Murdoch backs Santorum for US president

Breitbart ^ | 1/2/2012 | AFP via Breitbart

[Qbert]

Media magnate Rupert Murdoch on Monday urged Iowans to back firebrand social conservative Rick Santorum, one day before they cast the first votes of the 2012 White House race.

"Can't resist this tweet, but all Iowans think about Rick Santorum. Only candidate with genuine big vision for country," Murdoch, 80, said on his official Twitter feed on the eve of the heartland state's nominating caucuses.

Santorum has surged into third place in recent days on the strength of his take-no-prisoners social conservative ideology and seemed poised for a strong finish in the largely symbolic first-in-the-nation ballot.

[no dems]

I said weeks ago, when Santorum was at 5 percent in the polls, that Rick Santorum will be the surprise coming out of Iowa on Jan. 3.

[no dems]

This is obviously being done to help Romney later get the nomination, by keeping Gingrich out.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yes indeed. And it has also been reported that the planned invasion of earth by the Martians has been postponed until after the election.

[Nextrush]

Rupert Murdoch is an international businessman and international businessmen are for “world order.”

The candidate of “world order” is Romney.

Murdoch’s forefathers like Nelson Rockefeller were backing George Romney for president in the mid 1960’s.

Murdoch wants to get Santorum up in the national polls over Newt and his vote up down South so the conservative vote can be split for Romney wins in South Carolina and Florida.

P.S. My first choice for president right now is Bachmann.
To defeat Romney today I would probably hold my nose and vote for Ron Paul instead of the conservative vote splitter Santorum.

ROMNEY MUST BE DEFEATED EARLY AND AT ALL COSTS....EVEN IF IT MEANS VOTING FOR PAUL IN IOWA OR NEW HAMPSHIRE.

[no dems]

How can an ad that consistently takes 3 words out of an interview to use out of context to lie about another candidate be “pretty funny”? While I love your support for LSU and the N.O. Saints, when it comes to Rick Perry...... The gall of him attacking a TRUE Conservative like Rick Santorum; I have to tell you Vic, Rick Perry would not make a decent scab on Rick Santorum’s ass.

Geaux LSU Tigers beat Alabama in the BCS Championship Game.

Go Saints, beat Detroit in the Playoffs.

[Utmost Certainty]

Rick Santorum is not a fiscal conservative.

- 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

[JediJones]

There is NO QUESTION Murdoch is doing this to help Romney just as he’s clearly directed anyone on Fox News who isn’t powerful enough to set their own agenda to support Romney (which for the last month meant attacking Newt). Dick Morris underlined how this strategy has been used in other primaries, where the nominal frontrunner lays off the fringe candidate so he can knock out the serious competitor in the early races, then knock out that whole weakened field in the bigger states after IA and NH. Rick Santorum and Ron Paul simply steal votes away from candidates like Newt (and maybe Perry but it’s a longshot) who can win.

[napscoordinator]

Not sure where he stands, but Perry has a pretty funny ad attacking Santorum.

I don’t think it is funny at all. This is why Perry won’t go anywhere. He is not going after Romney. He and Bachmann are going against other candidates. I can’t wait for Perry to drop out. Disrespectful person!!!

[napscoordinator]

Glad only 300 people saw the ad. It is a stupid ad. Glad to see he is wasting his money.

[the invisib1e hand]

That explains the global smear campaign and kangaroo courts that have created for him (Murdoch) and his associates.

[Vaquero]

WOW

HUGE

watching FNC you’d a thunk they were shilling for Romney?

or is that a Roger Ailes thing?

[jersey117]

People like his plan to bring manufacturing back.

[SueRae]

I’m sure he also reached out to Rick to apologize for Colmes’ asinine, callous remark. I hope he pulls the plug on Colmes.

Sarah Palin said a few weeks ago that Santorum could pull this off in Iowa. And that was back before the bandwagon. The woman has good instincts.

[driftdiver]

Compared to whom?

[Theodore R.]

As the late compromising Ev Dirksen shook his finger at Tom Dewey in 1952 and said: “You led us down the path to defeat before, why should we follow you again.” (not exact words). For some reason though, the sheeple keep doing as it is told.

[King Moonracer]

If Murdoch says it then it must be ... A ploy. Dammit, I’m beginning to truly hate these rich, meddlesome ba$tards.

[Vaquero]

As the late compromising Ev Dirksen shook his finger at Tom Dewey in 1952 and said: “You led us down the path to defeat before, why should we follow you again.” (not exact words). For some reason though, the sheeple keep doing as it is told.

???? Ike was the Republican candidate in ‘52, he WON the whole thing.

[fatima]

Good,Hope he sends him some money.

[Opinionated Blowhard]

As far as I can see from his stump speeches, he is calling for cutting regulations, spending and taxes.

His stump speeches on fiscal issues sound good; his record on fiscal issues is horrible. He was the hand maiden for George Bush's Compassionate Conservatism in the Senate. He not only voted for Bush's spending binge budgets but he helped shepherd them through. He also was the chief liason with the lobbyists for the GOP. Santorum is a typical Bush / Huckabee - type Compassionate Conservative. Good on social issues, horrible on fiscal issues.

[floridarunner01]

They arnt attacking Romney (or Paul) because you got multiple conservatives in the same race targetting the same voters. There is no point in a social conservative attacking Romney because they have little chance of attracting Romney’s moderate/establishment base. But with Perry or Bachmann attacking Santorum...they COULD attract Santorum’s voters.

[AuH2ORepublican]

So you’re surprised that the career ACU rating of someone who (i) served in the House for four years representing a heavily Dem district and served in the Senate for 12 years representing a slightly Dem-leaning state while always in a filibuster-susceptible majority (so GOP Senators often had to hold their noses and vote for imperfect bills) is a teensy bit lower than the career ACU rating of a House member from an overwhelmingly conservative district who served 16 years in the minority (with a huge Dem majority with no need to compromise) and then voted only sparingly when he got to the majority because, by tradition, the Speaker almost never votes? Well, I’m just surprised that their career ACU ratings are as close as they are.

You should compare Santorum’s vote ratings (not just from ACU, but from other conservative groups as well as from liberal groups) to those of other Senators serving alongside and see whether you still think his voting record wasn’t very conservative. Rick Santorum is not a perfect presidential candidate—no one is—but being insufficiently conservative is not one of his flaws.