Posted on 02/15/2012 12:10:39 PM PST by NoPinkos
...Jonah Goldberg explained that Mike Huckabee's brand of conservatism was inconsistent with traditional conservatism, in that the former Arkansas Governor believes that government exists, not to protect individual liberty, but to make people live moral lives in accordance with his personal beliefs....
While Rick Santorum doesn't have the record of supporting tax hikes that Tax Hike Mike had or some of the other points listed above--though some of the do apply, he certainly has a record of backing certain social policies based upon the notion that government exists to ensure a certain behavior from its citizens....
On the fiscal and regulatory side of the equation, Santorum doesn't even come close to having a record worthy of Tea Party support....
The only two conclusions I can draw from this is that the anti-Romney faction in the Republican electorate will so blindly follow whoever is deemed to be their "guy" at the moment that they don't care about his economic statism....
The other is that the Tea Party movement has been completely overrun with social conservatives. If that's the case, Republicans will lose this election, and lose it badly. That's not to say that social conservatives can't be fiscal conservatives, rather fiscal issues must come first in this election....
Santorum's social conservatism is going to turn away independent voters. For example, his strange rant against contraceptives is going to sound nutty and unserious to many on-the-fence voters in swing states. And national polls show that voters are now supportive of gay marriage, which Santorum vigoriously opposes.
This is the bed that Republicans have made. The idea that Santorum would be any better on fiscal issues than Romney is absurd. They're both fiscal moderates that aren't going to change the culture of waste in Washington.
(Excerpt) Read more at unitedliberty.org ...
How bout letting the voters decide this one newbie?
That’s pretty much where I am.
Although, I’m willing to listen to Newt.
Somebody needs to swoop and save the day for conservatives! West? Rubio? Palin? We’ll probably get Jeb.
I have no problem finding someone new at the convention, but I do think that the attacks on Santorum fiscally are overstated. Santorum was a team play, and it caused him to have some bad votes in the 2000s. He had been praised for some of his fiscal work previously in his career. He is a conservative, and I think, when he’s in charge, he’d do things differently that when he was just a team player. He would clearly be better than Bush fiscally.
Santorum opposed TARP, cap and trade and health care mandates. He IS fiscally conservative, and he understands the proper role of the federal government better than the others. Rick will fight Obama every day on HIS terms, and discuss issues that the media want to avoid, namely, the pervasive socialism and corruption of the Obots. Bob
Valentine’s Day as a sign up day and no “Pink”os as your screen name? Kinda cute I think. :)
Reads like a crap article by a libertarian who tells us not to support anybody who voted for Baby Bush’s big government policies. Even freshmen Senators under the gun.
Sure.
I don’t pretend to know how fiscally reponsible Santorum would be, but this fallacious article is a joke and doesn’t begin to teach me a thing besides the fact that junior Senators have to vote along party lines a lot of the time.
Then there is the lie that Santorum would not be different than Romney. Right sure.
There is nobody good left running for the GOP nominee. Santorum is light years better than the rest of the field Even so, Romney will win on Super Tuesday and be the nominee. Then we will be lucky if half the base supports him to defeat Obama, or if we end up with another 4 years of severe destruction of America.
A President Santorum would be a miraculous save under the expected scenario of Romney vs Satan (obama).
Yes, Rubio as VP may well make the GOP alandslide winner. This talk of nominating someone who has not been a player reeks of corruption. Bob
No!!!
Politics is all about pretending.
Fixed it.
Can we stop pretending Mitt Romney is a conservative in any sense of the word?
I wonder how Rick feels about moon bases and make-work jobs for school kids?
He wont like the kids working because that would eat into Rick’s base voter, a government union thug. (shhh, don’t let that get around...but he has a fabulous pro union voting record....shhhh).
Rubio?
Anyone who supports amnesty is NOT a fiscal conservative
You should fix your tagline, since Yamamoto never said that.
Why, just because he doesn’t vote NO on everything like Ron Paul? (Well, everything except earmarks for his home district in Texas that is).
Try again.
Newt is a big government guy.
Yes, Rubio. He does not support amnesty, as far as I know. Bob
I don’t know much about Romney, but there must be something conservative about him because Rush can say nothing but good things.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.