The Iowa Derby: In the Final Lap Rick Santorum Comes From Behind

Catholic Online ^ | 1/2/12 | Keith A Fournier

[tcg]

In May of 2011 I watched the Kentucky Derby with my wife. ...A horse who had never raced on dirt, or finished first in any major race, ridden by a last minute replacement jockey, with 20-1 odds against it - not even considered in the top tier by many "experts"- won the most exciting Kentucky Derby in years!

I later used the race in an article to describe the possibility of Rick Santorum emerging as a leader in the field of contenders for the Republican nomination for President. Back then, most people thought I was engaging in what is called "wishful thinking". ...He passionately defends the fundamental Human Right to Life. He courageously defends marriage and the family and society founded upon it. He is unafraid to speak to the moral issues which lie at the root of many of our challenges - including our economic challenges. He has an authentic understanding of the sources of our liberties and the responsibilities they bring with them.

Most importantly, Rick Santorum is a refreshing example of moral coherence - a politician who refuses to buy the party line that one can separate out the so called "social" and "moral" issues from the economic and foreign policy issues.

In fact, he will not accept the idea that morality should be confined to the walls of one's home or house of worship. Instead, he insists that America as a Nation is a "moral enterprise". He recently told one the crowds attending his pre-caucus events, that America will not remain free "without a good strong moral compass."

...Now, Rick Santorum, who has pulled from behind, may actually win this race. The candidate now asks the swelling crowds which gather to hear him, "Please help me out - You send a shockwave across the country."

[tcg]

Rick Santorum is a refreshing example of moral coherence - a politician who refuses to buy the party line that one can separate out the so called "social" and "moral" issues from the economic and foreign policy issues. In fact, he will not accept the idea that morality should be confined to the walls of one's home or house of worship. Instead, he insists that America as a Nation is a "moral enterprise". He recently told one the crowds attending his pre-caucus events, that America will not remain free "without a good strong moral compass."

[icwhatudo]

Pro-life, faithful to wife. Go Rick!

[trumandogz]

Great piece Thanks for posting.

I will also predict that Santorum will come from behind in Iowa and surprise a lot of people and leaving quite a mess of the GOP field coming out of Iowa.

[who knows what evil?]

Alan Colmes’ foul comments earlier may give Santorum a ‘sympathy’ factor that will put him over the top...

[OUTKAST]

THIS WHOLE THING IS A SET UP AND A JOKE

If you cant see this.. then you are HAD

[Prokopton]

Pro-life, faithful to wife...

never supported AGW, never supported individual mandate, never supported amnesty for illegal aliens, was never a shill for Fannie/Freddie, lifetime 88% ACU rating, always A or B rating by Taxpayer Union.

I guess there really is a difference between candidates.

[Utmost Certainty]

A list I've been compiling for fun. Feel free to borrow and add.

Rick Santorum

- Voted for Perscription Drug Benefit mandate.
- Endorsed Arlen Spector.
- Agreed with Newt on illegal immigration when Newt mentioned his limited amnesty.
- Voted for the Gun Manufacturers Liability Act of 1994 prohibiting the sale of hand guns with safety devices.
- Voted against Death Tax repeal in 2003.
- Voted for the federal regulation of farms requiring that large farms construct animal waste treatment facilities.
- Voted for Bushs' No Child Left Behind and other national testing initiatives.
- Voted for afirmative action (later voted against it).
- Voted for Minimum Wage increases (Flipped on this several times).
- Voted for federal funds for military operations in Bosnia.
- Voted to cut Trident II D-5 missles several times.
- Voted against the elimiation of the National Endowment for the Arts funding numerous times.
- Voted to seize private property to designate 7 million acres of Cal. desert as a wilderness area.
- Voted against the first amendment and for lobbying restrictions and regulations.
- Voted for the Motor Voter law several times.
- Voted to limit Striker Replacement of union thugs.
- Voted on the FY 94 Clinton budget, which contained at that time the largest tax increase in U.S. history.
- Voted against SDI several times.
- Voted against Hunter amendment that sought to require the Defense Department to ask individuals entering the armed forces if they are homosexuals. (He later switched to the more conservative position on this).
- Voted against school choice early in his career. (He later switched to the more conservative position on this).
- Voted against both the 1991, 1992 spending freeze and voted for numerous large Bush II Budgets.
- Voted for tabaco tax increases (1998).
- Voted against the exemption of banks with assets of less than $250 million from the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act (1998).
- Voted for the Chemical Weapons Treaty of 1997 that the ACU said, "violated U.S. constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure, ceded U.S. national sovereignty to international agencies, and threatened U.S. defense forces".
- Voted for Kassenbaum amendment to the Ryan White Reauthorization which allowed for funds to be used to promote homosexuality or intravenous drug use.
- Voted for the 2005 highway bill that included thousands of wasteful earmarks, including the Bridge to Nowhere.
- Voted to continue funding the Bridge to Nowhere rather than send the money to rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
- Sponsored a bill to extend milk subsidies in 2005, which he claimed he did to “save countless Pennsylvania dairy farmers.”

