Candidate News Thread - Rick Santorum

[Geee]

As Santorum will learn, close is only good in Iowa

 

Political pundits were having a field day yesterday with Mitt Romney's eight-vote victory over Rick Santorum in Tuesday's Iowa Republican caucuses. In 2008, Romney spent millions of dollars and weeks of time in Iowa, with 52 paid professional staff members, but lost to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. This time around, Romney won despite having only five staff members in Iowa and campaigning there for barely more than a week.

Santorum's last-minute surge from obscurity to a near win sparked great headlines and enthusiasm among the candidate and his backers. But exit poll data suggests the celebration could be short-lived. According to Fox News, 65 percent of caucusgoers who said they made up their minds on the day of the event went with Santorum. That fact can certainly be spun as evidence that the Santorum can convert undecided voters into supporters.

 

But it seems to us the more likely explanation is that Santorum benefitted from a host of last-minute decisions by Republican voters whose backing is apt to be extremely shallow, especially after the inevitable roughing-up that he is about to experience as the latest Romney challenger. Timing also helped. Santorum was the fifth "anti-Romney" but the only one whose surge of support came just before Iowa GOPers headed to their caucus meetings. In a sense then, Santorum is the least examined of the candidate in the field, which lends a tenuous air to his position heading into next week's New Hampshire primary.

 

http://washingtonexaminer.com/

[Valin]

Just in case you didn't know Rick Santorum is a Racist, Papist, Homophobe

CNN says so...and that's all you need to know.

[Rheo]

Santorum raises $1 million in less than 24 hours

 

 

Rick Santorum has raised just over $1 million since his eight-vote loss in Iowa last night, his top strategist tells POLITICO.

 

John Brabender, who revealed that their server briefly went down under the crush last night, said almost all of the cash came online.

 

This is the kind of fund-raising, coming less than 24 hours since the caucuses began, that Santorum will need to ramp up his TV presence and organization.

[Valin]

Santorum raises $1 million in less than 24 hours

 

 

Rick Santorum has raised just over $1 million since his eight-vote loss in Iowa last night, his top strategist tells POLITICO.

 

John Brabender, who revealed that their server briefly went down under the crush last night, said almost all of the cash came online.

 

This is the kind of fund-raising, coming less than 24 hours since the caucuses began, that Santorum will need to ramp up his TV presence and organization.

 

 

Your Welcome. Quite simple, if you like a candidate and what they are saying and stand for...send money.

[Valin]

Beers to You, Santorum

Meet the real Rick Santorum, the one prudish reporters keep missing.

Jeremy Lott

1.5.12

 

 

 

Difficult as this is to admit, I owe Rick Santorum a huge correction. On the day of his Iowa triumph, I wrote that if he won the GOP nomination, I would start the rumor that he's secretly a Mormon. "What kind of a Catholic," I asked on Facebook, "forgoes both alcohol and caffeine?"

 

There are indeed some Catholics who refrain from alcohol and caffeine, though not for religious reasons. Rick Santorum is not numbered among them. We'll get into the particulars in due course. A correction is owed Santorum rather than an apology because I was misled. But perhaps that is self-serving and I should have known better.

 

(Snip)

 

"I don't do wine tastings. I do beer tastings," Santorum explained. Then he went on to show that he was not kidding. He said his taste in beer runs to "the stouts, the bocks and then the white ales and the wheats." Santorum said he will drink Guinness or, in a pinch, a light beer, but only "if it's really hot." He also, correctly in my estimation, judged IPAs to be "a little too bitter."

 

(Snip)

 

 

Also a real hit piece on Politicos Mike Allen and Evan Thomas.

[Rheo]

Rick Santorum said the Senate should sue over President Obama’s decision Wednesday to appoint Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and name three members to vacancies on the National Labor Relations Board.

 

“What the president did was wrong — pretty scary stuff,” Santorum said.

 

“I hope that the United States Senate does what they’re supposed to do, and they should go and even take the president to court. This is not something that the president should get away with,” he added.

 

Weasel Zippers

[Valin]

Rick Santorum said the Senate should sue over President Obama’s decision Wednesday to appoint Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and name three members to vacancies on the National Labor Relations Board.

 

“What the president did was wrong — pretty scary stuff,” Santorum said.

 

“I hope that the United States Senate does what they’re supposed to do, and they should go and even take the president to court. This is not something that the president should get away with,” he added.

 

Weasel Zippers

 

 

It's obvious that Rick Santorum doesn't really grasp that he's dealing with (cue the trumpet fanfare) BARACK OBAMA!

