Posted on 01/14/2012 1:25:21 PM PST by tcg
Will the Brenham Ranch, owned by former Judge Paul Pressler, be looked back upon as the place where the plans for a Republican coronation were upset? Will it mark the beginning of a surge of support for the candidacy of former Senator Rick Santorum for the 2012 Republican Presidential nomination?
It was at that ranch that 150 evangelical Protestant Christian leaders met to choose a candidate whom they could all unite behind. Speculation over the meeting, who attended it, and who would receive the nod of support from among former Governor Rick Perry, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, has filled the blogosphere. It has also provided fodder for the mainstream media.
On Saturday afternoon, January 14, 2012, the speculation ended. Tony Perkins, the President of the Family Research Council and a spokesman for the group emerged to report the results. With a strong showing of over 2/3 of the vote, the leaders chose to endorse - and place their formidable resources behind - former Senator Rick Santorum as the Republican nominee.
This vital endorsement of these major evangelical leaders came on the heels of the endorsement of a group of Catholics called "Catholic Vote" just last week. Santorum's strong support among Catholics is well known. It is also growing.
(Excerpt) Read more at catholic.org ...
He is a morally coherent candidate. He forthrightly proclaims that economic issues have a moral component. He insists that there is a moral basis to a truly free society. He asserts that America is a moral enterprise.
In a Republican Presidential primary campaign where the Republic establishment expected that they would pick the nominee in a form of "coronation", an increasing number of concerned Americans are now raising their voices now and saying, "not this year"!
Just proves some religious leaders can’t think. Nothing new.
I haven’t followed this since posting something about the Brenham meeting a week or so ago. Wonder what this means for Perry’s candidacy? I’d just assumed that a group like this in Texas would have to include some of his major donors...
tsk tsk
tsk tsk
That number is around 50,000. Thanks for bringing this forward.
Um care to explain?
by way of answering my own question, just saw that the South Carolina GOP leader switched his previous endorsement of Perry to Santorum. I don’t think Perry is the kind of guy who will run til the last dime is spent - could be interesting if he chooses to drop out prior to SC. Not because he carries that many voters, but just because he’ll have to choose between Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich.
In a Republican Presidential primary campaign where the Republic establishment expected that they would pick the nominee in a form of "coronation", an increasing number of concerned Americans are now raising their voices now and saying, "not this year"!
I am a "Reluctant Republican" having left the Democratic Party when the opponents of the fundamental human right to life took control. That party which purported to represent the blue collar everyday American became the party of the cultural revolutionaries on the left. People like us were won over by the courage and plain spoken down to earth style of Ronald Reagan.
His was the kind of "conservatism" which made sense to people who never thought we were "conservatives". It was human, real, honest and quintessentially American. We were not then - and are not now - comfortable with the "Nelson Rockefeller" blue blood image of the old Republican Party.
Rick Santorum has the capacity to attract those "Reagan Democrats" and to reach out to Americans from both parties as well as Independents in a General election. He has proven it in elections in Blue Collar Pennsylvania. He is the grandson of a coalminer who still embodies those bedrock values.
Many who have wanted someone other than the establishment Republican candidate are from blue collar backgrounds. Our ancestors did not come over on the Mayflower. We care about the poor and cringe when any candidate seems to lack a heart of concern for them. However, we have learned that big government does a horrible job of providing proper care for them. We know that collectivism - be it of the right or the left - is not the solution.
Toooooooooooo late. They had their chance BEFORE but refused to endorse Huck in 2008.
SC ‘08
McLame 33%
HUCK 30%
Frodo 15%
Willard 14%
“Rick Santorum has defended the fundamental human right to life from conception to natural death for years - without compromise.”
I may vote for Satorum, but to say he’s defended life for years without compromise is untrue.
He endorsed proud baby-killer Specter over a pro-life candidate in the 2004 primaries.
Specter gave Obama the key Senate vote to pass the pro-abortion bill, Obamacare
Why am I not surprised to hear this?
