Posted on 01/02/2012 11:27:35 PM PST by Qbert
I’m not ready to throw in the towel and say we will have to vote for Romney. I would love for Santorum or Perry or Newt to challenge him but would, as you say, hold my nose and vote for Romney in the general if I have to.
Those on here that say they will not vote for Romney no matter what are wishing for their own destruction.
“I respect your values and I am impressed that you home schooled your children.”
Nice of you to say all that, but the statement was from one of Santorum’s constituents who voted him out of office becasue he is a liar.
I grant that you may be right... though I hope not.
More importantly, I don't think Murdoch exercises anywhere near the level of on-the-ground influence in actual news reporting that some credit him for doing. That's just not the way media work. If there is a reporter for FOX or any other media outlet who has dirt on Santorum, that reporter will be verifying it and doublechecking it now, and won't be waiting to run it until after other candidates are eliminated. Murdoch is a newsman, not primarily an advertising executive like the heads of many other media operations, and I cannot see him encouraging (let alone tolerating) a reporter who would hold back a scoop knowing that there are other reporters on the same trail.
I fully grant it's very possible that the Romney campaign has dirt they plan to spring on Santorum in the next couple of weeks by feeding it to friendly reporters at FOX or someplace else. That's what campaigns do, and I would do the same if I were a campaign manager.
79 posted on Tuesday, January 03, 2012 1:46:38 PM by mikhailovich: “Santorum, as much as I like him, has been touring Iowa in a pickup truck. The guy is among the least financed candidates. That cannot sustain itself for very long.”
I grant your point about financing, but could I suggest that “touring Iowa in a pickup truck” is a really good idea no matter how much money the candidate has (assuming he owned the pickup all along and isn't a “poser”).
We have a local Democratic official in our county, now retired, who has ties going back for generations in our area. He built a successful business, made a ton of money, but not only kept a small cattle operation which he tended personally but also always made a point of driving his pickup truck with at least one hay bale in the back around election time.
Pickups are good politics in rural America. Showing off lots of money isn't.
Paul is a crazy person. No one should vote for him. Your kind of thinking is what gets us presidents like Obama. No one gets everything they want in a candidate. You have to give a bit to get someone stable even though not perfect.
” I notice you love coming into Santorum threads to bash him on all sorts of issues...”
Not true, Laz. The statement I made was from a former contituent of Santorum’s that appeared on another thread.
As to Rick Santorum himself, my belief is that he isn’t seasoned enough politically to handle something like the Presidency. For a political career, he should go back to Pennsylvania and set about running for governor. After winning the governorship and running the state as an executive for a term, then I would consider him for President. As of right now, I’m not sure he could even carry his state.
I think the exact same thing about Michelle Bachman.
As to the other Rick, Gov. Rick Perry is a big government guy and the Texas state budget has exploded in size while he has been governor. He has supported granting Illegal Aliens In-State Tuition. He signed a bill giving state funding to Planned Parenthood. In exchange for a political donation, he attempted to vaccinate 11 year old girls against a Sexually Transmitted Disease. He advocated for bi-National Socialized Medicine for the US and Mexico. He signed legislation to require school kids to be tested for steroids, and he signed legislation to use taxpayer dollars to pay for kids braces and provide rides to the dentist. And then there is that great big road and rail transportation boondoggle slicing across the Texas countryside that would unite the North American continent in fulfillment of the New World Order’s dreams.
Gov. Huntsman...who?
The former Governor of New Mexico...what’s his name?
Rep. Ron Paul: this man sent out newsletters under his own name that he claims he never read. How crazy is that! He has loaded up federal legislation with pork/earmarks for his district and then later voted against it. He has worked with Democrats and accepted support from George Soros to hatchet up the Defense Appropriations bill. This person should never be President!
And then there is Newt Gingrich, the man social conservatives hate passionately. He is, quite possibly, the only person capable of taking on Obama, winning the Presidency, and changing Washington, D.C. drastically.
He has done more to put Ronald Reagan’s conservative policies into government practice than anyone else presently running for the Republican Party presidential nominee position. I usually ignore endorsements, as they’re usually quid pro quo arrangements, but Gingrich is now endorsed by Michael Reagan, Art Laffer, and numerous other former Reagan administration officials. LTC West has agreed to be Gingrich’s running mate and John Bolton has agreed to be Secretary of State. That is impressive.
When Newt was in Congress, President George H.W.Bush had decided to announce he would work with the Congress and raise taxes, thus violating his “Read my lips...” promise. Congressman Gingrich wouldn’t support that action. I view Newt’s act as conservative, and not the action of a RINO.
Newt Gingrich is pro-life, pro-2nd Amendment and loves America and understands its citizens. As a historian, he thoroughly knows the U.S. Constitution and our nation’s history.
He allied himself with Ronald Reagan to build the Reagan Coalition, the Religious Right, and the Republican majority (together the Reagan Revolution) which directly led the downfall of the Soviet Union, the Contract with America, government reforms, less government, tax cuts, a balanced budget, and the great, longstanding Reagan economy.
