Posted on 03/19/2012 7:03:28 PM PDT by Josh Painter
Rick Santorum is coming under fire for saying that the unemployment rate and economic growth are secondary issues to that of freedom in his campaign, a statement that rival Mitt Romney's campaign quickly seized on as being tone-deaf to the plight of out-of-work Americans.
"We need a candidate who's going to be a fighter for freedom. Who's going to get up and make that the central theme in this race because it is the central theme in this race," Santorum told a crowd of about 200 voters during a rally here on Monday. "I don't care what the unemployment rate's going to be. Doesn't matter to me. My campaign doesn't hinge on unemployment rates and growth rates. It's something more foundational that's going on."
The event had barely ended when Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul e-mailed reporters to offer up the statement as evidence of Santorum being an "economic lightweight," a charge that Romney has been making in recent days. The former Massachusetts governor gave a speech in Chicago on Monday attacking President Obama's stewardship of the economy.
"Wow. Sen. Santorum may not care about the unemployment rate in this country or the nearly 24 million Americans struggling for work, but Mitt Romney does and is running to get people back to work," Saul said. "If anyone needed evidence that Rick Santorum is an economic lightweight, they needn't look any further than his various statements today. We're not going to turn around this economy by replacing one former senator with zero job-creating experience with another senator with zero job-creating experience. He has proven it once again," she wrote.
Romney himself, in a subsequent appearance at Bradley University, reaffirmed his concern for unemployment.
[...]
Santorum sought to clarify his comments to reporters after the event...
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Good catch. I didn’t even mean to do that.
I got his meaning and none of it means squat if we aren’t free.
they are all better than a commie usurper fraud and forger.
She oughta send you up cripple creek, ‘cause Gingrich never said those things. Why don’t you respond to the list of what he promised to do on the first day of Presidency!
Rick sucks as much as Mitt!
I actually agree. If we have to go through hard times to correct the country’s course, I’ll get through it. Freedom is what made this country great in every aspect including financial.
The alternative is promises of “jobs” and “security” but instituting Marxism and true poverty for all.
But hey, why don’t we all act like this is just another election with the unemployement rates and tax codes being the prime considerations. Yeah, that’ll work.
I think he might of had a stroke. I want to see Santorum and Biden in front of a mic for an hour of unscripted debate. The PPV take would be huge.
at this point i’d take Pauly Shore as prez over the Bishop or Zero
Santorum is a Social Conservative only.
Without serious help from the Fiscal Conservatives he will never attract the Independents. He needs the Independents to win the GE.
Ricky is now shooting off his mouth about Mittens DOG, Ricky is getting to be a BORE and a clone of Joe Biden.
Only reason he may have something to say on substance is when NEWT GINGRICH speaks out on an issue and RICK grabs it as his own. THAT NEWT GINGRICH?
“We have one nominee who says he wants to run the economy. What kind of conservative says the president runs the economy? What kind of conservative says, ‘I’m the guy because of my economic experience that can create jobs?’ I don’t know. We conservatives generally think government doesn’t create jobs,” Santorum said.
The man does have a point.
“We have one nominee who says he wants to run the economy. What kind of conservative says the president runs the economy? What kind of conservative says, ‘I’m the guy because of my economic experience that can create jobs?’ I don’t know. We conservatives generally think government doesn’t create jobs,” Santorum said.
The man does have a point.
What about Carrot Top?
The serious man without a plan!
Sideshow Santorum has really taken the constituency for a ride.
Hoo boy.
(Newt Newt Newt Newt Newt Newt Newt)
Santorum would make such a fine Attorney General. Why NOT, Senator?
Famous last words from the bug waiting to be splattered on the windshield of the Obama juggernaut.
Both of your links, one from Reuters, have absolutely NO context to the quote.
Until I read the whole statement, I don’t believe any spin by the MSM.
What does he mean by freedom? Platitudes arent positions.
Rick has a point here quite frankly. The problem is he’s too politically inept to tie the loss of freedom to short term economic indicators, and to realize that his comments are going to be taken out of context by the media (hence titles like “Santorum doesn’t care about unemployment”).
Slowly but surely the left is eliminating all Obama’s competition. Once there was a strong field of competitors, competitors that the left has been able to eliminate via propaganda, innuendo and downright lies one by one. Rick is the latest.
Soon Newt will be gone and we will be stuck with Mittens. Same circumstances that took place in the last election. We ended up with Mclame. The left once again chooses our candidate.
As soon as Mittens is the only one left, the left will start their attack on him and we will be stuck with Obama for another four years. The end of the US as a free country will ensue.
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