Posted on 02/09/2012 12:32:36 PM PST by VinL
ledging to run a "national campaign" and denying he faces a do-or-die "Alamo" moment in Texas -- whose April 3 primary will award 155 delegates -- Newt Gingrich accused newly minted frontrunner Rick Santorum of being a "Big Labor Republican" who has attacked the Tea Party and amassed a voting record conservatives will find "dubious."
In an impromptu interview at the Fox News Washington bureau, the former House speaker claimed Santorum's clean sweep of this week's nominating contests in Minnesota, Colorado and Missouri shows that the Republican presidential primary is a "wide open race" he can still win. Asked if Santorum's ascendancy deprives Gingrich's own candidacy of oxygen, Gingrich maintained that he appeals to a wider and deeper constituency in the GOP electorate.
"Among Tea Party members, I have a much stronger following than Rick does. And they understand that it's principled and that I am supportive of the Tea Parties; I am not attacking them, as he did," Gingrich said.
His campaign cited a 2011 video, now circulating online, in which Santorum can be heard telling an audience in Harrisburg he has "real concerns" about efforts by the Tea Party to refashion conservatism, and added that he planned to "vocally and publicly oppose it."
But Gingrich didn't stop there. While calling Santorum a friend,
(Excerpt) Read more at politics.blogs.foxnews.com ...
Yeah...If Rick had the energy of Newt, he’d be president with no doubt. Occasionally I see it in him. He just has to let it go every once and a while.
My Response to Mr. Finny: I started out a Newt supporter but he’s gone flat. His anger against the media in the Debates only lasted through South Carolina. I’m not weak, I’m realistic. And, yes, I am emotional.....somebody needs to get emotional AND VOCAL. This country is on it’s way to hell in a handbasket with a President that should have been defeated easily, and once again, the GOP has managed to pull defeat from the jaws of victory.
We need to support Santorum because: Paul is too far out there for America right now. RINO-Rom is a Liberal wolf in Conservative Sheep’s clothing. Newt’s past has come back to bite him: His multiple adulteries and marriages (He will lose the women’s vote big-time. 65 percent of the American women do not want his “home-wrecking” wife as the First Lady.). Oh, and let’s not forget his ties to Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and Nancy Pelosi and his past support for Government run Health Care Mandates. He and Romney both, cause us to lose the “Health Care Issue” in the Fall Debates. The only viable choice we have left is Santorum. And, I’ll be the first to admit that we had a flawed lot to choose from this year.
Now, Mr. Finny, sir, let’s hear some of your “deeper and more carefully thought conclusions as to why” we should jump back on the bandwagon for Newt. Come on; share your wisdom with us Finny.
To Jedi Jones: First of all, like I give a rat’s rear whether, or not, I have credibility with a person like you..... What you’re saying is that a college educated (because I worked and put myself through school), hard working, American citizen who is nearing retirement age and has never drawn an Unemployment Check in his life but is smart enough to make sound, logical decisions and surround himself with very intelligent, and capable, people with Conservative solutions for our nations problems is not good enough to serve. It’s obvious, then, that you think that only scum bag, lifetime politicians who have lived off the Government dole and monies obtained via their lobbying scams (and therfore have the big bucks to run for office) are the only people qualified.
I’m glad the Founding Fathers believed in a citizen run government. People who think like you are the reason this nation is in the shape it’s in. Now, you have a nice day.
*Now, I am willing to accept some flaws. Obviously Newt has them too. But to be sold on R.S., at this point, well, I suggest you and editor-surveyor go at it over editor-surveyor's post and resolve at least 2/3 of those items in Santorum's favor. I already see a few things that I could support, and a few others that I think may have been "lesser of 2 evils" or otherwise understandable. I suppose I am not a 100% rock-ribbed conservative myself. But quite a bit of that list is really, really hard to accept. And I don't see anyone taking it apart, yet. Do it, and you might have some converts.
