Rick Santorum On The Pope’s Visit, The 2016 Campaign

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Hugh Hewitt Show:

Hugh Hewitt

Friday, September 25, 2015

 

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum joined me today:

 

Audio

 

(Snip)

 

RS: Well, I’m excited. My wife and kids are all going to have an opportunity to be there with the Pope in Philadelphia, and so very excited for them, and even our daughter, Bella, is going to get a chance to see him. So…

 

HH: Oh, how terrific.

 

 

RS: You can see it’s very emotional. Sorry about that. Anyway, so we’re excited about that for the family. So as you can tell, you know, I’m a fan. And I think it’s beautiful what he’s done, is reach out and reached out to people on, frankly, on messages that are not traditional messages that you might hear from a pope, but I think he did so in context of that we have to be good stewards of our creation, of God’s creation, I should say, and we have to care for the poor and care for those who are the stranger if you will, the immigrant, and reached out in a beautiful way to people who I don’t think necessarily listen to people of faith or popes or anybody else who come from a more faith perspective. And I think the exciting thing is that he’s, throughout, even though he focused on these things, he always was very careful to connect it into a broader mosaic, and that this is a piece of a narrative, of a holistic view of how the world is supposed to function, how God has put His people here to steward this Earth. And it includes the dignity of life. It includes the centrality of the family. It includes the institution of marriage. It includes all of those things that you hear the Church talk about a lot, but it’s now woven into a much more broader mosaic. And I think you’re going to see, you saw it at the U.N. as well as you’re going to hear in Philadelphia, a lot more emphasis on some of those other things. But now, he’s sort of opened the door to let people to come in and listen. And now, hopefully, they will have an opportunity to see how this all weaves together as a whole. And that’s a beautiful thing that I think he’s done, and opened the ears of a lot of people who weren’t listening.

 

(Snip)

 

HH: And I appreciated, I think, both the first and the second debate combined for the largest extended discussion of national security issues in the history of debates, which I continue with you now. Today, amid all the noise and hoopla and the grace around the Pope, and the political shockwaves around the Speaker, the president of China went to the Rose Garden, and the president of the United States said you know, we’re going to keep an eye on you and we’re watching you. And it was impotent, Senator Santorum. It was absolutely impotent.

 

RS: Yeah, well, you know, this is a president who has now been marginalized on the world stage. I mean, he’s seen as someone who’s incredibly weak, indecisive, makes statements that he doesn’t stand behind, enters into negotiations where he capitulates on every front, and is in a word, feckless. And so you have the president of China who comes in who looks like the dominant figure, and is certainly, there’s no doubt, he’s feeling it. You can see, I’ve seen some of the pictures. You can see the guy that seems like the confident one, the one that is in control of the situation, and it’s a very sad, it’s a very sad time for America to see a president who has given away so much of America’s prestige and America’s strength around the world. And that’s why it’s so important to have someone moving into office in 2017 who our enemies know and respect, and our allies know that they can trust. And one of the things I talk about on the campaign trail a lot, there a lot of good men and women running. You’re looking at we need someone who has a strong track record of standing up and opposing radical Islam and has actually led the fight on it, which I have for a dozen years, particularly on Iran, someone who has a strong relationship with our allies. Those are the things that we need to look for, and really, I would argue that we’re in a stronger position than anybody else to take that helm and lead this country.

 

(Snip)