Some additional points from here:

- A prolific supporter of earmarks, having requested billions of dollars for pork projects in Pennsylvania while he was in Congress. Perhaps recognizing the sign of the times, Santorum finally reversed his position in 2010, saying that he was opposed to them , but one must remain skeptical about his sincerity. As recently as 2009, he said, “I’m not saying necessarily earmarks are bad. I have had a lot of earmarks. In fact, I’m very proud of all the earmarks I’ve put in bills. I’ll defend earmarks.”

- An examination of his scores in the NTU rating of Congress shows that Santorum compiled a very strong record on taxes and spending in the first four years of each of his two Senate terms, then a sharp swing to below the Senate Republican average in the Congress before his reelection campaign.

- In the 2003-2004 session of Congress, Santorum sponsored or cosponsored 51 bills to increase spending, and failed to sponsor or co-sponsor even one spending cut proposal. In his last Congress (2005-2006), he had one of the biggest spending agendas of any Republican -- sponsoring more spending increases than Republicans Lisa Murkowski, Lincoln Chafee and Thad Cochran or Democrats Herb Kohl, Evan Bayh and Ron Wyden.

- Santorum also supported raising congressional pay at least three times, in 2001, 2002, and 2003.

- He voted NO on raising the minimum wage in 1995 and 2005. But on the same day he voted NO in 2005, he sponsored an amendment that would increase the minimum wage, which he later boasted about to skeptical voters in a 2006 campaign brochure he released called “50 Things You Didn’t Know About Rick Santorum.”

- In the same “50 Things” campaign brochure, Santorum boasts about sponsoring a bill to regulate “price gouging and unfair pricing by the big oil companies.” This contradicts his opposition to a “windfall profits tax” that Democrats tried to impose on oil companies in 2005. He also voted YES on Sarbanes-Oxley, which was an overreaching bill that tried to tighten accounting regulations following the Enron scandal.

Also see: Rick Santorum the Pro-Life Statist

[CainConservative]

Rick “Silky Sullivan” Santorum.

Also a big part of the Speaker Gingrich-led Republicans….the result:

* Four consecutive balanced budgets
* Over $400 billion of debt paid off
* Bipartisan welfare reform
* 11 million new jobs
* Unemployment falling to under 4%.

Newt as does Rick believes that life begins at conception. That is why he has a 99 percent prolife record.

“Gingrich Reaffirms His Belief in the Sanctity of all Human Life, Born and Unborn

“Atlanta, GA – (12/3) – In advance of this evenings forum hosted by Mike Huckabee, Newt 2012 released the following statement today from Newt Gingrich regarding his belief in the sanctity of all human life, born and unborn.

“As I have stated many times throughout the course of my public life, I believe that human life begins at conception. I believe that every unborn life is precious, no matter how conceived. I also believe that we should work for the day when there will be no abortions for any reason, and that every unborn child will be welcomed into life and protected by law.”