For convenience, I'll repeat the list here. Take the weekend and enjoy your research - I'm too busy to post here often, anyway. :-)
Rick Santorum’s (partial) Senate voting record:
What A Big Government Conservative Looks Like http://www.redstate.com/erick/2012/01/06/what-a-big-government-conservative-looks-like/
NEA
Voted for taxpayer funding of the National Endowment for the Arts. Voted against a 10% cut in the budget for National Endowment for the Arts.
Bankruptcy
Voted for a Schumer amendment to make the debts of pro-life demonstrators not dischargeable in bankruptcy.
Defense and Foreign Policy
Voted for the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). Voted against requiring the President to certify that the CWC is effectively verifiable. Voted against requiring the President to certify that that Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, North Korea, China, and all other countries determined to be state sponsors of terror have joined CWC prior to submitting the instrument of ratification. Voted for the START II Treaty. Voted to allow the sale of supercomputers to China. Voted to ban anti-personnel landmines. Voted against increasing defense spending offset by equivalent cuts in non-defense spending. Voted to require that Federal bureaucrats get the same pay raises as uniformed military. Voted to allow food and medicine sales to state sponsors of terror and tyrannical regimes such as Libya and Cuba. Voted to limit the President’s authority to impose sanctions on nations for reasons of national security unless the sanctions were approved by a multilateral regime. Voted against requiring Congressional authorization for military action in Bosnia. Voted to give $25 million in foreign aid to North Korea. Voted to weaken alien terrorist deportation provisions. If the Court determines that the evidence must be withheld for national security reasons, the Justice Department must still provide a summary of the evidence sufficient for the alien terrorist to mount a defense against deportation. Voted against delaying the India Nuclear until the President certified that India had agreed to suspend military-to-military exchanges with Iran. Voted against the Conventional Trident Missile Program.
Nominations
Voted for Richard Paez to the 9th Curcuit (cloture). Voted for Sonia Sotomayor, Circuit Judge. Voted for Richard Holbrooke to be Ambassador to the UN. Voted for Margaret Morrow to be District Judge. Voted twice for Marsha Berzon to the 9thg Circuit. Voted for Mary McLaughlin to be District Judge. Voted for Tim Dyk to be District Judge. Voted for James Brady to be District Judge.
Labor
Voted against National Right to Work Act. Voted against repeal of Davis-Bacon Prevailing union wages. Voted for Alexis Herman to be Secretary of Labor. Voted for mandatory Federal child care funding. Voted for Trade Adjustment Assistance. Voted for Job Corps funding. Voted twice in support of Fedex Unionization. Voted against allowing a waiver of Davis-Bacon in emergency situations. Voted for minimum wage increases six times here here here here here and here. Voted to require a union representative on an IRS oversight board. Voted to exempt IRS union representatives from criminal ethics laws. Voted against creating independent Board of Governors to investigate IRS abuses.
Guns
Voted to require pawn shops to do background checks on people who pawn a gun. Voted twice to make it illegal to sell a gun without a secure storage or safety device. Voted for a Federal ban on possession of “assault weapons” by those under 18. Voted for Federal funding for anti-gun education programs in schools. Voted for anti-gun juvenile justice bill.
Reform
Voted for funding for the legal services corporation. Voted twice for a Congressional pay raise. Voted to impose a uniform Federal mandate on states to force them to allow convicted rapists, arsonists, drug kingpins, and all other ex-convicts to vote in Federal elections. Voted for the Specter “backup plan” to allow campaign finance reform to survive if portions of the bill were found unconstitutional. Voted to mandate discounted broadcast times for politicians. Voted for a McCain amendment to require state and local campaign committees to report all campaign contributions to the FEC and to require all campaign contributions to be reported to the FEC within 24 hours within 90 days of an election.
