Santorum’s Sacrifice
Two months ago, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum threw his hat into an already crowded ring for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. His announcement on D-Day invoked his “courage to fight for freedom.”
While Santorum isn’t the only conservative in the field, he does have a nice pedigree for soliciting Republican support. During his tenure in Congress, Santorum was known as a go-to guy for social conservatives. In that time Rick authored or sponsored bills to protect newborn infants, promote adult stem-cell research (as opposed to embryonic stem-cell research), and maintain workplace religious freedom.
Yet in order to stand out in a group of perhaps a half-dozen candidates of varying conservative credentials, Rick had to move beyond his social conservative base and come up with other issue arguments which appealed to both Tea Party regulars and Republican voters at large who may have recalled his ignominious 18-point defeat by current Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey, Jr. in 2006. That election was a disaster for Republicans all over the country, but Santorum managed to be the one incumbent senator who was absolutely crushed in his re-election bid.
A good step in erasing that memory came last month when Santorum unveiled an economic plan focused on bringing back manufacturing jobs, which was applauded in at least some quarters.
Still, there is a segment of conservative activists who won’t forget that Santorum toed the establishment Republican Party line in 2004, when he backed fellow Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter over the more conservative Pat Toomey in the Republican primary. Santorum issued a partial mea culpa last year, saying that the support of the incumbent was based on a promise that Specter would back any of President Bush’s Supreme Court nominees. But the 2004 primary was a bitter defeat for the conservative voters in the Keystone State to swallow, and it was made even worse when Specter changed party affiliation to avoid a rematch with Toomey in 2010. That fateful 2004 decision may have doomed Santorum two years later as conservative Pennsylvania voters either stayed home or pulled the lever for Casey, a rare pro-life Democrat.
Who cares about this blowhard with a twisted face? He’s crooked and is not a friend of liberty. To hell with Santorum.
I’ve contended for some time there are two kinds of Republicans.
Those who want to elect Republicans in order to elect Rebpulicans;
and those who want to elect Republicans in order to accomplish something.
Santorum made the mistake of showing that he’s a type 1. Now he wants us to trust him ragarding a major change of direction for the country which the Establishment doesn’t seem too concerned about.
The people who brought us Jeffords and Spectre are not going to change course, they will prove that Republicans can manage a democrat mess better than democrats. They will further create a plateau where things will be in holding pattern until democrats can take over again.
Better to have democrats ruining the country quickly than Republicans ruining it slowly.
Matt,
Your accusations against Santorum indicate that you must know a great deal about him. I myself did not realize that he is a criminal. At least, that is what the accusation of “crooked” means to me when I observe someone leveling against an enemy. Neither did I realize that he has been supportive of measures to limit his constituents constitutional freedoms. My God, I must have been reading from erroneous sources all this time.
Would you care to clarify your screed against a man whom I have respected from afar. Perhaps I have not been fully informed.
“I don’t know how if you want to be president and lead the country, and if you can’t lead Congress — it doesn’t speak well for your ability to lead the country.”
Said the armchair QB.
Santorum is engaging in the usual political nonsense, trying to win by bringing down the other guy. He would do far better by elevating the other guy. He should compliment them for what they have done. Did they make the vote he would have made? Yes? Then compliment them for it. That lets folks know that you really hold that view yourself and you share in their glory. Then say what more you would do, where you would go from here.
“If I can see so far, it is only because I stand on the shoulders of giants.”
A little humility is in order. It gets better results. This is what Reagan meant with his 11th commandment. You can criticize someone without specifically criticizing them. Compliment the things you agree with, and specifically leave out the things with which you disagree, or propound a course different from theirs, without stating that it is different from theirs. They get the message, and the compliment puts them in a receptive frame of mind.
Many Congressional Democrats stated they wanted to hate Reagan, and were a bit frustrated that they just could not help liking the guy.
Santorum could do with a bit more humility. Also, the social issues are not the issue in this election. Other things are far more urgent. A little executive experience would be nice, too.
Santorium is ok, but it’s pretty obvious that he isn’t making much of a splash.
He has the same problem that Pawlenty has revealed about himself since he announced. They are smart and experienced but don’t have an aura of command. They appear weak and whiney. That may be unfair but it’s true. The wife doesn’t follow politics much and doesn’t know who Santorium is. She saw him for a few minutes in the debate and said something like “what a putz”.
Rick should try to get back in the Senate, get a another 12 years on himself, and try again.
Santorum reminds me of a guy who wants to be a professional politician, but just doesn’t want to admit it. I’m sure he’s a nice guy and knows a lot about how Washington works, but he does not strike me as the kind of guy who could lead a crusade here in America against big government, huge spending, and never-ending taxes. He doesn’t have the fire to slay these three major dragons, nor does he seem to have the honesty to do so. He would probably make a good member of the House of Representatives, maybe in the Tea Party Caucus. But he will have to show a lot more credibility as a Tea Party activist before people will follow him against socialists like Obama.
The debate was unimpressive, all these smooth-faced lying politicians, they’re the McCains of 2012. Herman Cain is the one I would vote for, as he can beat Obama.
I have to admit Rick’s performance in the Iowa Straw Poll was surprising. Certainly he’s still not among the top tier, but he solidly placed himself in the second tier and staved off campaign extinction.
But I don’t think he made a dent in the support base of either Michele Bachmann or Ron Paul, the two he targeted with his remarks.
On the other hand, Thad McCotter voted for the budget deal and we can see just where that got him. I wouldn’t be surprised if he folds up his tent this week.
Only United States of America’s President And Armed-Forces Commander-In-Chief-Elect Sarah Louise Ronald Wilson Reagan Heath Palin can — and is — be guaranteed to defeat the lame duck pretender!
Get used to it.
Correction: Bob Casey is NOT a pro life democrat. Boy Casey has supported everyone of Obama’s moves from tax supported abortion to embryonic experimentation. Casey is actually an empty suit who was chose by Hilary Clinton in order to blunt the pro life voters in Pennsylvania. Casey is an extreme pro left pro thug union pro abortion liberal democrat. There is no such thing as a pro life democrat.
I just read this article and came her to comment on the same thing: Casey portrayed himself as prolife in the election, but the first thing he did was vote to fund abortions in Mexico. He was one of the few senators who voted to continue funding ACORN. He misrepresented himself in the election, and all the dummies in PA thought he was a carbon copy of his prolife father. He isn’t!
You are correct, because I seem to recall the way I wrote the first draft of this was that Casey promised to be a pro-life Democrat in order to take the issue away from Rick Santorum. But I obviously changed it as I rewrote the piece for word count and flow.
And I’m sure there was a number of voters who believed “like father, like son” in that race.
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