You’ll have to pardon me, but it seems the real thing to take from your post, is that some folks who think of themselves as Conservative can’t read.
Go back and read that article again, until you can see some value in it. As a Conservative I am amazed that you couldn’t find anything of value there, and actually besmirch the folks who came to the conclusions and expressed the thoughts that article did.
Simply amazing.... can’t think? Are you serious?
Sorry to hear this. Nice guy but I don’t believe Santorum can beat Obama.
Pathetic post.
The Newtie Tooties have proven that they cannot think. All they have is a cult where Newt can do no wrong. Present them with examples of his leanings in the last five years, and all they can do is quote the nineties and cover their ears.
What A Big Government Conservative Looks Like
NEA
Voted for taxpayer funding of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Voted against a 10% cut in the budget for National Endowment for the Arts.
Bankruptcy
Voted for a Schumer amendment to make the debts of pro-life demonstrators not dischargeable in bankruptcy.
Defense and Foreign Policy
Voted for the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
Voted against requiring the President to certify that the CWC is effectively verifiable.
Voted against requiring the President to certify that that Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, North Korea, China, and all other countries determined to be state sponsors of terror have joined CWC prior to submitting the instrument of ratification.
Voted for the START II Treaty.
Voted to allow the sale of supercomputers to China.
Voted to ban anti-personnel landmines.
Voted against increasing defense spending offset by equivalent cuts in non-defense spending.
Voted to require that Federal bureaucrats get the same pay raises as uniformed military.
Voted to allow food and medicine sales to state sponsors of terror and tyrannical regimes such as Libya and Cuba.
Voted to limit the President’s authority to impose sanctions on nations for reasons of national security unless the sanctions were approved by a multilateral regime.
Voted against requiring Congressional authorization for military action in Bosnia.
Voted to give $25 million in foreign aid to North Korea.
Voted to weaken alien terrorist deportation provisions. If the Court determines that the evidence must be withheld for national security reasons, the Justice Department must still provide a summary of the evidence sufficient for the alien terrorist to mount a defense against deportation.
Voted against delaying the India Nuclear until the President certified that India had agreed to suspend military-to-military exchanges with Iran.
Voted against the Conventional Trident Missile Program.
Nominations
Voted for Richard Paez to the 9th Curcuit (cloture).
Voted for Sonia Sotomayor, Circuit Judge.
Voted for Richard Holbrooke to be Ambassador to the UN.
Voted for Margaret Morrow to be District Judge.
Voted twice for Marsha Berzon to the 9thg Circuit.
Voted for Mary McLaughlin to be District Judge.
Voted for Tim Dyk to be District Judge.
Voted for James Brady to be District Judge.
Labor
Voted against National Right to Work Act.
Voted against repeal of Davis-Bacon Prevailing union wages.
Voted for Alexis Herman to be Secretary of Labor.
Voted for mandatory Federal child care funding.
Voted for Trade Adjustment Assistance.
Voted for Job Corps funding.
Voted twice in support of Fedex Unionization.
Voted against allowing a waiver of Davis-Bacon in emergency situations.
Voted for minimum wage increases six times here here here here here and here.
Voted to require a union representative on an IRS oversight board.
Voted to exempt IRS union representatives from criminal ethics laws.
Voted against creating independent Board of Governors to investigate IRS abuses.
Guns
Voted to require pawn shops to do background checks on people who pawn a gun.
Voted twice to make it illegal to sell a gun without a secure storage or safety device.
Voted for a Federal ban on possession of “assault weapons” by those under 18.
Voted for Federal funding for anti-gun education programs in schools.
Voted for anti-gun juvenile justice bill.
Reform
Voted for funding for the legal services corporation.
Voted twice for a Congressional pay raise.
Voted to impose a uniform Federal mandate on states to force them to allow convicted rapists, arsonists, drug kingpins, and all other ex-convicts to vote in Federal elections.
Voted for the Specter “backup plan” to allow campaign finance reform to survive if portions of the bill were found unconstitutional.
