Free Republic

Rick Santorum dropped out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination on Tuesday. Almost to a column, editorial and news account, the analysis centered on Santorum’s somewhat successful capture of conservative voters. And there lies the mystery. How could a man seemingly so opposite of conservative have entranced so many voters who label themselves just that? The easy answer is that as someone who made his religion such a prominent part of his campaign strategy... religious types who tend toward conservatism perhaps felt they’d found their man. [...] Indeed, if we ignore for a moment how very anti-conservative it...

I’ve known Rick Santorum for 22 years, having first met him in 1990 before he’d won his first campaign for Congress. I interviewed him on WORD-FM, an evangelical Christian radio station where I was a frequent guest host (and eventually a full-time host) early in his campaign. If I was not the first media personality to interview Rick, I was one of the first. I had Rick as a guest at the request of my friend, Mark Rogers, who was running Rick’s campaign. Over the years I interviewed Rick at least a dozen times and debated him several times as...

In remarks after President Obama made his first public comment on the matter, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum said Friday that the handling by Florida law enforcement of the Trayvon Martin case has been “horrible” and that the state’s “Stand Your Ground” law should not apply to the shooter, George Zimmerman. “Well, ‘Stand Your Ground’ is not doing what this man did,” Santorum said Friday morning at a campaign event in Monroe, La. “There’s a difference between ‘Stand Your Ground’ and doing what he did. And it’s a horrible case. It’s chilling to hear what happened, and of course the...

Just moments ago on the Sean Hannity radio show, GOP candidate and RINO Rick Santorum took it upon himself to convict George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin case. He said, and I’m paraphrasing slightly: It was a heinous crime and he did a despicable, unjustifiable thing and the Sanford police should have reacted to that immediately. Again, I am paraphrasing a little as I did not have a recorder running to get his exact words, but that was essentially his statement.

Just moments ago on the Sean Hannity radio show, GOP candidate and RINO Rick Santorum took it upon himself to convict George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin case. He said, and I’m paraphrasing slightly: *It was a heinous crime and he did a despicable, unjustifiable thing and the Sanford police should have reacted to that immediately.* Again, I am paraphrasing a little as I did not have a recorder running to get his exact words, but that was essentially his statement. To further paraphrase, in this case Anti-President Obama, Rick Santorum acted stupidly. He doesn’t know all the facts. He...

On Sunday’s “Face the Nation” on CBS, Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum explained that his view of the Trayvon Martin shooting differed significantly from the one held by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Gingrich was critical of President Barack Obama’s reaction, but Santorum placed the blame on accused shooter George Zimmerman’s mental state. “Well, you know, obviously, I’m not privy to what’s going on in someone’s mind,” Santorum said. “Obviously, in my opinion, someone … has a very sick mind who would pursue someone like this. This is clearly a heinous act. You know, there are a lot of people...

Republican presidential contender Sen. Rick Santorum appeared on CBS' Face the Nation this morning and pronounced George Zimmerman guilty of murder in the first degree. Admitting that he was "not privy to what’s going on in someone’s mind," Santorum nevertheless said that Zimmerman, who shot and killed teenager Trayvon Martin while participating in a neighborhood watch last month, "has a very sick mind who would pursue someone like this." He added that Zimmerman's motive had been "malicious." The mental state of the alleged perpetrator, the motive, and the question of whether he pursued the alleged victim, are both critical in...

On “Face the Nation” Sunday on CBS, Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum explained that his view of the Trayvon Martin shooting differed significantly from the one held by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Ever since Rick Santorum ended his presidential campaign a year ago this week, he has acted as if that defeat was just a brief setback in his running quest for the Republican nomination. Almost three years out from the 2016 Iowa caucuses, the former Pennsylvania senator is set to return Monday to the nation’s first voting state, where he won a come-from-behind battle against Mitt Romney by 34 votes in January 2012. Having witnessed the perils of underestimating him, Santorum’s potential rivals next time around aren’t likely to discount another strong challenge on his part, particularly in the Hawkeye State.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5U7fTPb8U4 Rick Santorum's got a message for Reporters that like to Distort the Truth. I think this message can also be for those FReepers that like to bash Rick whenever and whereever.

On Monday, militant Ron Paul supporters joined forces with Occupy Wall Street protesters to harass former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. Fox News reported that Gingrich was forced to cancel an appearance at his New Hampshire campaign headquarters when Ron Paul supporters and Occupy Wall Street protesters swarmed the entrance: About 40 protesters showed up Monday evening carrying placards reading "Ron Paul" and "Occupy." One played speeches by presidential candidate Ron Paul from a loud speaker. Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond says the former House speaker's private security detail decided to cancel the event because of...

