The Rick Santorum tide is rising. The conservatives coalescing around him seem to have found the long-awaited ”anti-Romney” candidate. Currently, Santorum is in a virtual dead heat with Romney amongst Republicans nationally. He is leading in the polls in Michigan, which is disastrous for the Romney campaign. If Romney can’t win in Michigan, he probably won’t win in Ohio, where he is also trailing Santorum, and he would have a tough time convincing the rest of the party that he could beat Obama in the general election. The electability argument goes out the window. In addition, the narrative of an “anti-Romney” coalition never materializing due to Romney winning the very conservative and Tea Party vote in his Florida and Nevada primary wins would be shattered. It would revert to a point that never really went away, concerning the base not fully accepting Romney as the Republican nominee.
Rick Santorum’s wins in the Missouri, Colorado, and Minnesota caucuses is a repudiation of Mr. Romney, and the momentum it has carried is undeniable. It just shows how conventional wisdom is inadequate in analyzing this race. On an episode of This Week that aired mid-January, Ron Brownstein, the editorial director for the National Journal, likened Rick Santorum’s campaign to Bruce Willis in The Sixth Sense and found it hard to see how Santorum could overtake Gingrich as the anti-Romney. In the end, Mr. Santorum has succeeded thus far. While he has galvanized the base by exploiting social issues, particularly President Obama’s poorly orchestrated mandate on Catholic institutions providing contraception (which New York Times columnist David Brooks appropriately called “an act of bureaucratic greed,”) it is irrelevant to the economic issues that will be the basis for the 2012 election. I’m not a die-hard social conservative, but I do feel abortions should be reduced and the family unit should remain strong. However, abortion and contraception are not existential threats, unlike our inevitable debt and deficit crisis, that will destroy the country. Before conservatives fall in love and fall in line, they should look closer at Senator Santorum’s entire record.
As I mentioned in a previous post, Rick Santorum’s record as a conservative is lacking. When you look at his voting record, thanks to Erick Erickson of RedState.com, you’ll find that Sen. Santorum voted against Medicaid reform, food stamp reform, and a flat tax. He voted twice for a congressional pay raise and internet taxes. His vote for the Medicare Part D increased the unfunded liability for the entire program by $7 trillion dollars. That represents 20% of the entire liability Medicare faces in the long-term. Sen. Santorum was also perfectly fine increasing taxes on tobacco, also known as taxing the poor, to fund the prescription drug benefit for Medicare and voted to end marriage penalty tax relief in order to slap more fees on “big tobacco.” Does this sound like a conservative Republican or a tax and spend liberal?
Concerning the issues of freedom and immigration, Sen. Santorum voted against adding 1,000 extra border patrol agents, but supported giving illegal aliens earned income tax credits. He voted against the National Right to Work Act but twice supported the unionization of FedEx. Lastly, he voted for a uniform federal mandate, which would allow arsonists, rapists, drug dealers, and other ex-convicts the ability to vote in federal elections. This is not the record of a conservative. The vote for Medicare Part D alone is a reckless exercise in the expansion of government. Refusing to add extra border patrol agents to regain our territorial integrity and allowing earned income tax credits to go to illegal aliens is inexcusable. Our looming entitlement crisis and struggling economy are the central issues concerning our long-term fiscal health, and the “consistent conservative” running has a record of fighting reform and increasing taxes. Mr. Santorum hopes to tread water on abortion and contraception since those are the only positions that he can truthfully call himself a conservative on. I think as a movement and a party, we can do a lot better.
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Actual conservatives– the people who ARE the Republican Party in spite of efforts by people like Karl Rove to discredit them–do NOT want a Massachusetts liberal to represent them as the Party nominee for president! This isn’t complicated stuff.
Cain and Gingrich might have been knee-jerk, “at least he isn’t Romney” alternatives over a period of some weeks.
But now it’s getting down to rug-cutting time and a real nominee will have to be selected. Santorum appears to have more appeal, more staying power and more strength than the previous, “anyone-but-Romney” stand ins. Should he win Michigan it would, as so many have said, be a crushing blow for Willard. But the fact it is as close as it is in Romney’s phony, adopted “home state” has been very significant over the past week.
Santorum had better be taken very seriously by the Party big-wigs.
