrats Republicans, against another Democratic incumbents, I won that -- and then in 2000 when George Bush lost the state by four points I won it by five. In 2006 it was a horrible election year, and, you know, I lost. But I lost because I continued to be a constant conservative and the last six years I was someone who was a national figure in the sense that I was the third ranking Republican in leadership and I had just run President Bush's campaign in Pennsylvania.

 

The reason I was able to win before is because people, while they didn't always agree with me, they knew where I stood and they knew that I did what I believed was right and that I stood for what I believe in, and they could trust me even though they didn't necessarily agree. I think for a president, there are very few people who believe or vote for somebody because they agree with them on everything. Most people don't agree with everybody on everything, but they want to believe that that person is trustworthy. They want to believe that they're authentic. They want to believe that they're gonna actually do what they say they're gonna do and can be trusted and for a long time in Pennsylvania that was enough for me to get a lot of moderate and conservative Democrats to join Republicans and win. In 2006 it was just a meltdown year. I still led the ticket in Pennsylvania, but our gubernatorial candidate lost by 22 points, and it was just a bad year.

RUSH: ... Romney in his announcement earlier this week in New Hampshire said, yes, he believes there is global warming, and, yes, he thinks human beings are contributing to it. Do you?

 

SANTORUM: I believe the earth gets warmer, and I also believe the earth gets cooler, and I think history points out that it does that and that the idea that man through the production of CO2 which is a trace gas in the atmosphere and the manmade part of that trace gas is itself a trace gas is somehow responsible for climate change is, I think, just patently absurd when you consider all of the other factors, El Nino, La Nina, sunspots, you know, moisture in the air. There's a variety of factors that contribute to the earth warming and cooling, and to me this is an opportunity for the left to create -- it's a beautifully concocted scheme because they know that the earth is gonna cool and warm. It's been on a warming trend so they said, "Oh, let's take advantage of that and say that we need the government to come in and regulate your life some more because it's getting warmer," just like they did in the seventies when it was getting cool, they needed the government to come in and regulate your life because it's getting cooler. It's just an excuse for more government control of your life, and I've never been for any scheme or even accepted the junk science behind the whole narrative.

 

RUSH: I see that you've signed the anti-tax pledge in New Hampshire. What are the specifics?

 

SANTORUM: I'm signing that today. That's right. It basically says that I believe in pro-growth policies, and the time I was in the United States Senate and the Congress I never voted for a tax increase, believed and voted for every tax cut that was made available to do, 'cause I believe that we need to have a situation our country where government is an incentivizer for business where by creating low rates and reforming our regulatory structure to make it more friendly to business and opportunity oriented, as well as I was a very strong supporter of litigation reform to get litigation costs down in our business. We can compete with anybody in the world if we're provided a playing field that isn't tilted against us, and that's what I think Obama and the Democrats and the left have been doing for a long time in America.

 

RUSH: Let's talk about Obama. I've talked to a couple, not a whole lot, but a couple of potential, some have announced, some haven't, Republican presidential nominees, and almost all of them, Rick, said to me, "Rush, we can't attack Obama. We can attack his policies, and we should, and we've gotta go after his policies, but we cannot be critical of Obama." What is your reaction to that thinking?

 

SANTORUM: Well, I don't know. I mean I'm going to attack the president when he's wrong and when he does things that I think are against the interests of our country. My feeling is we haven't talked about the national security. When the president of the United States goes out and apologizes for America, when he goes out and seems to embrace or even bow to foreign leaders, when he does things that I think make us weaker in the eyes of our enemies and make us unreliable in the eyes of our friends, I'm gonna attack him and I'm gonna attack what he does. Look, I didn't defeat and knock out three Democratic incumbents by not going after my opponent and making sure that they knew that they were gonna be held accountable for everything they did and said.

 

RUSH: Well, what they mean is, he's the first black president, and they don't want to be called racist, and so they can't be seen as attacking Obama personally. Of course, I -- I'm going to inject myself in this, imagine that -- I don't know how you separate somebody from their policies.

 

SANTORUM: Yeah.

RUSH: Obama is his policies. You are your policies. Mitch Daniels said that he would be reluctant to debate Obama. After we got Bin Laden, he said, "I don't know that I'm ready to debate Obama on foreign policy." You just said you're clearly willing to.

