Posted on 11/12/2005 5:16:19 AM PST by Sub-Driver
Santorum Critical Of Bush, War In Iraq
(AP) PHILADELPHIA Sen. Rick Santorum took a rare swing at President Bush, saying the war in Iraq has been less than optimal and that some blame for that lies with the White House.
Santorum, a conservative Republican and usually a strong Bush ally, said the unpopularity of the war should be shared between the White House and the media.
Certainly, mistakes were made, Santorum said of the wars conduct. But thats a criticism you can make of every conflict.
The comments, made after a Veterans Day speech at the Union League in Philadelphia on Friday, came at the same time the Pennsylvania senator stressed he wasnt trying to distance himself from the president, who spoke moments earlier about 80 miles away at the Tobyhanna Army Depot.
Bushs poll numbers are the lowest of any time during his presidency, in part due to the climbing death toll in Iraq. He is also blamed by some for the loss of the Virginia governors race, in which he appeared with Republican candidate Jerry Kilgore the day before the election. Kilgore lost.
(Excerpt) Read more at kyw.com ...
Certainly, mistakes were made, Santorum said of the wars conduct. But thats a criticism you can make of every conflict.
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Hmmm, needs a "media desperate to take Santorum quote out of context" alert.
Santorum, more than any other senate race in 2006, DESERVES OUR SUPPORT. Cut him some slack, folks.
Proper headline is:
"I guess I find it hard to defend these Republican Senators. They ought to know better then to try and be reasonable ..."
Er, what is a *Senator* to do. Never make public comments?!?
And people wonder why the Democrats get all the media attention.
"Anything the Republican says is going to be misquoted and misrepresented by these DNC stooges in the Dinosaur media."
Yes, but as former Sen Phil Gramm said, that goes with the territory.
"Senator Santorum is at the receiving end of a massive media propaganda campaign to remove him from the Senate. Not a single good word has been printing on him in the past year, and the media has successfully driven a wedge between Santorum and his base, even though he is one of the most conservative members of the Senate; and what's worse is that many so-called "conservatives" are buying into the MSM spin..."
DITTOS. He is the most important Senator to save next year.
We must make every effort to get him re-elected.
It's the AP. OF COURSE, there is distortion.
FReepers should pay more attention to the source and the content before they judge the headline (as you did).
No, it seems he has lost some other body parts, however. Not exactly a profile in courage.
"OK Rick. Felt sorry for you when you had your breakdown and some other times as well but...ya know what? You are on your own now. WhatEVER you run for I hope you lose big time. To stab President Bush in the back like you jsut did is unforgiveable. You are a disgrace and no longer have our support. You can hang out there to dry next time YOU are in trouble...we sure as hell won't help you. Thanks for nothing. Shame on you. Shame on you. Good luck on YOUR next election!!!"
No, you loon ... YOU are a disgrace. You are attacking and insulting a great conservative and one of the best men we have on Capitol Hill today.
Santorum is a fantastic Senator, of 100 senators in office today, he is easily in the top 10. What I really think of your defeatist garbage would fail the decency test, but suffice to say its defeatist self-immolating treasonous idiots like you who get Lib Dems elected. Unless your just a troll here to spread hate and despair, in which case, go back to DU.
He is obviously a coward taking these steps because he fears standing up for what he supposedly believes--all due to his re-election campaign next year. I say Toomey should run against Santorum in a Republican primary. These guys never learn.
"If sanity-impaired Santorum thinks he can pick up a few votes by bashing Bush he is sorely mistaken."
Read the f-ing article. he did NOT bash Bush. AP twisted what he said and wrote a headline 180 degrees opposite of what he was really saying, which was that MEDIA BIAS was the problem.
If sanity-impaired you thinks you can pick up a few brownie points by bashing Santorum you are sorely mistaken.
"What do they do when these people get to DC - surgically remove all their principles?"
What 'principles' do you stand for when you take the media bias hook, line, sinker and use it as a premise to bash a good conservative senator? Do you feel warm and fuzzy helping the Democrats regain the Senate for Hillary?
Good retort.
The logic is from the "political advisors" who these weak-kneed politicians hire to advise them what to do to get re-elected. This phenomenon is at the heart of what is wrong in DC.
"Disagree. Santorum was in a no-win solution. He couldn't back someone else in the party primary against his incumbent colleague from the same state. It is called party loyalty. Moreover, the WH also backed Specter. Please cite me one example of a sitting Senator backing someone other than the incumbent from his party in a primary election. You are being unreasonable."
Dittos.
I sent money to Toomey. I wanted him to beat Specter.
But Santorum did absolutely nothing wrong and exactly what 99.9% of any of us would have done. He supported his colleague of 10 years, a colleague who helped him get elected and who, for good or ill, was the Republican senator incumbent. It was up to primary voters to do their thing, quit blaming Santorum for being loyal to colleagues and the party.
