Axelrod: Santorum's stance on social issues 'are quite divisive'

The HIll ^ | 2/15/12 | Daniel Strauss

[Nachum]

Top Obama political strategist David Axelrod took aim at surging GOP hopeful Rick Santorum Wednesday, painting him as a fringe candidate unlikely to appeal to voters after closer inspection. Speaking on CBS This Morning on Wednesday, Axelrod said the former Pennsylvania senator's economic policies were unlikely to win over voters. "I think when people really examine his economic policies, I don't think the average working person in this economy is going to look at his economic policies and say 'yeah, that's the ticket for me. That offers great hope for me.'" Axelrod said.

[Chgogal]

If you want to base a tax policy based on the Constitution then yes.

Government has no business in choices made by individuals. You can take that as far as Society deems reasonable. It gets murky but I personally am not happy paying federal taxes for studies of all sorts, education, abortions, drug clinics, cell phones, food stamps, housing, etc.

All that should be done at the State and local level. I despise the thought of my money being laundered through the DC Mafia.

[sickoflibs]

So far the only thing I have seen Dems show that they could use effectively against RS is that video from the past year where he stated his personal moral objections to contraceptives and said as POTUS he would preach about the evils of it. I havent seen anything else very useful to them.

That is the one Dems would use to try to get women voters to vote Obama. I have already seen some of this, any positions he takes that relate to abortion or BC will be used in ads telling women that he wants to ‘take away your BC’. And the lib media women whiners will repeat over and over :"I don't believe we are having this debate in this day and age" (have already seen that too.)

So he better be prepared if he gets it.

OH_OH, concern troll alert! LOL

[Ozymandias Ghost]

Gotcha’ ...and you betcha.

We're in agreement philosophically; however, it would be a “hard sell” to those who believe they will lose income sustained by tax deductions for the wife and 2.0 kids.

My suspicion is, now that our federal government is redistributing wealth thru “earned income credits” for those who have never held a job and have no legal means of support (other than the government dole), the average taxpayer would probably come out better if we abolished dependent deductions and earned income credits and reduced taxes by an amount equal to what could be saved by the elimination of those practices.

That said; it would still be a very “hard sell;” given the complexities and politicians propensity for massaging the truth into something more beneficial to their own wealth accumulation and sustained power.

[Chgogal]

I wonder how the EICs work with the payroll deduction? My guess, the EICs are lower than they were before and the recipients will be annoyed (assuming they remember what they received the year earlier). ; )

[Ozymandias Ghost]

Human(???) memory not withstanding, your premise ignores their possible lack of higher math skills; such as adding and subtracting.

[Ozymandias Ghost]

Human(???) memory not withstanding, your premise ignores their possible lack of higher math skills; such as adding and subtracting.

[muawiyah]

It makes him a CANNIBAL KING.

[Chgogal]

Well, I don't call them Dummycrats for nothing. ; )

[Impy]

I saw part of O’Reilly last night. Dick Morris alleged that George Snofulopugus kept asking about birth control in the GOP debate he moderated in order to mine material for a negative Obama ad. Morris revealed he ran the same scam against Dole in 1996.

[Jim Noble]

It is remarkable the the Republicans know EXACTLY what the Left is going to do, in fact anybody with an IQ above the level of a salamander knows, and yet when they do it, they act surprised and are unprepared.

For 19th Amendment voters, the word “divisive” is like the cross to Dracula. It’s unfortunate, but a fact nonetheless.

Not only do the Republicans NOT call the most divisive administration in history “divisive”, but when the label is applied to them, they act guilty, or apologize.

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

Here is your list of why Santorum is a seriously flawed moderate to liberal Republican.........;

See for yourself.

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 antipersonnel landmines
Voted against increasing defense spending offset by equivalent cuts in non-defense spending.
Voted to require that Federal bureaucrats get the same payraises as uniformed military.
Voted to allow food and medicine sales to state sponsors of terror and tyranical 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 Real 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 representative 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 payraise.
Voted to impose a uniform Federal mandate on states to force them to allow convicted rapits, 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 to the earnings of their sponsors.
Voted against hiring an additional 1,000 border partrol 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 an 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 a allow 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.

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

Single issue voters like yourself, is exactly why we will lose this critical election, at a time when we are down to just months to fix this mess and turn it around, or we lose this once great nation.

