Posted on 03/23/2012 2:56:36 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Much hay is being made of Rick Santorum saying he’d prefer Obama to Romney. Except that is not what he said or what he meant. Certainly he could have had a clarifying clause in his statement, but given the context, I think he was saying no more and no less than what I have been saying.
I’m on record thinking it is over and Romney is the nominee, but the hand-wringing over Santorum is juvenile and reminds me again why I so dislike Team Romney. We’re going to have put up with months of Team Romney whining about things if he is the nominee. This is the latest example.
What Santorum said was:
“You win by giving people a choice,” Santorum said during a campaign stop in Texas. “You win by giving people the opportunity to see a different vision for our country, not someone who’s just going to be a little different than the person in there.”
Santorum added: “If they’re going to be a little different, we might as well stay with what we have instead of taking a risk of what may be the Etch A Sketch candidate for the future.”
I think it was clear from the context of his remarks that Santorum was not expressing his own thinking, but expressing the thinking of general election voters. And I think he is absolutely right, which is also why I think Romney makes such a bad nominee (not that I think Santorum would be any better).
As I have said before
"conservatives may not like Barack Obama, but most other people do. And when faced with a guy you like and a guy you don’t like who says he can fix an economy that no longer needs fixing, you’re going to go with the guy you like."
Right now Mitt Romney has higher negatives with independent voters than Hillary Clinton did in 2008. Add in the Etch-A-Sketch comment and he is ripe to be painted as the next iteration of the Massachusetts flip-flopper no one can trust.
I think Santorum was spot on in describing how voters would see the race in November. Why would they want to give up a guy many of them like, but who don’t much care of his job performance, for a guy they don’t like whose own campaign admits is like an Etch-A-Sketch.
He flew from one candidate to another, then back again, before his grand announcement the other day, "We have our candidate, Romney" [for which, he was given a big plug (and MSM hug] on Fox New's Special Edition last night].
NOW he feels it is his job to explain Santorum's comments about Romeny [Newt is also hitting Mitt on this --- but as usual Newt doesn't need an interpreter].
Erickson must have a difficult time finding a hat that fits his fat head. He should look over Jim DeMint's hat rack. There should be hats there that fit.
Rick was right, Romney=Obama.
Santorum lost my vote on April 3. I admit that I was teetering BUT I am sick to death of his whiny self now.
Ping. Erick Erickson saying what we already knew was true.
“Santorum lost my vote on April 3.”
If he is our nominee I will gladly vote for him knowing the judges he will appoint won’t be liberals. Romney will never get a vote from me.
If Romney is elected, he will implement the Lefty/Liberal Creep-Toward-Socialism agenda. He may not try to move quite as fast as Obama, but he will still move in the same direction.
The difference is, Obama would be working with a hostile Republican Congress, and would not be able to pass any of his ambitious legislative plans. He would be limited to the damage he can do through abuse of his executive authority. This potential damage is substantial, but not unlimited, as we saw in the slapping down of the EPA by the Supreme Court this week.
Romney, on the other hand, will have a friendly Republican Congress, and can count on support of moderate Republicans and Democrats to pass whatever he wants. He will be able to codify whatever he wants into law. And what he wants is more of the same.
So, yeah, Romney might be worse than Obama.
SDS (Santorum Derangement Syndrome) is running rampant on FR.
I understood Rick - no sure why this guy feels the need to explain. Rick is right. There isn’t much difference between Mitt and barry.
I don’t know why people keep whining about having to interpret what Rick Santorum says, I understand him fine and agree that its pointless to try and make distinctions between Romney and Obama.
Romney has won Obama strongholds while insulting conservatives through the primary season and has pretty much admitted that he’ll be more “moderate” in the general election. There’s simply no way he’s going to win.
I guess you didn’t get the Team Newt memo.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2862630/posts
Many Newt supporters are using this as an opportunity to say Rick committed a gaffe because they tried to push the falsehood that Rick TOLD people to vote for Obama over Romney, when he obviously didn’t say that. Take a read at that thread if you get a chance. Might surprise you how overboard people really tried to stretch the comments.
Just like his comment about not caring about unemployment. I knew exactly what he meant. Without freedom, economy and jobs don’t mean squat. The tightening stranglehold on our freedoms is costing jobs more than anything.
Sadly, I’ll vote for “he orange juice can” against 0bummer&Co, anyday. He will do more-than-substantial damage to America; he will finish us off as a Nation and turn us all into socialist slaves. I won’t live on that commie-lib-dem “plantation”
I just voted for Gingrich in the IL Primary, however the reality is that Obama's such a BAD President, that I'll vote for whoever wins the Republican Primary.
It's just this simple: This country cannot take another four years of an Obama Presidency, and the simple thought of Obama having free reign to do what he wants, unshackled from ever having to face the voters again literally scares the shit out of me.
Santorum added: “If they’re going to be a little different, we might as well stay with what we have instead of taking a risk of what may be the Etch A Sketch candidate for the future.”
explain then how this is not saying if it is Mittens vs Obammy then we should vote Obammy.
For SCOTUS alone this is a stupid move.
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2012/03/22/santorum-might-as-well-have-obama-over-romney/
But I'm not worried about a Romney presidency, he will lose to Obama.
Time to bring the Party together and be part of the solution......http://projects.wsj.com/campaign2012/delegates
Our votes will be completely irrelevant at that point.
And with that logic, the GOP-e will ensure that a prominent conservative NEVER makes it to the top of the ticket...EVER
If they can scare you into voting for whomever the nominee is, then there is no checks and balances to them or any incentive to promote conservatism.
I won’t support Romney or vote for him, because he is Obama-lite and the epitomy of the GOP-E.
YOU SAID: FOR SCOTUS ALONE THIS IS A STUPID MOVE
Please tell me what makes you think Romney would actually appoint a conservative to the bench given his record of appointing liberal judges in Mass?
Not only that, but even if the Republicans take over the Senate, I can easily, EASILY, name 10 RINOs that will cave in and ensure that a justice deemed “too conservative” won’t get a fair hearing. A Romney won’t have the backbone to stick with it. He will appoint someone that gets approval of the Dems or the RINO-Senate, then blame whatever bad happens on the Court on the Senate instead of himself.
Nobody is misintrepreting what Rick said. They are intentionslly twisting it.
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