I’d bet anything that if Santorum were still in need of campaign dollars to hold onto a Senate seat, he’d be in favor of TPP too. I recall Ron Paul cornering him on some of his big government votes, and Santorum sheepishly admitted that he did what he had to to play the game.
I really don’t have a lot of confidence in any Republican who was in office during the horrific spending sprees of 2002-2006 in particular. That was the best opportunity in a generation to finally get the nation’s fiscal house in order, with a unified GOP control of House, Senate, and Presidency. And they blew it in the most egregious way possible, leading directly to Speaker Pelosi, then President Obama, then the unified Democrat government which held together just long enough to pass Obamacare.
I hold Santorum responsible for his go-along-to-get-along actions to keep the pork barrel rolling.
The biggest spending was Iraq! Ugh. What a complete waste of money. I agree with you.