Looks like the troll chose the latter.
Posted on 01/08/2012 10:41:37 AM PST by octapi
Rick Santorum's virtual tie in Iowa has propelled him into the national spotlight overnight.
Just three weeks ago, Santorum was polling in the low to middle single digits in Iowa. Many people questioned why he was even in the race. I thought that he was probably running for Vice President -- someone who could give Mitt Romney credibility with social conservatives.
Now that Santorum has emerged as the latest front-runner among the GOP Presidential contenders, it's time to take a close look at who Rick Santorum really is.
Santorum was born in 1958 in West Virginia. His parents were government employees who worked at a VA Hospital in neighboring Pennsylvania. After graduating from college with a Law Degree, Santorum went to work for the government as a legislative aide to a Pennsylvania State Senator. He later served on a Pennsylvania government transportation committee.
Santorum was elected to the House of Representatives in 1990. In 1994 he was elected to the Senate as part of the Gingrich revolution. In 1996, Santorum served as Chairman of the Republican Party Task Force on Welfare Reform and he helped steer that important piece of legislation through the Senate.
However, during the Bush the administration, Santorum helped lead the GOP away from their principles, by concocting all kinds of government spending programs designed to create new government dependent constituencies that would be loyal to the GOP.
Rick Santorum voted for the first new federal entitlement program since LBJ (Medicare Part D), the largest federal intrusion into the classroom in history (the failed No Child Left Behind), the largest pork barrel infrastructure bill in history (including the infamous "bridge to nowhere"), thousands of earmarks, Bush's two ill-conceived wars in the Middle East, and much more. Santorum and his buddies turned a balance budget into huge deficits and set the stage for the Democrats to regain control of the Congress and White House.
Rick Santorum is the poster boy for everything that was wrong with the GOP during the Bush administration. As a result, he got booted out of office in 2006 along with the rest of the GOP Congress. He lost to a conservative Democrat by a whopping 59% to 41%.
During the 1980s, Ronald Reagan vetoed a transportation bill from a Democrat Congress because it contained 150 earmarks. During the Bush Administration, Santorum helped to Sheppard a transportation bill through a GOP Congress that contained over 1,000 earmarks (including the "bridge to nowhere"). Bush signed it. This alone should tell us all how much so-called "conservatives" like Santorum have veered off of the course set for us by Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan.
Santorum also endorsed liberal GOP Senator Arlen Specter over his conservative challenger Pat Toomey in 2004. Specter won the primary and the election. Thanks to Rick Santorum, Arlen Specter was around to cast the deciding vote for Obamacare in the Senate. In 2010, Specter switched to the Democrat Party and lost to his primary challenger. Pat Toomey won the Senate seat.
I've watched every GOP debate during this election cycle. One thing that really strikes me is that of all of the current GOP Presidential candidates, Rick Santorum seems to have learned the least from Bush's misadventures in Iraq and Afghanistan. Like Bush, Santorum seems to believe that the U.S. government can force a western civilization on a country like Afghanistan, where no reasonable civilization has ever existed before.
Earlier this week Rush Limbaugh was bellyaching about people questioning Santorum's conservative credentials. Limbaugh stated that "conservatives" actually do believe in big government -- just not the same kind of big government that liberals believe in. Oh really???
So sure, if our new definition of a "conservative" is someone who wants to conserve the growth of government over the last 80 years and the corrupt cronyism that it spawned, then Santorum is indeed a "conservative".
However, if our definition of a "conservative" is someone who wants to conserve the Constitution, limited government, the free market, and our individual liberty, then Santorum isn't even close to fitting the bill.
I hope and pray that the good people of New Hampshire take a hard look at Rick Santorum in the context of their state motto -- "Live Free or Die" -- and render their verdict accordingly.
Bully for you.
I have been here longer than you, and I say you're wrong.
Santorum is a conservative. His voting record is almost as conservative as Newt Gingrich's.
You can nitpick every candidate to death, but start and end with Romeny.
He’s back under a different name.
Yeah, I heard that. RPaul made no attempt to correct himself, and nobody else seemed to pick up on it.
Looks like the troll chose the latter.
Most repulsive of all is the crony-capitalist, pay-for-access, big government supporting types that people are parading as ‘conservatives’ this cycle.
To me conservatism is larger than where one stands on abortion.
So you agree with the guy that just got zotted?
Gunslingr3 is more Libertairian than anything else. It’s as simple as that.
Understand? *wink*
Let me guess, your definition of conservative somehow includes leftist like Ron Paul?
To me conservatism is larger than where one stands on abortion.
That's true, but if a person will not defend the lives of the most innocent and helpless among us then it is axiomatic that they will not defend our Republic.
Take Ron Paul for instance, he believes that each state should be free to legalize abortion AND he also believes America's enemies like Iran should be free to develop nuclear weapons to destroy us.
I’ve been here for over 14 years (so what?) and Rick is no socialist nor is he a liberal or even moderate. My daughter worked for him when he was a US Senator. He and his wife always treated their staff well and respectful. Certainly he isn’t perfect but his conservative credentials are genuine. As Rush said last week, Santorum is not for big government, he is for a strong and efficient government. I agree with you, onyx, lets train our sights on the real threat to the success of the Republican Party next November: Mitt Romney.
I've been here longer than you and I don't understand Santorum's defense of unions!...he opposed national right to work legislation.
Santorum also had issues with Jim DeMint on earmarks.
I don't think Santorum is a small government conservative...based on his voting record.
I KNOW Jim DeMint is a conservative!
I'm proud to be a Perrywinkle. I KNOW Perry is a conservative and PROUD that Texas is a Right to Work state!
I don't think it's "nitpicking" to question things about Santorum's voting record! It doesn't scream "fiscal conservative."
If you can't defend it, have me zotted.
That is your MO!
Of course it's larger than "just" being pro-life. But being pro-life is a big part of being conservative, no one can be a conservative and be simultaneously pro-death ie "pro-choice". Even state by state. Or pro-death as in "doctor assisted suicide" for that matter.
If Santorum were elected President, would government expenditures be higher or lower after 4 years? If he wouldn’t shrink government then he isn’t a conservative.
Were government expenditures higher or lower after Reagan's first four years? What about after eight years?
If he wouldn’t shrink government then he isn’t a conservative.
Was Reagan a conservative?
NOWHERE in the Constitution does it suggest that states have the power to legislate away unalienable rights, in fact the Fourteenth Amendment makes it perfectly clear that it would be unconstitutional to allow states to legalize abortion.
How EXACTLY would abolishing abortion make the United States a "totalitarian" country?
My point exactly. government only grows under every Republican. I can’t support them because of that. Cut government 50% or stop giving small government a bad name.
So, if you don't think Ronald Reagan was a conservative, who do you believe is a conservative?
And for the record, conservatism DOES NOT SUPPORT "small government," that is the goal of libertarian-anarchists. Conservatives support LIMITED government, there is a huge difference.
People flocking to Santorum as their nominating salvation need to know who and what he is. If they dig deeper than his "social conservative" message and they may not like what they find.
Santorum's no "Romney killer;" he ran interference for him throughout the 2011 debate cycle.
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