A major Democratic donor was arrested this week by the Sex Crimes Unit in Portland, Ore., for raping a minor. Terrence Bean, a liberal activist who bundled more than $500,000 for Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign, is charged with having sex with a 15-year-old boy. Bean has made contributions to influential Democrats such as Hillary Clinton, outgoing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin and Rep. Barney Frank, who has had his own smarmy brushes with the law. Bean’s Instagram account shows him on Air Force One with President Obama and getting chummy with Vice President Joe...

Democratic New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen was principally involved in a plot with Lois Lerner and President Barack Obama’s political appointee at the IRS to lead a program of harassment against conservative nonprofit groups during the 2012 election, according to letters exclusively obtained by The Daily Caller. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) did not want to publicly release 2012 correspondences exchanged between the IRS and Jeanne Shaheen at her personal Washington office: the agency delayed releasing the information to a major conservative super PAC multiple times, even threatening to see the super PAC in court, according to emails. (RELATED: Lois...

In an odd coincidence, the last two election cycles have seen a drastic, unexpected drop in the unemployment rate immediately before the election. And in 2012 and 2010, the unemployment rate increased the month or the next after the election. Just as big a coincidence, both 2014 and 2012 saw the drop come in September, but reported in October, the best time to report supposed good news on the economy. This comes on the heels of this election cycle's surprise news that the unemployment rate decreased .2% to 5.9%., a mere two months after the unemployment rose to 6.2%. For...

In an odd coincidence, the last two election cycles have seen a drastic, unexpected drop in the unemployment rate immediately before the election. And in 2012 and 2010, the unemployment rate increased the month or the next after the election. Just as big a coincidence, both 2014 and 2012 saw the drop come in September, but reported in October, the best time to report supposed good news on the economy.

The Democrats and the institutional left have a new political tool that allows them virtually to ignore moderates yet still win elections. This tool, the Catalist database, was employed in the 2012 election. That election defied conventional wisdom: Mitt Romney sought and won independent voters overwhelmingly, but still lost. If you wondered why the conventional wisdom about independents and moderates didn’t seem so wise in 2012, the answer is Catalist. Beyond winning elections, Catalist also allows the Democrats to turn the policy narrative upside down and suffer no political consequence for implementing radical policies which appeal to their base. The...

Virginia County officials have discovered multiple instances of voter fraud from the 2012 presidential election. Seventeen to be exact. The Virginia Voters Alliance and Election Integrity Maryland launched the investigation in Fairfax County, Va. and Maryland. Here's how they revealed the fraud and pursued a follow up inquiry: Officials from Fairfax and Montgomery County, Md., identified dual voters by matching first and last names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers. Brian Schoenemann, secretary of the Fairfax County Electoral Board, said he sent letters and evidence to county Commonwealth Attorney Ray Morrogh, state Attorney General Mark Herring, U.S. Attorney Dana...

Americans are so down on President Obama at the moment that, if they could do the 2012 election all over again, they'd overwhelmingly back the former Massachusetts governor's bid. That's just one finding in a brutal CNN poll, released Sunday, which shows Romney topping Obama in a re-election rematch by a whopping nine-point margin, 53 percent to 44 percent. That's an even larger spread than CNN found in November, when a survey had Romney winning a redo 49 percent to 45 percent.

Two years ago, on the morning of the 2012 election in the United States, I got an email with an urgent subject line: "You should write the story of how Facebook blew an opportunity to turn out 300k voters." The sender, a veteran progressive online activist who would prefer to remain anonymous, was upset for good reason. The election was bound to be close, and as of 10am that morning he hadn't yet seen an "I'm Voting" button on his Facebook page, nor had another colleague of his. Nor was one on my own Facebook page. Given that when Facebook...

The IRS will pay the National Organization for Marriage $50,000 to settle a lawsuit over claims the agency improperly disclosed confidential tax information, according to a consent judgment released this week. The lawsuit stemmed from information an IRS worker sent to an individual who identified himself as a member of the media who requested it in the midst of the 2012 presidential campaign, which he then sent to the pro-gay rights group Human Rights Campaign. The Huffington Post then ran a story noting a political action committee linked to Mitt Romney had been a donor to NOM. John Eastman, NOM’s...