Posted on 03/05/2012 7:58:47 PM PST by Fred
Rick Santorum's pitch to Republican voters is simple: He is the "true" and "consistent" conservative in the GOP's presidential nomination fight. He describes himself as "a candidate who, throughout [his] career, has not only checked the box on conservative issues but has fought for conservative issues." And he slams front-runner Mitt Romney for flip-flopping on abortion and the Wall Street bailouts and, most of all, for passing government-mandated health care reform in Massachusetts. If elected president, Santorum vows, he will end the "tyranny" of President Obama's Affordable Care Act.
Yet as an up-and-coming congressman in the early 1990s, Santorum took a much different line. Then—like now—health care was one of the nation's most divisive issues. In 1993
(Excerpt) Read more at motherjones.com ...
Santorum did much more than that, he threw his political weight behind him trying to make him and his agenda the law of the land, Specter was who he wanted to be president, Santorum committed himself to their cause.
Santorum was so committed to Specter and so loyal to him still in 2004 that it led to Santorum being dumped from office in a history making landslide defeat by the voters, especially by Catholics, who gave him only 39% of their vote.
Yet here you are trying to defend it all, all of Santorum's Specter saga.
Perhaps it’s because I was trying to have an honest conversation and you were playing some little game. You’ve proven you don’t care what the truth is.
I’m done...
I don’t defend it. I don’t make excuses for it. I admit outright that it was a bad endorsement. I don’t like it. I’d rather he hadn’t done it. Honestly, I don’t even know why he did it.
Maybe he supported every position Specter had ever taken. I doubt that ... but I suppose its plausible. Maybe he was helping a friend. Maybe he was trying to downplay his social conservatism in a middle-of-the-road State. Maybe he knew Specter didn’t have a chance-in-hell, and he was trying to gain Specter’s endorsement later on.
Maybe he was trying to curry favor with Pennsylvania voters that liked Specter more than us Red Staters did. That seems like the most likely explanation. Most likely just playing politics with endorsements. Such is the way of the world.
Ultimately, I find it entirely irrelevant. Rick Santorum is not Arlen Specter, and I don’t find the fact that he endorsed Specter a very compelling argument against his candidacy. So, I really don’t care what Specter said in his little speech a decade-and-a-half ago.
SnakeDoc
A last, you finally recognized that it was an endorsement
Of course not caring “ what Specter said in his little speech a decade-and-a-half ago.” still makes it seem that you don’t realize, that “little speech” was what Santorum was endorsing and campaigning for, and reendorsing in 2004, and getting as close as he could get to endorsing it in 2008.
>> A last, you finally recognized that it was an endorsement
What the hell are you talking about? I referred to it as an endorsement six hours ago ... and in almost every post since. Are you drunk?
I said I don’t care. I fully comprehend the speech, the endorsement, the implications ... and I still don’t care. It really pisses you off when someone disagrees with you, doesn’t it?
SnakeDoc
I said I don’t care. I fully comprehend the speech, the endorsement, the implications ... and I still don’t care.
I know you don't, I just wanted to make sure that you really leaned that way, Romney's nomination is sure going to be easier on you than it will be on me.
I agree that you should not listen to what someone says. But you must check out what they do. And Santorum's record is far from what he says. I am from Pennsylvania and had my eyes opened once I checked out his history. That is one reason he lost his last senate race here in PA. And he will lose PA during the primary because we know him. He is pure party over principal.
I don't like any of them but I would take Gingrich before I would take Santorum.
The man made campaign ads for Specter in 2006! That goes far beyond endorsement!
And if the GOP nominates him, he will be crushed by Obama like a paper cup. It'll be Reagan-Mondale bad.
Sorry. I truly am, because I despise Obama and all he stands for, and would love to see him defeated in November. But given the current crop of GOP hopefuls, this isn't going to happen.
If Santorum wins the nomination, he'll be destroyed by the MSM and Obama as the dude who wants to clamp a chastity belt over every vagina in the land. He's toast.
If Newt wins the nomination, he'll be destroyed by the MSM and Obama as the typical evil Republican in the Dick Cheney mold. He'd be toast, too, although the debates between Newt and Obama would be awesome.
If Romney wins the nomination, he'll be ridiculed by the MSM and Obama as the Guy Smiley salesman candidate, whose willing to say anything and pander to anyone in order to make a sale. And when the electorate gets to choose between a Democrat and a Democrat-Lite, they'll take the Democrat every time.
Obama is a happy guy right now. Thank you, GOP!
No, Santorum was humiliated in an 18 point ejection from his Senate seat in 2006, partly due to his still promoting his hero, Specter in 2004, as he had for President in 1996.
Santorum has a history of being dedicated to pro-abortion liberal candidates, like Whitman.
I agree, Santorum has no chance in a national election.
He’ll be obliterated.
The play book to destroy Santorum was written in 06, and it doesnt need changed.
He’ll be painted as a radical, by his own words and sound bites, just like he was in ‘06.
Romney is the “Safe” candidate, in that he looks the part, and will run a campaign of least offensiveness. Santorum is milk toast who wont even get out of hte gate. Gingrich is the guy who could obliterate Obama by making the election a truly ideological debate.
Romney might win if the GOP base doesn’t revolt and pull an 08 and stay home.. he won’t be exciting, certainly won’t govern from the right, etc etc, but he’ll play the traditional campain of offend the least possible and go tit for tat gotcha. He’ll likely win the general, because in that sort of campaign, he’s perceived as the least dangerous and a acceptable replacement for the buffoon in teh white house now, and at the end of the day that’s all a candidate needs to be, Obama cannot win any election where the opponent is not perceived as unacceptable.
Gingrich would take it to Obama ideologically and whipe the floor with Obama. He’d win by the largest margin because he can handle the press handily and keep the topic on focus and bury the empty suit with facts, figures, ideas, etc etc.
Santorum, sorry, he’s milk toast. He’s a social conservative who cannot articulate his stands well, and provides sound bite after sound bit that will be used against him just like in 06 and make him look completely unacceptable. He wasn’t able to counter or handle this in 06, and he’s not going to do any better in 12. He’s on his best day a VP candidate, for him to top the ticket its absolutely going to be a re-election of Obama.
Of the 3 I like Gingrich, I hate Romney, and Santroum has a whole plethora of issues. All of them are better than Obama, but I have ZERO confidence Santorum can win a General, and I don’t like Romney either, but his chances of winning a general are better than Santorums.
I will vote for the nominee whoever it is, but I know, that Santorum cannot win a general election, it just wont happen. Obama is not liked, but Santorum is far too easily turned into a completely unacceptable radical by sound bites he himself created almost daily.
Sorry I put in the wrong date - should be 2004 that he did the ad for Specter. Believe me I am well aware of what he did. I am from PA and watched what he did, not what he said. I was a volunteer for Toomey when he pulled the rug out from under him, as did Bush. Not only did he lose his election in 2006, there was no doubt that tens of thousands opted not to vote for any senate candidate. If you check the PA records you will see that there were more that went to the polls than voted for senator. His own base ignored him. Wait until the PA primary, he will get crushed. Too bad that Romney is the one that will get in. We are screwed.
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