[sickoflibs]

RE :”I saw part of O’Reilly last night. Dick Morris alleged that George Snofulopugus kept asking about birth control in the GOP debate he moderated in order to mine material for a negative Obama ad. Morris revealed he ran the same scam against Dole in 1996”

Well apparently they dont know that because they seemed unprepared for the questions. I have long ago tired of the arguments, beaten to death in GWB defenses, that it is not Republicans fault that they lose because Democrats don't play fair. Is this supposed to be new? Remember the Bush SR debate with Clinton when he was asked a question on the scanner?

I posted a few times : If you want to destroy someone politically you try to force them to choose between the mass of voters they need and their political base supporters, with issues or questions set as 'traps'.

In the case of the birth control (BC) constitutionality/right to privacy question Stephy asked the got-ya trap was trying to make them choose between:

1) Abortion is protected by the same right to privacy as BC (and alienate base Republican supporters)
2) Women have no right to legal BC/contraceptives (and alienate women voters they will need to beat Obama)

There lies the trap. It's very simple,

In a political war debate the best approach is to not step into the trap, try
“ As POTUS I would veto any federal bill outlawing contraceptives and I know of no state that wants to outlaw their use. ” unless they really do want to outlaw BC at the federal level which would be political suicide.

[wardaddy]

quite the contradiction calling Axlerod a Nazi

Kapo would be more appropriate

Kapo Numero Uno

[Impy]

They (the candidates) should have got together and boycotted any debate with a hack partisan moderator.

But I guess that kind of bold (ha!) thinking escapes them.

[sickoflibs]

RE :”They (the candidates) should have got together and boycotted any debate with a hack partisan moderator.
But I guess that kind of bold (ha!) thinking escapes them<”

Well they didnt this election or any past election and probably wont in 4 years if obama is re-elected, and it seems like the most popular posted Opinion here. .

But even if they do that they will just delay the problem until the general election with Obama. Remember Newt's secret weapon was to challenge Obama to seven debates and embarrass him if he refuses? That doesn't work if you are boycotting debates.

[wardaddy]

This isn’t the kind of institution that you wanrt to pick a public fight with.

I agree but the problem is not the institution...the clergy is fighting back, it's the members. A majority usually vote Democrat (54% for Obama) and according to some polls the members are not nearly as angry about the contraception controversy as their Bishops and Cardinals are.

poll here

Conservative protestants are much more likely to bristle at this govt interference in affairs than run of the mill Catholics...especially latino Cathlics. Folks forget...Batptists and Seventh Day Advents run hospitals too...Baptists often in conjunction with Cathlics...they will not administer morning after pills either.

Sadly I doubt a peep will be heard from Methodist, Lutheran, and Presbyterian or Jewish hospitals...some exceptions in there for sure...but take Vandy here...a hospital affiliated ostensibly with the Methodist church...a vipers nest of progessivism.

Back in the amnesty wars here we were all told over and over not to oppose the massive legal and illegal latino waves since they were 99% Catholic and would be social conservatives etc

We were shouted down. Not we can see where that went.

Being Catholic is no more an indicator of Conservatism than being United Methodist or Episcopalian even if the church dogma is well intended and spot on...too many are not listening...wish they were...they have voted majority GOP twice since FDR...I think Reagan and Bush once.

[Ozymandias Ghost]

“Single issue voters like yourself, is exactly why we will lose this critical election, at a time when we are down to just months to fix this mess and turn it around, or we lose this once great nation.”
______________

Whoa there, Psycho-Freep-

LOL. I can see you are upset w/me; but, I have no idea why. Are you sure you meant to address the above comment to me???!!!

If you did, you should check my posting history and then (preferably calmly) explain to me just why you think I am a “single issue voter;” as I haven't got a clue what you are referring to or why you would think that.

Be well.

Regards,

-Geoff

[Impy]

But even if they do that they will just delay the problem until the general election with Obama.

Good point.

[sickoflibs]

RE :”But even if they do that they will just delay the problem until the general election with Obama......
Good point. “

And you don't want them to be asked these got-yas the first time in mid October. Better to have a diverse set of questioners, liberal and conservative, for vetting purposes.

I do remember in 2007 Democrat candidates boycotted FNC, that worked great for Obama to beat Hillary, and then Obama got his second and third big breaks, TARP crisis and Mccain.

Rush would tell them to avoid any unfriendly interviews or debates like he and U-know-who do, but you wont seem THEM running for any office.

If the Republican candidate is >20% points ahead of Obama by this summer he can set the terms of that debates as Obama will need them, you see that happening? Obama's approval just shot up to 50%