Free Republic

CNN contributor and former US senator Rick Santorum is under fire for “racist” comments that critics said debased Native American culture, prompting calls for his immediate termination. Santorum, 62, told the conservative Young America’s Foundation on Friday that “there isn’t much Native American culture in American culture,” claiming the United States has been largely unchanged since the country was born out of “Judeo-Christian” values.

Rick Santorum said he didn't like Donald Trump's "verbiage" when he called Mexican immigrants "rapists" in his presidential announcement speech, but said he was raising an important point by bringing up the effect that illegal immigration has on American workers. "While I don't like the verbiage he's used, I like the fact that he is focused on a very important issue for American workers and particularly, legal immigrants in this country," Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator and presidential candidate said on CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday. "People who are coming illegally, obviously, are coming with a bad intent, let's just...

In a Meet the Press interview on Sunday, presidential candidate Rick Santorum says the upcoming Supreme Court decision on gay marriage has "validity" but is not "the final word." Santorum, who officially announced his candidacy last week, was asked by Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd if he agreed with Mike Huckabee's assessment that states should take action to disregard a ruling many experts expect to be in favor of attempting to redefine marriage in the United States. "Well, I think the Supreme Court has, as an equal branch of government, the ability to overrule Congress and the president," declared...

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum is praying for political lightning to strike twice. Even after pulling an upset win in the Iowa caucuses four years ago and going on to survive the longest against eventual nominee Mitt Romney, the GOP presidential hopeful is again the underdog in a much more crowded 2016 field. Expected to announce his second bid for president in his hometown of Butler, Pa., Wednesday, Santorum is nowhere near the silver-medal finish he pulled off in 2012. But that's not stopping him from still preaching his brand of "blue-collar conservatism" with an emphasis on workers and manufacturing...

Rick Santorum is not happy about the rules for the first 2016 Republican primary debate, hosted by Fox News, which will limit the number of candidates onstage based on their standing in the polls. (snip) Santorum is expected to announce his plans for 2016 on May 27 during a speech in his hometown of Butler, Pennsylvania.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum is clarifying — but not stepping back from — surprising comments this weekend in support of former Olympian Bruce Jenner's decision to come out as a transgender woman. "If he says he's a woman, then he's a woman," Santorum told BuzzFeed during a roundtable discussion in South Carolina on Saturday. Santorum continued: "My responsibility as a human being is to love and accept everybody. Not to criticize people for who they are."

“If he says he’s a woman, then he’s a woman,” Santorum, the former GOP senator from Pennsylvania, said about Jenner in South Carolina... Santorum, who is considering a second straight bid for the Republican nomination... Santorum did add that “these are tough issues” for both businesses and society, including the question of whether Jenner could use a women’s bathroom.

Former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum on Thursday criticized comments in US Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) made earlier this month i n a speech that critics have said was unnecessarily confrontational toward a Middle Eastern Christian group. "We have a responsibility to stand by people who are being persecuted," Santorum told Business Insider in a wide-ranging interview in New York. "This shouldn't be an ideological test — well, you have to agree with us on all of these things, or else we won't be with you. No, we're going to be with you if you are a religious minority that's...

Former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum dismissed Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul’s 2016 presidential ambitions, claiming “the Republican Party is not a libertarian party” and suggesting few GOP voters would be swayed by Paul’s small government message. Santorum swiped at the senator Monday during an appearance on CNN’s “Crossfire,” where he told left-wing host Van Jones that Republicans “need a positive agenda” to win in 2014 and 2016. “So positive agenda,” Jones replied. “Rand Paul, who now seems to be everywhere. He’s the frontrunner in your party. Do you agree with his ideas, are you going to support Rand Paul?”...

Newt Gingrich says, "Between us, Santorum and I are stopping Romney."