SANTORUM: Absolutely. Obama getting Osama Bin Laden was simply a tactical decision, that presidents, by the way, usually don't make. The only reason he had to make this tactical decision was because we're going into a foreign country to extract him and kill him, but other than that, you know, because he's such a high value target, yeah, he had to make a tactical decision to get Bin Laden. But what presidents are responsible for are not tactical decisions but higher level strategic decisions. In every contingency that's come up during the Obama administration President Obama has gotten it wrong and gotten it wrong badly, whether it is throwing Mubarak under the bus, whether it was not going after and supporting the green revolution in Iran, whether it's being on the wrong side of Hondurans who were trying to get rid of a Hugo Chavez puppet in their country and we're still on the wrong side of that whether we stiff-armed Colombia in their attempt to get closer to us to try to rebuff Chavez and the socialists in South America, whether it's the Poles and the Czechs that we abandoned to the Russians in pursuit of this utopian ridiculouslessness of a nuclear free world that the president is advocating, he has been on the wrong side of every national security issue since he's been president, and it's made us weaker abroad and it's made us less secure here home.

 

RUSH: I have a minute and a half. You ever ask yourself where the American people are politically? Do you ever fear the American people just maybe want a European socialist country, that they'd rather be dependent on government? Does that worry you?

 

SANTORUM: Does it worry me? Well, you know, Rush, 'cause you combat it every day with the popular culture and the media and academic institutions, that gets pounded away every day into the minds of our young people, and I don't know how many times I've listened on your show where people said, "You know, you opened, the scales fell from my eyes. It's finally making sense to me. I understand all of these lies I've been told." You tell people lies enough and you indoctrinate them enough, of course I've got grave concerns and that's one of the reasons I'm doing this is because I think we need -- look, the person who's been able to win the presidency since the age of television has had one thing in common. They've been the best communicator in the race. We need someone like a Rush Limbaugh who can communicate and can touch the soul of Americans and can reach out across the radio and television and paint a vision that helps drop those scales, that can remind people what a great country we are and that it's a great country because we believe in free people and the ability of free people to provide for themselves, their family, their community, and the God they love. That's what America is about, and we can with get back to that. We need to begin to believe in ourselves instead of the having someone tell us that they need to believe in him, the anointed one to provide for them............"

-----------------------------------------

Rush thanked him for his "passion" and thassst's all folks.

[Geee]

Righteosmomma. Thanks so much for posting that!

[Geee]

The Dark Horse With a Bright Future

 

The field of Republican candidates for the 2012 presidential run resembles a horse race in which several horses go lame, odds change and new challengers appear. However, there is one candidate who has worked tirelessly to maintain his position in this race: Rick Santorum. The former senator from Pennsylvania may not be as well known as several of his rivals, but there isn't anyone with his hat in the ring who has demonstrated a commitment for government reform more than he has.

 

Rick Santorum is the David competing against several Goliaths, but his slingshot includes the sponsorship of bills to rein in government spending, entitlement programs, and bailouts. While his rivals talk glibly of theoretical propositions to deal with the corrosive influence of government largess, Santorum has acted, and acted valiantly. He is the champion of the average guy -- the forgotten American -- who pays his taxes, fights for freedom and doesn't expect a handout.

 

Plain spoken and evidently sincere, Rick is a defender of an America that gave his father, an Italian immigrant, a chance to succeed in this land of the free. He realizes that it isn't only the threat of Jihadism from abroad that threatens our nation, but an internal loss of confidence, an unwillingness to recognize and defend the exceptional nature of this country.

 

From his perch in D.C. Rick has spoken out against those who want to destroy America because they hate everything for which America stands. He has consistently refused to shy away from the belief we must confront our enemies, embrace our friends and distinguish between the two. In much that he has written since his stint in public office, he has focused on the "gathering storm" and recognized as George Orwell once noted "that the first duty of intelligent people is the restatement of the obvious." Rick knows that defense of our nation should be the first and overarching responsibility of government.

 

http://spectator.org/archives/2011/06/16/the-dark-horse-with-a-bright-f

[Valin]

Rick Santorum Speech and Q&A at Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition

 

Moving!