Immigration
Voted against increasing the number of immigration investigators. Voted to allow illegal immigrants to receive the earned income credit before becoming citizens. Voted to give SSI benefits to legal aliens. Voted to give welfare benefits to naturalized citizens without regard to the earnings of their sponsors. Voted against hiring an additional 1,000 border patrol agents, paid for by reductions in state grants.
Taxes
Voted against a flat tax. Voted to increase tobacco taxes to pay for Medicare prescription drugs. Voted to increase tobacco taxes to fund health insurance subsidies for small businesses. Voted to increase tobacco taxes to pay for an $8 billion increase in child healh insurance. Voted to increase tobacco taxes to pay for an increase in NIH funding. Voted twice for internet taxes. Voted to allow gas tax revenues to be used to subsidize Amtrak. Voted to strike marriage penalty tax relief and instead provide fines on tobacco companies. Voted against repealing the Clinton 4.3 cent gas tax increase. Voted to increase taxes by $2.3 billion to pay for an Amtrak trust fund. Voted to allow welfare to a minor who had a child out of wedlock and who resided with an adult who was on welfare within the previous two years. Voted to increase taxes by $9.4 billion to pay for a $9.4 billion increase in student loans. Voted to say that AMT patch is more important than capital gains and dividend relief. Welfare
Voted against food stamp reform. Voted against Medicaid reform. Voted against TANF reform. Voted to increase the Social Services Block Grant from $1 billion to $2 billion. Voted to increase the FHA loan from $170,000 to $197,000. Also opposed increasing GNMA guaranty from 6 basis points to 12. Voted for $2 billion for low income heating assistance.
Waste
Sponsored an amendment to increase Amtrak funds by $550 million. Voted to use HUD funds for the Joslyn Art Museum (NE), the Stand Up for Animals project (RI) and the Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Project (WA). Voted to increase spending on social programs by $7 billion. Voted to increase NIH funding by $1.6 billion. Voted to increase NIHnding by $700 million. Voted to for a $2 million earmark to renovate the Vulcan Monument (AL). Voted for a $1 billion bailout for the steel industry. Voted against requiring that highway earmarks would come out of a state’s highway allocation. Voted to allow Market Access Program funds to go to foreign companies. Voted to allow OPIC to increase its administrative costs by 50%. Voted against transferring $20 million from AmeriCorps to veterans. Voted for the $140 billion asbestos compensation bill. Voted against requiring a uniform medical criteria to ensure asbestos claims were legitimate. Voted to increase community development programs by $2 billion. Spending and Entitlements
Voted to make Medicare part B premium subsidies a new entitlement. Voted against paying off the debt ($5.6 trillion at the time) within 30 years. Voted to give $18 billion to the IMF. Voted to raid Social Security instead of using surpluses to pay down the debt.
Health Care
Voted to allow states to impose health care mandates that are stricter than proposed new Federal mandates, but not weaker. Voted twice for Federal mental health parity mandates in health insurance. Voted against allowing consumers the option to purchase a plan outside the parity mandate.
Education
Voted to increase Federal funding for teacher testing. Voted to increase spending for the Department of Education by $3.1 billion. Voted against requiring courts to consider the impact of IDEA awards on a local school district.
Energy
Voted to allow the President to designate certain sites as interim nuclear waste storage sites in the event that he determines that Yucca Mountain is not a suitable site for a permanent waste repository. Those sites are as follows: the nuclear waste site in Hanford, Washington; the Savannah River Site in South Carolina; Barnwell County, South Carolina; and the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee. Voted to make fuel price gouging a Federal crime.
Agghh - Sorry about that running together. I’m not an HTML whiz, and don’t have time to insert a lot of code anyway. At least it’s mostly readable. Maybe editor-surveyor can repost, so the links and structure stay intact.
What A Big Government Conservative Looks Like
NEA
Voted for taxpayer funding of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Voted against a 10% cut in the budget for National Endowment for the Arts.
Bankruptcy
Voted for a Schumer amendment to make the debts of pro-life demonstrators not dischargeable in bankruptcy.