Jim Robinson: “Newt: Pro-life Reaganite, led the Republican Revolution, took the congressional majority from the Democrats who had held it for 40 years; and even with a democrat president: cut taxes, cut spending, cut the national deficit, cut welfare, balanced the federal budget four years running, cut regulations, reduced unemployment, blocked socialized healthcare (HillaryCare) and encouraged the Reagan economy to flourish throughout his term and beyond. Not a bad conservative record at all. We can use some of this now!!”

Wrap it up in 24 hours and put a bow on it. BEAT WILLARD any way we can, folks : )

The very latest polling shows:

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney — 23 percent ..LIBERAL DEM IS NOT GETTING OUR NOM IF SC & FL HAVE A SAY (And they do!)

Texas Rep. Ron Paul — 22 percent ..RACIST NUTJOB APPEALS TO DEMS & DRUGGIES

Former Pennsylvania Sen. SILKY Rick Santorum — 18 percent : ) ..GO RICK!

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich — 16 percent : ) ..GO NEWT!

Texas Gov. Rick Perry — 10 percent ..DROPS OUT WED

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann — 6 percent ..DROPS OUT WED

Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman — 2 percent ..NO ONE CARES

Other — 1 percent

Undecided — 2 percent

The poll was completed Sunday night after the Des Moines Register poll of 729 Iowa Republicans likely to vote Tuesday and has a statistical error margin of 3.5 percent.

“It’s basically a two-tiered race,” Matt Towery, chief pollster for InsiderAdvantage, tells Newsmax. “The first tier is Romney, Paul, Santorum, and Gingrich.”

The remaining candidates no longer are players in the GOP race for president, Towery said.

The surprise of the poll, Towery said, is how well Gingrich is doing despite “seeing blood everywhere” after the massive pummeling he’s taken in local and national TV ads, largely funded by pro-Romney supporters, attacking the former speaker’s record.

The InsiderAdvantage closing survey for Iowa has been the most accurate poll in predicting the winner. The poll foresaw John Kerry’s upset over Howard Dean in 2004, Obama’s win over Hillary Clinton in 2008, and Mike Huckabee’s surprise victory that same year.

Silky Sullivan - the greatest come-from-behind runner of all: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvXXNlmjD68

[ScottinVA]

So it`s all an elaborate scheme, huh? No chance conservatives would find Santorum palatable? You sure about that?

Of course, you`ll have some evidence to substantiate your claim, no?

[LibFreeUSA]

Nice. I wanted Sarah Palin, but her decision has left us with this bunch who have no record of any meaningful accomplishments that demonstrate they will reform what’s been going on. Their words do not match their deeds, but who among these do? All of them have ‘Establishment’ DNA in their blood. For you to rip this guy like everyone else is beyond any similar faults, is a complete waste of time.

[elpadre]

I am surprised Santorum is appealing to so many.

In the Senate he continuously voted for big spending bills and believes in stuffing bills with earmarks.

He was an ardent supporter of turn-coat Specter.

He couldn't win in his home state. What am I missing??

[Post Toasties]

I have to admit that I don’t know who the best Republican candidate would be since I consider a relative intangible of who is best qualified to beat The Mess—I—Uh as being the most important criterion. That being said, I don’t like squishes like Romney and Huntsman that much and think the Tea Party approach is the way to go wrt the economy but would vote for any breathing Republican candidate in the general election.

[Post Toasties]

I have to admit that I don’t know who the best Republican candidate would be since I consider a relative intangible of who is best qualified to beat The Mess—I—Uh as being the most important criterion. That being said, I don’t like squishes like Romney and Huntsman that much and think the Tea Party approach is the way to go wrt the economy but would vote for any breathing Republican candidate in the general election.

[Post Toasties]

If 0bama is the Messiah, then Stalin is God.

[RedMDer]

[RobinOfKingston]

Wow! That’s a heck of a list. You must really want that other guy ... what’s his name again ... to win, huh?

How long must the opposite list be if Santorum has a 88% ACU rating. Just guessin’.

[napscoordinator]

Your repulsive. Why did you just sign up? Just to bash Santorum? Go back to DU where you belong?????????