Absolutely agree. The bigger point was Santorum lacks the funding to compete with Romney and Perry for long periods of time. UNLESS....he takes in millions and millions, which could happen, but not likely. Gingrich has the same problem. He lacked the funding to counter the Romney smear ads with his own ads. This is what Santorum will encounter if he moves up and wins Iowa or comes in 2nd. Great man and all, but hasn't been on the ropes (yet) unlike the others excluding Huntsman and perhaps Ron Paul. I don't think anyone thought he'd be taken seriously so he hasn't really come under fire yet (Paul.) Perry took a few mild ads out against Santorum in the past week. Largely ineffective but no comparison to what he'll see when Romney gets him in the crosshairs.
I’m still for Perry but Santorum works for me.
I'll bet you were really glad that the liberal Democrat won. You probably hope Obama wins in 2012 unless some perfect candidate runs against him.
Let’s just say I investigated this when I ran a political blog. You can take my word for it or not.
In summary:
Pennsylvania makes courseware available to homeschoolers who want to go the virtual school route. Many states do this including OH. This is not a giveaway considering how much PA would have to pay to educate those kids in the normal (union) way.
It is definitely arguable that Santorum violated the spirit if not the definition of PA residency laws to take advantage of the program.
But the $100k number is also highly inflated. All in all, the Santorums by homeschooling have lessened the burden on PA taxpayers, like the rest of us homeschoolers.
Liberals and other Santorum-haters used the $100k line to smear him and were not interested in understanding the facts of homeschoolers, virtual schools and other things that would provide useful context to the story.
And now you are using the same tactics which Dailykos used vs. Santorum in 2006 in exactly the same way. Congratulations.
You can buy his excuse about SCJ, but it's a BS story. He has NO b**ls and NO Leadership ability. He follows others.
Propaganda? LOL. The man has a big government record and your trying to convince others otherwise.
He's done after tonight.
You are trashing a conservative alternate to Romney to support another conservative alternate to Romney.
Only Romney is helped by this so stop it.
The important thing is that Romney loses this primary and we wrest the GOP away from the establishment.
Then we fight Obama. We have two enemies, and you are helping one of them.
“You are trashing a conservative alternate to Romney to support another conservative alternate to Romney.”
Hello? This is the Republican primary season; candidates jockeying for position is part of the program.
As for Rick Santorum’s fiscal conservatism: talk to someone else, because I really don’t care what you think. As for your “investigation”, so what! There was a reason his constituents dumped him. Ask them.
Santorum has a long way to go before he is ready for the prime time, and my opinion about his running for governor of PA is a serious one.
“I’ll bet you were really glad that the liberal Democrat won.”
I’m never happy to see a liberal win a political race. It just means Santorum did a lousy job of running a campaign.
Note: there is no such thing as the “perfect” candidate. I would be happy to see someone cream Obama in the debates and win the White House back for the Republicans. Preferably that someone will be Hell bent on changing the way Washington works.
When a middle-class citizen is elected to Congress and returns home 20 years later a multi-millionaire, it is due to corruption in government. We have to change Washington in order to get our nation back on the right track.
I don’t believe Rick Santorum is up to the job at this point in his life.
Palin - didn't run
Barbour - didn't run
Daniels - didn't run
Jindal - didn't run
Oh wait you meant Perry...
I see where you are coming from. I just like Santorum personally better. I am going to stick with him till he peters out if the money doesn’t come in after IA. All the candidates have flaws, but Rick is pretty clean personally. He also has a fairly consistent foreign policy agenda I like and his economic policies are way better than the 59 point mumbo jumbo Mittens is selling. I only wish he addressed a Flat Tax, but I get the impression that the idea would be DOA no matter who submitted it to congress with the elected snakes that rely on complicated revenue streams to survive.
“...Flat Tax, but I get the impression that the idea would be DOA no matter who submitted it to congress with the elected snakes that rely on complicated revenue streams to survive.”
You nailed the problem right there: government as cash cow. How Washington operates, how it does business, must change or we’re definitely going in the abyss.
Romney has the support of the establishment ONLY because he won’t change a thing!
Go, Rick! I hope you can beat the GOP backed Romney money machine.
Murdoch’s endorsement should be the kiss of death.
“The moderates will always tend to vote for the Democrat as was shown when McCain, Dole and other “moderate Republicans” were nominated.”
Anyone who thought Dole and McCain had the charisma to beat Clinton & Obama, were sadly out of touch. Presidential elections are not about politics. They’re about winning over the stupids and the uniformeds in the american voting public who will go with who makes them feel good. Male, Personality, Good Looks, Charm and Policy in that order. Dole, McCain and none of the current candidates fit that bill except one. The stupid vote will rule no matter what we want. And there’s nothing we can do about it. So, beating Obama has to be done by putting up a candidate who can compete with Obama on that same level. It’s not policy, it’s not the economy, it’s not issues. Again, sad, unfortunate, but true. The other side is laughing their arses off at our stupidity because they know what kind of voting public they are dealing with. We refuse to acknowledge it. They pray we don’t see it and put up another personality dud.
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