 

Letters to Gabriel

[Saltbag]

When I listen to Rick Santorum on talk radio talking about his thoughts and positions I think he's great, and someone I'd definitely vote for President.

 

When I see and hear him debating other people, he just looks and acts like a weasel that I don't trust.

 

Purely perception, but we all know about perception.

[Rheo]

When I listen to Rick Santorum on talk radio talking about his thoughts and positions I think he's great, and someone I'd definitely vote for President.

 

When I see and hear him debating other people, he just looks and acts like a weasel that I don't trust.

 

Purely perception, but we all know about perception.

Yep, and yours and mine are pretty much in sync.

 

Scared yet?

[Valin]

When I listen to Rick Santorum on talk radio talking about his thoughts and positions I think he's great, and someone I'd definitely vote for President.

 

When I see and hear him debating other people, he just looks and acts like a weasel that I don't trust.

 

Purely perception, but we all know about perception.

Yep, and yours and mine are pretty much in sync.

 

Scared yet?

 

 

Reminds me of the Nixon-Kennedy debate, (as everyone knows) those who listened to it on radio thought Nixon won, those who watched it thought Kennedy won. For better or worse in politics perception counts for a lot.

[Saltbag]

When I listen to Rick Santorum on talk radio talking about his thoughts and positions I think he's great, and someone I'd definitely vote for President.

 

When I see and hear him debating other people, he just looks and acts like a weasel that I don't trust.

 

Purely perception, but we all know about perception.

Yep, and yours and mine are pretty much in sync.

 

Scared yet?

If ever Texans scare me, I know I've gone to the dark side.

[Valin]

When I listen to Rick Santorum on talk radio talking about his thoughts and positions I think he's great, and someone I'd definitely vote for President.

 

When I see and hear him debating other people, he just looks and acts like a weasel that I don't trust.

 

Purely perception, but we all know about perception.

 

 

Just wondering if Rick Santorum's performance at yesterdays Thanksgiving Family Forum (won't call it a debate), had changed you mind about him?

[Saltbag]

I missed that. You have a link?

[Valin]

I missed that. You have a link?

 

 

Do I have a link?

Ask and you shall receive

Note: you might want to forward to 23:00, it's two hours, but I really liked it and the format, allowed us to see these candidates as real people, not just candidates.

+ no gotcha questions....always a plus.

[Saltbag]

Awesome. Thank you Valin!

[Valin]

Santorum’s Fight for Welfare Reform

Despite his public image, Santorum is a quiet, smart negotiator.

Brian Bolduc

12/4/12

 

As the junior senator from Pennsylvania, Rick Santorum shepherded welfare reform through the U.S. Senate in 1996. Given his limited tenure — he’d been elected to the Senate only two years before — the fact that Majority Leader Bob Dole selected Santorum to lead the effort is nothing short of remarkable, Santorum’s former colleagues say. It also is a testament to an overlooked virtue of the ex-senator’s: his pragmatism.

 

Santorum first entered the House in 1991; two years later, he became ranking member of the subcommittee on human resources. “How I got to be ranking member of that subcommittee does say a lot, I’m afraid, about how Republicans used to view welfare — and too many still do,” Santorum wrote in his 2005 book, It Takes a Family. “Something like five Republican members more senior than I on the committee chose to claim a regular seat on either the Health or Trade subcommittee instead of taking the ranking position. . . . None of my Republican colleagues saw this subcommittee as particularly important to them or their constituents.”

 

(Snip)

 

Santorum showed that willingness in designing the Republican bill. Eager to call Pres. Bill Clinton’s bluff — he had promised to “end welfare as we know it” in the 1992 campaign — Santorum and the House Republicans introduced their version of welfare reform in 1993. “When we introduced our bill, the liberals savaged it, calling it cruel, heartless, and mean-spirited,” Santorum writes in his book. He continues with the characteristic sarcasm that has somewhat unfairly won him a reputation for acerbity: “We had actually had the audacity to call for time limits on welfare for the able-bodied!”

 

(Snip)

[nickydog]

This thread is very short compared to the others. Interesting. I suspect that will change now.

[Valin]

This thread is very short compared to the others. Interesting. I suspect that will change now.

 

 

Ya THINK!

[Valin]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAguymWzn54