[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

[Kaslin]

Do you know why he endorsed Arlen Spectre? He did so to make sure that conservative justices Samuel Alito and John G. Roberts would get the nomination to the Supreme Court. Arlen Specter made sure he did. The rest of your post is totally bs

[detective]

You can go through the record of almost any public officials and find things that you do not agree with. I did not say Santorum was perfect. I did not say that I agree with every single thing he has ever done.

But the fact that someone voted for animal waste treatment on large farms, voted to fund military operations in Bosnia, voted for wilderness areas or voted for milk price supports for dairy farmers does not mean he is not a fiscal conservative.

Santorum has supported and continues to support a balanced budget amendment. He supports reducing Federal spending. He supports pro growth activities. He is a fiscal conservative.

You could go through Ronald Reagan's career and find many things he did that could be characterized as liberal. You could do that with anyone.

Santorum does not have a 100% conservative voting record, but it is around 90%.

Tell me who is the perfect candidate.

[delapaz]

Utmost is just pissed because his preferred opponent, Gingrich is deservedly going down the tubes. Don’t listen to his crap.

Santorum is better than Romney because Romney is way more liberal and many conservatives (including moi) will not vote for Romney but will vote for Santorum in the general.

Santorum is better than Paul for the same reason in the other direction. I would be happy to vote for Paul in the general, but I understand that many Freepers would not.

Santorum is better than Gingrich because he has stayed devoted to his wife and is probably at least as if not more conservative as revealed by voting records and public positions. Both have betrayed conservatives in the party at different points, Gingrich with Scozzafava and Santorum with Toomey. But both will probably govern as effective conservatives in the Bush II if not Reagan tradition.

Santorum is better than Perry becaus... well he’s not really, and I would prefer Perry, but it appears Perry is done. Ditto for Bachman.