Yes, indeed. Not only has Rush Limbaugh endorsed Santorum publicly now, but at least 90 conservatives from across America went to support his candidacy at CPAC recently, making it likely that he now has the resources sufficient to get through the entire nominating and then electoral process. Being the one genuine conservative remaining in the race, the Republican party must get behind supporting him. Nominating either Romney or Paul would be asking for a repeat performance of the disaster of ’08 with RINO McCain, which is how we got Obama in the first place. America NEEDS Santorum for President this November. We dare not get it wrong this time – the future and very survival of America hinge on this decision.
RE: ” However, abortion and contraception are not existential threats, unlike our inevitable debt and deficit crisis, that will destroy the country. ”
Well, in the case of the latter, it is to the fetuses murdered.
Given the weakness of the field, it is still possible for another candidate to appear.
In the meantime, it is more important than ever that we impeach for crimes in office or remove the usurper for ineligibility.
Santorum is the best and most principled solid conservative that we have running for the Presidency. He faithfully reflects respect for the pro-life plank in the Republican party platform, has a very long record of accomplishments in the Senate, will stand by Israel as has been the historic and morally correct stance of our nation, and even Rush Limbaugh has declared his support for this candidate, along with 90 other conservative leaders from across America who gathered with Rick to give him their support at CPAC – Rick Santorum for President this November, to the rescuing of the American way of life!
OK, this is THE TYPICAL Republican Establishment response to Santorum. A vote is a point in time. Without context, it is meaningless. Here is an idea, interview Santorum and ask him about his votes before attacking him without context. Maybe you could actually pay attention to the reasoning behind why he voted one way or another. But of course YOU don’t care about the truth because in your mind, a real Constitutional Conservative is a threat to your LIBERAL ideals. Yeah, YOU are a RINO. Truly pathetic. I would bet my bottom dollar that the author has a Romney sign in his office and on his front lawn.
Ron Paul is the candidate to win the White House if America expects to return to a Constitutional Republic that the government stays within the confines of the Constitution which Is the type of government our founding faters gave us. No other candidate is as knowledgable or as abiding to the principals of our Constitution as Ron Paul. A vote for anybody except Ron Paul in 2012 is a vote for the status quo. our nation can not afford the status quo any more We need Ron Paul in the White House in 2012 in order to reinstate our Constitutional Republic as our normal form of government here in the united states. The MSM is doing heir best again to minimalize Ron paul but his election cycle the people of this nation have caught on to their system of manipulation, and it will not work. MSM has become the Fringe media, and alternative media sites have become the MSM.
Ron Paul? Really? With his 11% support and his INSANE foreign policy, yeah, he will crush Obama…..NOT! Don’t forget his support by Nazi’s, Racists, etc. and his amazing hypocrisy on ear marks and pork. Oh, and he is like 1000 years old! AND his voice drives me crazy, like a little whining girl! Sorry, I really don’t like that guy. My question is this, WHY do you Paulestinians think he has ANY chance at all of winning? NO poll, EVER has shown he has ANY chance at all.
Where is it that you get your information from? You haven’t stated a single truth in your whole tirade! What do you know about Santorum? Not much evidently! More Vets and active duty Military support Ron Paul than any other candidate! Must be your low GT Score showing!
Umm, I just got out of the Army after 16 years, and by the way I am a Combat Veteran with over six various tours under by pistol belt, three of which were combat tours, One as a Paratrooper and the other two as Mech Infantry. YOUR facts are SORELY mistaken. My “tirade” is not a tirade first of all, and all my facts are actually, say it is not so, FACTS! If you bothered to spend 5 seconds looking at national polls you would see Ron Paul’s support is insignificant. As to the statements about his Racism, did you somehow miss the recent controversy surrounding his numerous News Letters? If you look at the “Organizations” that support Ron Paul, you will see what I am saying is true. NONE of this is secret unless you have your head in the sand. PLEASE do some research before you mouth off.
Hey, I did my time after joining in 1980 for the war with Iran! Not my fault it didn’t happen I was in HHC 2/22 4th Mechanized Inf. in Wiesbaden West Germany , Triple Deuce and in HHC 2/21 24th Mech. Inf, at Ft. Stewart Ga. Gimlets- Rapid Deployment Force, Cold War training was no joke! I’m a graduate of NMMI and I know what I’m talking about. Your so-called facts don’t hold water. You need a lot more than five seconds to find the truth and you obviously haven’t invested the necessary time and effort! Santorum was named one of the three most corrupt politicians in 2006 by CREW, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington! You’re the one that needs to do some research before you run your mouth!