[Valin]

Eugene Robinson: Rick Santorum's Stillborn Baby Story Is "Very Weird"

[RandyM]

Eugene Robinson: Rick Santorum's Stillborn Baby Story Is "Very Weird"

 

 

The progs will grasp at anything... repeat, anything... to degrade and demean conservatives.

[Valin]

Eugene Robinson: Rick Santorum's Stillborn Baby Story Is "Very Weird"

 

 

The progs will grasp at anything... repeat, anything... to degrade and demean conservatives.

 

 

Well that's because we are bad terrible evil people. We are the kind of people your mother warned you about.

[Valin]

Right Scoop: Rick Santorum interview with Greta

[Valin]

Have They No Shame?

 

H/T Big Journalism

[Rheo]

What A Big Government Conservative Looks Like

 

I and some friends, none of us Romney fans, have set about exploring Santorum’s record since Wednesday morning. Here now is a non-exhaustive list of what we have found. It does not even include his support for No Child Left Behind, Medicare Part D, etc.

 

This is not the record of a man committed to scaling back the welfare state or the nanny state.

 

See voting record at link.

[Valin]

What A Big Government Conservative Looks Like

 

I and some friends, none of us Romney fans, have set about exploring Santorum’s record since Wednesday morning. Here now is a non-exhaustive list of what we have found. It does not even include his support for No Child Left Behind, Medicare Part D, etc.

 

This is not the record of a man committed to scaling back the welfare state or the nanny state.

 

See voting record at link.

 

 

My take...OMG! Rick Santorum is a politician!

[Valin]

Right Scoop: Tingles puts in his two cents worth

A Deal at half the price.

[Valin]

Eugene Robinson: Rick Santorum's Stillborn Baby Story Is "Very Weird"

 

 

The progs will grasp at anything... repeat, anything... to degrade and demean conservatives.

 

 

Well that's because we are bad terrible evil people. We are the kind of people your mother warned you about.

 

 

Hot Air: Eugene Robinson squirms through apology to Rick Santorum

[Casino67]

Eugene Robinson: Rick Santorum's Stillborn Baby Story Is "Very Weird"

 

 

The progs will grasp at anything... repeat, anything... to degrade and demean conservatives.

 

 

Well that's because we are bad terrible evil people. We are the kind of people your mother warned you about.

 

 

Hot Air: Eugene Robinson squirms through apology to Rick Santorum

 

Anybody who goes on MSDNC as a pundit is REALLY WEIRD and Robinson fits the bill to a tee.

[Valin]

Eugene Robinson: Rick Santorum's Stillborn Baby Story Is "Very Weird"

 

 

The progs will grasp at anything... repeat, anything... to degrade and demean conservatives.

 

 

Well that's because we are bad terrible evil people. We are the kind of people your mother warned you about.

 

 

Hot Air: Eugene Robinson squirms through apology to Rick Santorum

 

Anybody who goes on MSDNC as a pundit is REALLY WEIRD and Robinson fits the bill to a tee.

 

(Off Topic)

I don't really disagree. Here is a problem as I see it. The Left would say the same thing about going on Fox, or any other big time conservative shows...not saying they are right, but that is what they would say. And herein lays the problem, we are talking at each other not with each other. What the solution is I don't really know, but one of the reasons I post at CGP is an attempt to bridge this divide and explain who we are and what we believe, (with as Bill Bennet says Civility, humor good will). One of the things I've seen is their hearts are in the right place...it's their brains that are the problem...ie not evil just wrong.

[Valin]

Rick Santorum’s baby--and mine.

By Charles Lane

 

(Snip)

We, like the Santorums, took a photograph of the baby -- lying, as if asleep, in my wife’s arms. We have a framed copy in our bedroom. It’s beautiful.

 

Jonathan’s body was prepared according to Jewish law, including circumcision, and buried after a religious service. Clergy and friends gathered at our home to support us.

 

I regret that, unlike the Santorums, who presented the body of their child to their children, we did not show Jonathan’s body to our other son, who was six years old at the time. When I told him what had happened, his first question was, “Well, where is the baby?” I tried to explain what a morgue is, and why the baby went there. It was awkward and unsatisfactory -- too abstract. In hindsight, I was not protecting my son from a difficult conversation, I was protecting myself.

(Snip)

[Valin]

Uploaded by kylehardaway on Jan 7, 2012

We've looked Romney and Gingrich. Now let's look at Santorum.

http://www.ronpaul2012.com/
http://ronpaul-2012.org/nocounterfeits.html?pid=0106sb

Register Republican:
http://www.dailypaul.com/165288/register-republican-to-vote-for-ron-paul-in-r...