Defense and Foreign Policy
Voted for the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
Voted against requiring the President to certify that the CWC is effectively verifiable.
Voted against requiring the President to certify that that Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, North Korea, China, and all other countries determined to be state sponsors of terror have joined CWC prior to submitting the instrument of ratification.
Voted for the START II Treaty.
Voted to allow the sale of supercomputers to China.
Voted to ban anti-personnel landmines.
Voted against increasing defense spending offset by equivalent cuts in non-defense spending.
Voted to require that Federal bureaucrats get the same pay raises as uniformed military.
Voted to allow food and medicine sales to state sponsors of terror and tyrannical regimes such as Libya and Cuba.
Voted to limit the President’s authority to impose sanctions on nations for reasons of national security unless the sanctions were approved by a multilateral regime.
Voted against requiring Congressional authorization for military action in Bosnia.
Voted to give $25 million in foreign aid to North Korea.
Voted to weaken alien terrorist deportation provisions. If the Court determines that the evidence must be withheld for national security reasons, the Justice Department must still provide a summary of the evidence sufficient for the alien terrorist to mount a defense against deportation.
Voted against delaying the India Nuclear until the President certified that India had agreed to suspend military-to-military exchanges with Iran.
Voted against the Conventional Trident Missile Program.
Nominations
Voted for Richard Paez to the 9th Curcuit (cloture).
Voted for Sonia Sotomayor, Circuit Judge.
Voted for Richard Holbrooke to be Ambassador to the UN.
Voted for Margaret Morrow to be District Judge.
Voted twice for Marsha Berzon to the 9thg Circuit.
Voted for Mary McLaughlin to be District Judge.
Voted for Tim Dyk to be District Judge.
Voted for James Brady to be District Judge.
Labor
Voted against National Right to Work Act.
Voted against repeal of Davis-Bacon Prevailing union wages.
Voted for Alexis Herman to be Secretary of Labor.
Voted for mandatory Federal child care funding.
Voted for Trade Adjustment Assistance.
Voted for Job Corps funding.
Voted twice in support of Fedex Unionization.
Voted against allowing a waiver of Davis-Bacon in emergency situations.
Voted for minimum wage increases six times here here here here here and here.
Voted to require a union representative on an IRS oversight board.
Voted to exempt IRS union representatives from criminal ethics laws.
Voted against creating independent Board of Governors to investigate IRS abuses.
Guns
Voted to require pawn shops to do background checks on people who pawn a gun.
Voted twice to make it illegal to sell a gun without a secure storage or safety device.
Voted for a Federal ban on possession of “assault weapons” by those under 18.
Voted for Federal funding for anti-gun education programs in schools.
Voted for anti-gun juvenile justice bill.
Reform
Voted for funding for the legal services corporation.
Voted twice for a Congressional pay raise.
Voted to impose a uniform Federal mandate on states to force them to allow convicted rapists, arsonists, drug kingpins, and all other ex-convicts to vote in Federal elections.
Voted for the Specter “backup plan” to allow campaign finance reform to survive if portions of the bill were found unconstitutional.
Voted to mandate discounted broadcast times for politicians.
Voted for a McCain amendment to require state and local campaign committees to report all campaign contributions to the FEC and to require all campaign contributions to be reported to the FEC within 24 hours within 90 days of an election.
Immigration
Voted against increasing the number of immigration investigators.
Voted to allow illegal immigrants to receive the earned income credit before becoming citizens.
Voted to give SSI benefits to legal aliens.
Voted to give welfare benefits to naturalized citizens without regard to the earnings of their sponsors.
Voted against hiring an additional 1,000 border patrol agents, paid for by reductions in state grants.
Taxes
Voted against a flat tax.
Voted to increase tobacco taxes to pay for Medicare prescription drugs.
Voted to increase tobacco taxes to fund health insurance subsidies for small businesses.
