Posted on 01/02/2012 1:14:10 PM PST by Mrs. Frogjerk
(CNN) - Ron Paul dinged rival Rick Santorum Monday for being a "very liberal" candidate, saying the former Pennsylvania senator and staunch social conservative voted for too much spending during his time in Congress.
Speaking to CNN Senior Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash before a campaign event with his son, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, the White House hopeful said his rival had taken positions counter to true conservative ideas.
I mean, have you looked at his record? Go look at his record," Paul said.
He continued: "He spends too much money. He wasn't leading the charge to slash the budgets and vote against big government."
Rand Paul added that Santorum's vote history proved he wasn't a true conservative.
"He voted to double the size of the Department of Education," Rand Paul said. "He voted to expand Medicare and add free drugs for senior citizens and he has voted for foreign aid. Those are not conservative principles. Seventy-seven percent of the American people are opposed to foreign aid and Rick Santorum has voted for it every time it's come down."
Paul also spoke in some of the strongest terms to date about the potential of a third-party bid should he fail to secure the GOP nomination.
"I have no plans in doing that," Paul said. "Tomorrow is a big day. We'll see what happens but I have no intention of doing that, no plans and no desire."
(Excerpt) Read more at politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com ...
Rick Santorum is a little boy like Obama. Not a real man or a leader, which we need right now.
You do not understand the Constitution.
Neither does Ron Paul.
“If we, as conservatives, do not do a few things every now and then to cooperate with the moderates, we will not win.”
After more than two decades, this siren song is worn out.
I thought that Cain was a good candidate but we all know what happened there. I feel like the Republican establishment was behind his departure more than the Democrats were. I’m sure that Rick has done some things in his career that aren’t wonderfully conservative, but he certainly isn’t as bad as the rest.
We need to choose somebody who is as close to being as Conservative as we would like. I know what you mean about not wanting to vote for anybody who is lukewarm or a moderate, but if we don’t vote at all, we are giving that lunatic in office another vote when he runs for re-election. I will not do that!
I give Santorum a pass on endorsing Specter because Specter endorsed and helped him and Rick was repaying the favor.
What I don’t give Santorum a pass on is exactly what Paul is talking about here: Santorum is a Bush-Huckabee type Compassionate Conservative who is good on social issues like abortion but is horrible on fiscal restraint. That is the issue of our time—cutting government. Santorum was the Senate leader of the Republican K Street Project. Remember that was DeLay’s project to build ties between Republicans and lobbyists. Santorum voted for every one of Bush’s programs and spending increases too. The last thing the GOP needs is another Christian Socialist.
In SC, 2.7%,
in FL, 1.5%.
Santorum will have to repeat his surge in these states without the benefit of spending two years there campaigning. Pass the popcorn.
Thanks. You make a good case. Jack Abramoff comes to mind.
I won’t vote for Romney, or the like. I smile when I see JimRobs no romney, no way in Red Letters on this site.
Bingo!
There was or is no surge, please do not believe everything that the media tells you. You will see on Tuesday night that I am right.
Stink doesn't come with losing. A bit might come from running for higher, much higher, office on the heel of such a loss. I like Santorum, I hope he succeeds in gaining elective office, and that I'll see him again on the nation stage. He's not a winner this time around.
Exactly. Rick was good friends with Jack before Jack got in trouble. Its stuff like that that caused the GOP to lose the Senate and House. Rick is way too cozy with government and lobbyists. I don’t want 4 or 8 more years of what we had from 2001 through 2008.
Even though neither Santorum nor Paul is my first choice, if someone forced me to choose between Santorum and Paul, I’d choose Paul.
Ron Paul? Give me a break.
So Rick Santorum voted for some spending? As opposed the “principled” Ron Paul who gets others to vote for his spending and makes sure it gets in there and passed while personally voting against it so he can claim he opposed the pork?
I think, too, that Santorum’s “surge” is media driven. What else could it be when Perry is within a whisker of Gingerich and Santorum and he is almost never mentioned by the pundits and newsreaders.
Fervently hope Perry pulls off a big surprise in Iowa and in S. Carolina where he is headed on Wednesday. Perry 2012!
Rick is a flash in Iowa. He is having his moment and by the end of the month he will be pleading for a V.P. spot.
We really have some interesting choices this year and in 04. The big joke is on us.
Just as Paul’s rise has been media driven.
They are trying to keep us fractured.
Not sure if it’s media driven, but he did have 30 people show up at one of his rallies and Bachmann had 9.
It is an eternal truth.
You are bored with reality, it seems.
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