Voted to mandate discounted broadcast times for politicians.
Voted for a McCain amendment to require state and local campaign committees to report all campaign contributions to the FEC and to require all campaign contributions to be reported to the FEC within 24 hours within 90 days of an election.
Immigration
Voted against increasing the number of immigration investigators.
Voted to allow illegal immigrants to receive the earned income credit before becoming citizens.
Voted to give SSI benefits to legal aliens.
Voted to give welfare benefits to naturalized citizens without regard to the earnings of their sponsors.
Voted against hiring an additional 1,000 border partrol agents, paid for by reductions in state grants.
Taxes
Voted against a flat tax.
Voted to increase tobacco taxes to pay for Medicare prescription drugs.
Voted to increase tobacco taxes to fund health insurance subsidies for small businesses.
Voted to increase tobacco taxes to pay for an $8 billion increase in child healh insurance.
Voted to increase tobacco taxes to pay for an increase in NIH funding.
Voted twice for internet taxes.
Voted to allow gas tax revenues to be used to subsidize Amtrak.
Voted to strike marriage penalty tax relief and instead provide fines on tobacco companies.
Voted against repealing the Clinton 4.3 cent gas tax increase.
Voted to increase taxes by $2.3 billion to pay for an Amtrak trust fund.
Voted to allow welfare to a minor who had a child out of wedlock and who resided with an adult who was on welfare within the previous two years.
Voted to increase taxes by $9.4 billion to pay for a $9.4 billion increase in student loans.
Voted to say that AMT patch is more important than capital gains and dividend relief.
Welfare
Voted against food stamp reform.
Voted against Medicaid reform.
Voted against TANF reform.
Voted to increase the Social Services Block Grant from $1 billion to $2 billion.
Voted to increase the FHA loan from $170,000 to $197,000. Also opposed increasing GNMA guaranty from 6 basis points to 12.
Voted for $2 billion for low income heating assistance.
Waste
Sponsored an amendment to increase Amtrak funds by $550 million.
Voted to use HUD funds for the Joslyn Art Museum (NE), the Stand Up for Animals project (RI) and the Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Project (WA).
Voted to increase spending on social programs by $7 billion.
Voted to increase NIH funding by $1.6 billion.
Voted to increase NIHnding by $700 million.
Voted to for a $2 million earmark to renovate the Vulcan Monument (AL).
Voted for a $1 billion bailout for the steel industry.
Voted against requiring that highway earmarks would come out of a state’s highway allocation.
Voted to allow Market Access Program funds to go to foreign companies.
Voted to allow OPIC to increase its administrative costs by 50%.
Voted against transferring $20 million from AmeriCorps to veterans.
Voted for the $140 billion asbestos compensation bill.
Voted against requiring a uniform medical criteria to ensure asbestos claims were legitimate.
Voted to increase community development programs by $2 billion.
Spending and Entitlements
Voted to make Medicare part B premium subsidies a new entitlement.
Voted against paying off the debt ($5.6 trillion at the time) within 30 years.
Voted to give $18 billion to the IMF.
Voted to raid Social Security instead of using surpluses to pay down the debt.
Health Care
Voted to allow states to impose health care mandates that are stricter than proposed new Federal mandates, but not weaker.
Voted twice for Federal mental health parity mandates in health insurance.
Voted against allowing consumers the option to purchase a plan outside the parity mandate.
Education
Voted to increase Federal funding for teacher testing.
Voted to increase spending for the Department of Education by $3.1 billion.
Voted against requiring courts to consider the impact of IDEA awards on a local school district.
Energy
Voted to allow the President to designate certain sites as interim nuclear waste storage sites in the event that he determines that Yucca Mountain is not a suitable site for a permanent waste repository. Those sites are as follows: the nuclear waste site in Hanford, Washington; the Savannah River Site in South Carolina; Barnwell County, South Carolina; and the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee.
Voted to make fuel price gouging a Federal crime.
What exactly does this last paragraph mean? I find it contradictory? Does this mean just a little bit of socialism?
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