Dean, first and foremost thank you for your service. BUT, when you cite CREW as your source for anything, you have just revealed who you are. CREW is a FAR LEFT attack and propaganda organization. Enough said. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE drop the Koolaid glass and check your “facts”.
The MS, does not need to say anything about Paul one way or the other. The reason Ron Paul is finding himself at the bottom of the list in the polls is because he does not reflect mainstream America in several key areas. For one, most conservatives (especially Christians) do not want a candidate on the Republican side who would abandon our historically held stance of defending Israel and unfortunately Ron Paul wants to get America to withdraw support from everyone around the globe, including our ally Israel which is the only democracy remaining in the middle east, and is surrounded by threatening despots. We can get a Presidential nominee who reflects the best of the Republican Party in most every area by nominating Rick Santorum for President in 2012 and if the huge number of leaders from across America who went to support him at CPAC are any indication, it should be possible for Rick Santorum to become our next President by next year, to the rescuing of the American way of life!
Amen brother!
Mike88, Don’t listen to these chumps who presume to tell you whether or not you should vote your conscience. They’ve resigned themselves to being told whom to vote for and misery loves company, especially among the willingly enslaved.
If you would be foolish enough to heed their advice, you would be a bigger loser than they are, which would be saying something. They’re nothing more than media drones, content to trust their electronic pimps who will surely be burning them with cigarettes after the candidate they have been sold by their talking heads loses in an identical manner to the way they did in ’08.
Lincoln said you can fool all of the people some of the time, and you can fool some of the people all of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time. Take your stand in the third group, rather than the second as the aforementioned drones have.
They have not run a cost benefit analysis of their choice, as even in the extremely unlikely event that their deeply flawed candidate will dethrone the incumbent POSPOTUS, the only discernable difference will be that they will have exchanged megalomaniacal gasbag A for megalomaniacal gasbag B, both under the strict control of the slaveowning class of the soon-to-be defunct Republic of the United States of America.
We’re at the eleventh hour in the last gasp of our soverignity, and the average Video drone can’t break away from stroking their own egos vicariously through their chosen gasbag long enough to realize that every good thing they’ve ever known is fixing to become a distant memory due to their pussyfooting around with the globalist socialist prettyboys.
Your analysis is the correct one and even if the GOP succeeds in shoehorning in one of their three chosen losers you can rest easy at night knowing you were brave enough to do what you knew was right, and also that you had no part in the evil that is sure to come after the two puppets face each other in the general election.
Besides, If your desire is to expel the usurper from our white house, the only hope of doing so is through a Ron Paul presidency, whether as a republican or as a third party candidate. The number of self-congratulatory “team players” who will throw their weight behind whichever globalist puppet they choose have a fart in a windstorm’s chance of unhorsing Obama without the independents, disgruntled democrats and patriotic Ron Paul supporters, and they will most assuredly not have them as the warmongers they are.
“Senator” McCain’s cadaverous presence along with the dubious endorsement of his hand-picked partner in crime in the middle of this cluster should give anyone a clue, but many are looking forward to the cigarette burns and worse, as long as their pimp will tell them he loves them.
A large percentage of people said this country was headed in the wrong direction during the George H, W, Bush Adimistration.
A larger percentage of the people said the country was headed in the wrong direction during the Clinton administration’s years in office.
The same was true for the George W. Bush 2 terms in office.
I have read that 75% of the people now think our country is headed in the wrong direction with Obama.
During this peroid of time these 4 admisterations have on thing in commom.
The Congress and Senate passing or not voting on any bills that would change the direction we are headed.
Just in Case Obama should win in 2012. or if he don’t .
Isn’t it imperative that we hedge our bets and replace the members of Congress and Senate with Conservative Constitutional Candidates that will get our country headed in the right direction.
For far too many years we have depended on the same people that got us into this mess, to get us out of it.
Why are people kidding themselves trying to make Santorum a conservative? He is a a big government socialist. He voted with the Krnnedy-Boxer democrats many times, voted to raise the debt limit several times, voted millions for Planned Parenthood, voted millions for Dept of Education, favored raising taxes, and supported gun control. No conservatives I know of would vote for these liberal objectives.
The chief head hunters of the Republican Party can’t control Santorum, so they will do anything in their power to toss him under the bus. Time for the head hunters to step back and listen to JOHN Q. PUBLIC as to what they want in reference to who wins the Republican nomination.
I dont see anyone in the lot of them that is worth a spitwad when it comes to getting my vote. I dont believe any of them would even try to turn this country back to basic judeo/christian morals and principals.