All GOP presidential candidates have their pros and cons, whether it's a legendary conservative like Ronald Reagan or an uber-RINO like Nelson Rockefeller. IMO, with Cain and Bachmann gone, Santorum is the last decent conservative standing. Newt's has far more negatives than Rick Santorum.
Santorum con's
- Endorsed Arlen Specter after being heavily pressured to do so by Karl Rove & GWB
- Defeated for re-election and lost home state by a 20-point margin in a bad year for the GOP.
Newt's con's
- Happily endorsed the even more liberal Dede Scozzafava as a private citizen
- Happily endorsed establishment Republican Sen. Robert Bennett over tea party challenger (and now Senator) Mike Lee
- Aggressively supported and campaigned for liberal Congressman Wayne Gilchrist (R-MD) when he faced a conservative challenge from now-Congressman Andy Harris.
- Aggressively supported and campaigned for liberal Congressman Joe Schwarz (R-MI) when he was challenged by later Congressman Tim Walberg.
- Stepped down as Speaker in disgrace when GOP lost 5 seats on his watch
- Did "Global warming awareness" ad with Nancy Pelosi
- Had Global warming "debate" with John Kerry where he spent most of the "debate" agreeing with Kerry's points that human activity is what causes global warming and it's a drastic problem the government must "address immediately"
- Embarked on bi-partisan "educational reform" tour with Al Sharpton - "Reluntantly" supported the Wall Street bailouts (Santorum opposed TARP)
- Advocated for an individual health care mandate
- Called Paul Ryan's plan "Right-wing social engineering"
- Caved to Clinton after the government shutdown was blamed on Republicans
- Got slapped down by Clinton repeatedly during his Speakership and let Clinton take credit for the GOP's accomplishments.
- Thrice married, cheated on both his first two wives that latter became his new wife.
- Was boinking current wife when she was a staffer of his during the Clinton impeachment (thankfully, the media never found that out in 1998 or they would have had a field day with "Republican hypocrisy")
- Unfavorable ratings are in the toilet, public can't stand him
And we're supposed to ignore all that because Newt was a great leader for the conservative cause during the "Contract for America" days 18 years ago, and turns in solid debate performances now?
No, thanks. I'm not sipping that kool-aid. Between Newt and Rick Santorum, I know which one I'd rather have as the nominee and it's not the "gentleman from Georgia" who now claims to be a Catholic from Virginia.
fine - but what about Newt vs Romney?
Dont you think from a conservative pov it ranks:
Santorum > Newt > Romney > Paul
And if you had to pit Santourm vs Newt in terms of DC experience and political skills its Newt > Santorum.?
in a perfect world dontcha think:
1. Paul needs to be defeated.
2. Romney needs to be exposed.
3. Have it out between Santorum and Newt, best man wins?
Thats my best case scenario.
We cannot trust a president Gingrich. He is a needy, insecure man and will do what he feels will serve his hungry ego the best. Santorum is stable and can be entrusted with the country’s leadership. We don’t need a sparkly, hot tempered debater. We need a strong, steady conservative. Santorum will rise to the occasion and will Serve us. Newt serves newt.
Bonus: when an intern sashays into the oval office waving her thong around, Santorum will have her fired and investigated for a possible honey trap from enemies foreign and domestic. We don’t need to spell out what Gingrich would do.
Pretty good scorecard ya got goin there.
The man spends every debate talking about I, I, I, me, me, me, over selling his meager senatorial accomplishments, pandering excuses for his failings and whining like the bratty, petulant Obama. Another failed lawyer, he attacks the 10th amendment, he voted for Medicare Part D, he choses the establishment over principle time and again, he's neocon interventionist and thinks gov't is the solution if only it were just a little more theocratic and involved in our personal lives. He's a dangerous charlatan. He's no conservative in ways that W was no conservative. The difference is W was not delusional enough to believe his own PR.
Santorum lacks the self-awareness to be a good president, even as good as W. I would not vote Santorum or Romney in the general.
Have you read Santorum’s voting record? http://www.redstate.com/erick/. Read this and decide if you want this guy in charge of trying to bring this country back to economic prosperity.