Posted on 01/05/2012 7:24:42 AM PST by Kaslin
BRENTWOOD, N.H. — Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum committed one of the gravest sins in Republican politics on Wednesday evening by knocking the revered former President Ronald Reagan at a packed town hall meeting.
While addressing America’s entitlement crisis at his first New Hampshire event since his stunning near-victory in the Iowa caucuses on Tuesday, Santorum said Reagan contributed to the entitlement crisis by pushing Social Security’s sustainability issues down the road instead of dealing with them head-on in the 1983 bipartisan deal to fix Social Security.
“If Rick Santorum gets elected and we do what I said that we need to do, which is to deal with the entitlement programs now, not 10 to 20 years from now,” Santorum said.
“You’ll know — unlike Ronald Reagan who maybe was a better politician than me — you’ll know that it was Rick Santorum that worked together and got the American public to gather together to fix this problem. Why? Because it is our problem.”
Santorum was walking the audience through what he called the “ancient days of yesteryear” in a interminable and incredibly detailed response to a questioner. He explained that in the 1983 deal Reagan brokered with Democratic Speaker of the House Tip O’Neil to fix Social Security, the retirement age was moved back to 67, but that change wasn’t slated to be enacted until the politicians responsible were out of office.
“This was the brilliance of the politicians that did this,” Santorum said sarcastically.
“They were absolutely brilliant. They passed a bill that didn’t take affect for 20 years so nobody blames them. It was brilliant. They increased the Social Security age by two years back in 1983 and it didn’t start phasing in, it doesn’t fully phase in for almost 40 years. And so Ronald Reagan did that. Most people have no idea — no one associates Ronald Reagan with raising the retirement age. Why? Because all of the people it affected were nowhere near retirement and they didn’t know about it.”
To another questioner, he continued his critique of Reagan for the Social Security deal.
“You know, I love Ronald Reagan, but if I would point to one thing during his administration that he did a serious wrong, it was this bill — it was this Social Security fix,” Santorum said.
“He bought the idea of increasing taxes now — that’s always what the left wants to do — increase taxes now, reduce benefits later. And that’s exactly what the bill did.”
Later Santorum invoked Reagan positively while explaining his plan to get rid of the tax code and create a new system with two rates: 10 percent and 28 percent.
Santorum said he chose 28 percent as the top rate, “Because that’s the top level Ronald Reagan put in place, and if it is good enough for Reagan on taxes, it’s good enough for me.”
The president does not raise raise taxes, it is Congress who does
I was also very aware of the increase in taxes that took place. Congress is the culprit. They have had almost 30 years to implement reforms. Like always, they wait till we are on the edge of a cliff before they even think about acting.
The President makes a terrific scape goat for Congress. They get to blame everything on him. Congress is supposed to pass the legislation, and the President's administration is supposed to implement it. Congress Critters dodge their responsibility so they can get re-elected. JMO.
my generation will pay into the system our entire working lives, but SS will be gone when it’s our turn to collect. All we will have is your debt. You must be one of the baby boomers and feel entitled to retire on back.
Self-centered is when you want to make others pay the price for what you want. That is you. you want your retirement, and you don’t care if you bankrupt the country to get it. Your generation blew SS’s savings.
I want to take the pinch now, not twenty years from now when today’s children will have to pay for what you want. So which of us is being self-centered?
big time
The POTUS that signs or vetos the bills and regularly cuts the deals and then takes credit for reforms like that SS reform one?
Do you feel that way about the tax increases in Obama-care?
I thought the Daily Caller was conservative. I’m reading more than one strange story from that website lately.
Speaking of the POTUS not raising taxes, have you noticed we call ‘Obama-care’ ‘Obama-care’ and not ‘Pelosi-care’ or ‘Reid-care’?? Why you think that is?
All I see is articles of what he supposedly said, but no transcripts
Which of the current candidates would you want to hear discuss any issue and trust that they’d know what the heck they were talking about? Whether you’re listening for a 5-minute segment or a 2-hour interview? Newt’s the only guy who knows all the issues and all the history inside and out. I just don’t know why we’d want to settle for a lesser mind when we have him available.
We should call it Romney-care 2.0.
“obvious Romney smear campaign...”
If that’s the case, and it probably is, Romney, and his supporters, are just not honest.
If Santorum didn’t think Reagan was a great president, why did I get this automatic email, WRITTEN BY SANTORUM saying Santorum would “be the most conservative President since Ronald Reagan”?
“I will be the most conservative President since Ronald Reagan. I
> am not going to Washington to blend in and hope people like me. I
> am running to dismantle the Obama Agenda and lead—like Reagan
> did.
>
> The Washington Post said, “Rick Santorum was a tea-party kind of
> guy before the tea-party even existed.” As a conservative U.S.
> Senator from the swing state of Pennsylvania, I led the overhaul
> of welfare that moved millions from welfare to work. I authored
> the bill banning partial-birth abortion, and I passed legislation
> that protected America from Iran’s growing nuclear threat.
>
> If you want a President who will stand up for conservative
> values, who is consistent on the issues, and who has a record to
> back it up, then I need you to join my campaign.
> https://transaxt.com/Donate/BJC3WM/RickSantorumforPresident/ “
(Part of my email to show this story by the Daily Caller is a lie.)
Well, not only does that arrogant lazy, lying pos occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave think he is a king with absolute power, he acts like one. Just look what he did yesterday when he bypassed the congressional approval process and named Richard Cordray as head of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
He said he is going to repeal it but only nation-wide, he says it works in MA. I suspect Romney wouldn't get too far debating Obama on Obama-care.
I thought it was too, especially Tucker Carlson. However I am beginning to think it has to be put in the same category as that left wing rag Politico
Reagan made mistakes, and generally owned up to them. Bbut he made lots of good calls to outweigh them.
That is a continuation of his re-election strategy and as usual I don't see congressional Republicans with a serious approach to either counter it or use it effectively against him. It's depressing to watch.
But that is besides the point. Santorum wasn't bashing Reagan, and RR wasn't alone in kicking the can down the road, nor was he the last. This is obvious propaganda from the Mittens-pimps at The DC. And it is hilarious when you consider the RINO douchebag's desperate pleading to Ted Kennedy in 1994 that "I don't want to go back to Reagan-Bush!"
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