[Valin]

Ashbrook Center: Rick Santorum and Limited Government

January 2012

Andrew E. Busch

 

With Rick Santorum’s as-good-as-a-victory in the Iowa caucuses, the former Senator from Pennsylvania is now receiving more detailed scrutiny from commentators, especially conservatives eager to consider whether he might be a viable conservative alternative to Mitt Romney. A story line is rapidly developing that puts Santorum outside the economically-conservative mainstream of the party.

 

Eric Erickson of Red State calls Santorum a "pro-life statist," and Michael Tanner of the libertarian Cato Institute has recently written a column for National Review Online tagging him as a "big-government conservative." In Tanner’s view, Santorum’s answer to Hillary Clinton—his book It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Good—" advocated greater government involvement in our lives" and was indicative of a broader approach showing a weak commitment to liberty.

 

This critique has a number of elements, some of which are much more sensible than others. The charges of statism leveled at Santorum cannot generally be faulted for the accuracy of the facts that are presented. However, they can be faulted for providing an incomplete picture.

 

(Snip)

 

None of this is to say that Santorum is an ideal candidate from a free-market perspective (is there one in the Republican field?), or that his emphasis on social issues is well-suited to the moment, filled as the moment is with economic perils and anxieties. It is to say that, as George Will has pointed out, Santorum is a legitimate representative of the tradition of fusionism that has held economic conservatives and social traditionalists together for 50 years. And, in Santorum’s case, that fusion is intentional; to the extent that he varies from libertarian means, it is often due to a calculation that the variations are necessary in order to preserve the end of a free society in an imperfect world. When assessing his economic views, it is useful that conservatives and libertarians are weighing the shortcomings of a Santorum candidacy, but they also need to give his strengths their due.

[Valin]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRG1jr_h0mE

[Valin]

ABC: Occupy Protesters Surround Santorum and Family After Final New Hampshire Pitch

1/9/12

 

(Snip)As he walked out of Jillian’s in downtown Manchester, his staff surrounded him and the protesters tried to form a circle around the former Pennsylvania senator. They chanted, “Bigot, bigot!” and “Shame, shame!” as he made his way to his car.

 

Police and security were on hand and during the crush one member of the candidate’s entourage got shoved to the ground, as did one of the protesters.

 

Santorum smiled as he walked the short distance from the restaurant, but a serious scuffle ensued, and his wife Karen had a frightened look on her face. Two of his children Elizabeth and Daniel followed closely behind. His other children, including his 3-year-old daughter Bella, who has a rare genetic condition, are already in South Carolina.

 

(Snip)

 

Question: How many votes is this worth?

OWS, Paulbots Keep up the good work.

[Valin]

The Corner: For Santorum, Even After New Hampshire

Lisa Schiffren

1/12/12

 

I want to be okay with Mitt Romney. And really, I am. I will vote for him. He’ll be fine. He’ll be good on the budget. He won’t cut enough, but no one does. He’ll be better than Dole or McCain would have been had they won. Not that they wanted to do much about the budget; he wants to. Could he please get McCain out of the picture now? It depresses me to watch him. Let McCain talk only on defense policy. A fizzled-out guy who ran a loser campaign so recently is not a good mascot. If Romney sticks with Christie as his warm-up act, he’ll be fine; except when Christie reminds us, as he inevitably does, why he should have gotten over himself and run. So we didn’t have to settle for Romney, even though he is very handsome, and has such a good work ethic for a rich guy who really does not have a clue what it means to have to make the choices that normal middle-class people always have to make — which is why we don’t really trust him. Have you ever noticed how the very rich have so much more sympathy for the non-working poor than for the boring old middle class? But really, Mitt’s wife will be a charming first lady, and he will be fine. Especially if he picks the right advisers. But why can’t he hire a conservative speechwriter, who knows the words and the music?

 

All along, as we watched debates, I kept telling my daughters that, really, Rick Santorum was very smart, and had important things to say. Unfortunately, he rarely got a chance to show it, until now. It’s probably too late, of course. But if he can’t be the candidate, he’d be a smart guy to have on the ticket if someone wanted to keep conservatives interested.

 

(Snip)

 

I am happy and relieved to finally have a candidate to be “for.” Rick Santorum is a “principles politician.” And it’s far too late for me to get over being a “principles voter,” which may be kind of adolescent, especially since I never actually get to vote for anyone whose principles I truly admire, given the timing of New York’s primaries. I feel personal affinity for a thoughtful, generous politician who has an innate talent for finding the most polarizing way to say what he thinks. But even if it comes across priggishly sometimes, I respect his core belief that the traditional virtues and disciplines are, apart from their inherent moral value, required for a nation to be seriously self-governing. He’s totally solid. He’d be great on the ticket and would surely grow in the right directions, in office.

[Valin]