Voted to increase tobacco taxes to pay for an $8 billion increase in child healh insurance.
Voted to increase tobacco taxes to pay for an increase in NIH funding.
Voted twice for internet taxes.
Voted to allow gas tax revenues to be used to subsidize Amtrak.
Voted to strike marriage penalty tax relief and instead provide fines on tobacco companies.
Voted against repealing the Clinton 4.3 cent gas tax increase.
Voted to increase taxes by $2.3 billion to pay for an Amtrak trust fund.
Voted to allow welfare to a minor who had a child out of wedlock and who resided with an adult who was on welfare within the previous two years.
Voted to increase taxes by $9.4 billion to pay for a $9.4 billion increase in student loans.
Voted to say that AMT patch is more important than capital gains and dividend relief.
Welfare
Voted against food stamp reform.
Voted against Medicaid reform.
Voted against TANF reform.
Voted to increase the Social Services Block Grant from $1 billion to $2 billion.
Voted to increase the FHA loan from $170,000 to $197,000. Also opposed increasing GNMA guaranty from 6 basis points to 12.
Voted for $2 billion for low income heating assistance.
Waste
Sponsored an amendment to increase Amtrak funds by $550 million.
Voted to use HUD funds for the Joslyn Art Museum (NE), the Stand Up for Animals project (RI) and the Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Project (WA).
Voted to increase spending on social programs by $7 billion.
Voted to increase NIH funding by $1.6 billion.
Voted to increase NIHnding by $700 million.
Voted to for a $2 million earmark to renovate the Vulcan Monument (AL).
Voted for a $1 billion bailout for the steel industry.
Voted against requiring that highway earmarks would come out of a state’s highway allocation.
Voted to allow Market Access Program funds to go to foreign companies.
Voted to allow OPIC to increase its administrative costs by 50%.
Voted against transferring $20 million from AmeriCorps to veterans.
Voted for the $140 billion asbestos compensation bill.
Voted against requiring a uniform medical criteria to ensure asbestos claims were legitimate.
Voted to increase community development programs by $2 billion.
Spending and Entitlements
Voted to make Medicare part B premium subsidies a new entitlement.
Voted against paying off the debt ($5.6 trillion at the time) within 30 years.
Voted to give $18 billion to the IMF.
Voted to raid Social Security instead of using surpluses to pay down the debt.
Health Care
Voted to allow states to impose health care mandates that are stricter than proposed new Federal mandates, but not weaker.
Voted twice for Federal mental health parity mandates in health insurance.
Voted against allowing consumers the option to purchase a plan outside the parity mandate.
Education
Voted to increase Federal funding for teacher testing.
Voted to increase spending for the Department of Education by $3.1 billion.
Voted against requiring courts to consider the impact of IDEA awards on a local school district.
Energy
Voted to allow the President to designate certain sites as interim nuclear waste storage sites in the event that he determines that Yucca Mountain is not a suitable site for a permanent waste repository. Those sites are as follows: the nuclear waste site in Hanford, Washington; the Savannah River Site in South Carolina; Barnwell County, South Carolina; and the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee.
Voted to make fuel price gouging a Federal crime.
Heh - well, this thread is probably pretty well dead. I’ve seen multiple posts of that list, but what I don’t see is much in the way of successful refutation of it. I’m still open to either candidate, but that lack of specifics in a defense of Santorum is troubling. With defenses of Newt, one often gets specifics, sometimes from Newt. And he sometimes admits “I screwed up”. I can (mostly) live with that.
A-C: Typically, questions about Santorum are replied to with attacks on Newt. A-C, or other Santorum supporters (if you are listening), I find that unhelpful. The subject is Santorum, when the question(s) is(are), “why did RS vote for X, Y, or Z?” I have seen only a few of those questions answered / votes defended.
FR is loaded with RNC and Obummer shills, and Jim’s zot machine can only get them when they blow their own cover. So, Newt and Sarah will always be the targets of the hate.
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