Ask anyone. And then ask yourself this: is what I say about Santorum true or not because that is the only thing that should matter to you.
Because you’re going to totally go bass backwards in how you try and connect the dots. So let me help you out. I support who I support because of the truth about his opponents - but you will no doubt assume I say what I say because of who I support. Therefore I am loathe to play your little mind game.
BUT FTR, Newt. And the reasons are well documented in my archives at American Thinker and all over the web - and all over hundreds and hundreds of posts here.
Well. I can see flaws in Rick Santorum. But I see far more flaws in Newt Gingrich. (However, as a whole I deeply admire and respect Newt Gingrich.) What I think you have are doing incorrectly with your logic is confusing the “significance” of certain facts that you may have right with the “signification” or meaning of those facts.
How do you distinguish Santorum’s efforts to appeal to a wider margin of voters from Gingrich’s effort’s regarding individual health care mandates, global warming and lobbying (or whatever you call it) for Freddie Mac?
These are flaws and they are serious flaws.
Then switch from analyzing the candidates and analyze the voters.
(I have already said I admire the man, Gingrich, as a whole.) Now, do you really think that a majority or even a plurality of voters is going to stop seeing Gingrich with the “ick” factor regarding his past marital history? I do not think they will. I have been reading about this and praying for the person for years. It still bugs me. Nonetheless, I realized a long time ago that heroes are a construct of the people who follow them or adulate them. The people behind them are always flawed. So for me, Newt is a hero. For America? He never ever will be. It is an impossibility. I think you know this.
For me, back to Rick, I think on the whole, despite his flaws, he IS the most consistent conservative in the race. Add up the dollar value of his failing compared to the dollar value of any of the others. Or add up the instances of specific failures. Or add up what people who have served with them in the past say. Rick Santorum is the man who is most conservative and most electable at this time.
I personally admire all the men running in different ways and disdain certain things only about Romney and Ron Paul.
I worry Romney has too few deep internal convictions and is “sincerely” swayed to the argument which he thinks will win the day. That is why, more than the fact that he was one way and is now another, that I just can’t stand the idea of him winning the primary. If he did win and then went on to the White House, there is no telling where his opinions might swing to in the future. He would be just as sincere about the new opinions and feel like any decision that he makes would be OK because his heart is in the right place. (I actually think this was Bill Clinton’s problem from the other side.)
I worry about Ron Paul because he confuses so much of what the constitution actually says with the way he thinks things ought to work and vise-versa. He is very willing to make exceptions when it benefits his particular segment of Americana (shrimp subsidies anyone). Finally he fails to understand the need for America to defend American Interests ANYWHERE in the world. Our interests do not stop at our borders. Our first overseas actions were to defend our right to trade in the Arabia’s if they were willing buyers and sellers there. He fails to understand that “due process” is a right that the unborn have just as much as anyone else and would totally abrogate the government’s responsibility to protect their lives.
Finally Newt, I laid out a few problems above and I don’t care to layout more. I think of the four left in the race, he and Santorum are the only ones who are “internally” conservative in their formation of positions and opinions. I just feel like the warnings of people who served with him like Dick Army, Tom DeLay and so forth let you know that he is a mixed bag and easily swayed and bowled over at times. I think his leadership with the Contract with America and later promotion of American renewal ideas and particular “Drill her, Drill Now!” have been brilliant and wonderful. He is a mixed bag and I think his failures to conservatism and overconfidence in his ability to manage liberals (the couch commercial with Pelosi, the Healthcare collusion with Hillary Clinton) are dangerous and detrimental far beyond a list Rick Santorum may have published to blunt an opponent’s reach for the middle voters.
Thank you for your efforts.
Stay the course.... the America we knew is worth it.
GO NEWT GO—it’s about the survival of our country!!