"Santorum got caught having taxpayers of PA paying for his kids education"
Wow ... that's like something that 50 million kids in America get done for them. what a scandal.
And he's a senator with (gasp) a residence near DC in addition to one in the homestate; something that oh, maybe close to 100% of congressmen and senators have.
Once again, Hillary thanks you for your negative campaigning on behalf of the DNC.
"Is there a good conservative that will oppose him in primaries?"
HE *IS* A GOOD CONSERVATIVE!!!!
Name a single elected senator from the northeast who is a more solid conservative. You can't because there are none.
We dont need a chance to get a LibDem elected replacing Santorum, we need to defend Santorum and defend the seat. The Democrats *will* win it if the idiots on this forum have their way.
Hillary wil be cackling all the way to White House if that happens.
Santorum lost his re-election bid when he campaigned for that Rat in RINO clothing, Specter in '04. No principled conservative would have done that, and he has no one but himself to blame for losing the support of the conservative base. And everything conservatives said about that liberal cadaver, Specter, has been proven correct. He is an albatross around Bush's neck as chairman of the Judiciary Com.
His REAL point which you missed is that But thats a criticism you can make of every conflict. He was not aiming his fire at the President, but at the biased press which only sees the downside and never the upside. And, yes, mistakes were made (mistake #1 in my book was how Bremer dealt with the former Iraqi army; water under bridge now, but we eliminated the one security force the Iraqis had and created recruits for the insurgency in one fell swoop; not our best idea.) ... but WE ARE WINNING IN IRAQ, and that is something you NEVER SEE printed in lamestream media. They NEVER admit that we are defeating the terrorists, that the elections were successful and democracy is taking root, and that Iraq is become more stable month by month. They only show more deaths, give the terrorist EXACTLY WHAT THE TERRORISTS WANT, the grisly headlines for their disgusting evil attacks, without any context nor condemnation, in effect blaming the blameless (the US military) for the acts of others (terrorists).
I've been dealing with this issue on my blog "Liberating Iraq" for 15 months. Santorum is right. If the media dealt with WWII like they do Iraq, we would never have made it past Normandy.
"Casey is a decent choice for the senate. "
Wow, what a dumb thing to say.
Casey will vote Schumer, Kennedy, Hillary, and Leahy to majority posts, enabling them to harm our economy, tear down our national security, and drive cultural conservatives into the shadows. They will fund abortions via UN programs, will raise taxes, they will follow Kerry's plan for a kinder, gentler law-enforcement war-on-terror ... and they could do that as early as 2007 if the Dems have a big winning year in 2006.
No, Casey and any Democrat is an INDECENT choice for the Senate and a pathetic replacement for one of the best conservative Senators we have.
As for "how much he appreciates his backers" did you do this to get your back scratched or to get some road contract ... or did you do it to advance conservative causes. If the former, I care not, if the latter, then look at how much of the conservative agenda Santorum has helped push through, he has done A LOT FOR ALL OF US, not just PA but for conservatives across the US.
Yes, go ahead and ask that Casey character how many conservative judges *he* voted for, and worked to defend from unfair attacks; how many tax cuts *he* passed; how many times *he* made tough calls to keep govt spending in line, helped gun owners, protected the unborn; ask Casey how many times he made a tough vote like Santorum did to support overthrowing the taliban and operation Iraqi freedom, and since then, supporting the President with votes and rhetorically on the war on terror. Actually, Casey has done NONE of those things.
Compare that too with how much Amtrak rider Biden has done for conservatives (ie zippo to harming us much).
Yes, because Santorum is conservative the media hate him and because the media hates him they lie about him like the above-mentioned article.
Is that an excuse for you to get sucked into that? Because the media has created tempests in teapots and smeared him and made him look bad you'll go along with the liberals and their smears?!?
Casey is riding his fathers coattails and letting a friendly media underwrite the negative campaigning so he wont have to do it. Sad to see that conservative moles are obligingly doing the dirty work. Hillary thanks you!
So you'll dump Santorum, despite his great rating from National Taxpayers Union, despite 12 years of fighting the good fight on a number of conservative issues ... for the liberal-in-mods-clothing Casey because Santorum doesnt take Amtrak and show up in person?!? Duh, did you ever think to pick up the damned phone and call his DC office if you want your opinion heard?!? (Modern technology, what a wonder!)
You are really STUCK ON STUPID. Snap out of it!
Everyone reading this thread needs to read your post. Well said.
"The fact that the light minded among us are ready to throw Rick overboard is proof that the barrage is working."
Well said. The wimps, idiots, moles, and feeble of mind are showing themselves in this forum through their pathetic whines about one of our best Senators.
" For those who think Casey is unbeatable, does anybody remember the campaign against Rendell?
When Mr. Casey wasn't slinging bushels of mud he sounded like a sociology 101 Community College Professor who was also an officer in the local service employees union. Sit back, don't vote. It can't get any worse. Right?"
Be afraid. Very afraid.
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