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PHOENIX, AZ -- Rick Santorum told a crowd of Arizona Republicans today that he was "an outsider when he was inside" Washington, arguing he fought corruption and wasteful spending during his 16 years in Congress.
In his first campaign stop in Arizona, the former Pennsylvania senator pushed back against the onslaught of attacks he is now facing with his rise as a frontrunner in the Republican presidential contest. Rival Ron Paul released a television ad in Michigan today attacking Santorum's spending record and Mitt Romney's campaign blasted out another round of opposition research calling Santorum a career politician.
But here at a Lincoln Day Luncheon, Santorum said that despite his time serving both in the House and Senate, he was never part of the Washington establishment.
"When we came to Congress, we came and we shook things up to its very core," Santorum said about himself and former Rep. Frank Riggs, who now serves as the campaign's Arizona state chairman.
Without using Romney's name, Santorum said the former Massachusetts governor can portray himself as a Washington outsider due to his 1994 Senate bid.
"I think it’s really fascinating that here’s the guy who was outside of Washington, who was not a Senator or Congressman—not because he didn’t try—he just never got elected,” Santorum said.
"You see all these commercials, Rick Santorum is a big spender, but they never once mention, talk about how I voted for any increase in the appropriation bills. Why? Because I never did," said Santorum. "I voted to cut appropriation bills. They never talk about how I voted for a tax increase. Why? Because I never did in 16 years of public life … I voted for smaller government, lower taxes, less regulation -- the things that we need desperately in this country."
Showing a renewed interest in Santorum, the Romney campaign was quick to counter. Ryan Williams, a spokesman from Romney, emailed out a statement: “Republican primary voters have a clear choice. Mitt Romney spent his career helping turn around companies, the Olympics, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. At the same time, Congressman/Senator Rick Santorum spent his career in Washington, voting repeatedly to increase the debt ceiling and his own pay."
Santorum, latest Republican candidate to surge in the polls, is finding renewed scrutiny not only from his rival candidates, but also the national media. Recent comments questioning President Obama's theology and suggesting the president discriminates against disabled people have put under the microscope.
"Will you be the generation that sat on the sidelines and watched as candidate after candidate comes up and the national media takes their axe out to try to destroy them in every way possible as they’ve done with every single republican candidate," Santorum said.
Initially, Santorum advisers did not view Arizona as a state where they could have much impact, but recent polls show him closer than expected to Romney ahead of the state's Feb. 28 primary.
Santorum will hold a rally in Phoenix tonight before heading to Tuscan for an event ahead of Wednesday night's debate.
Leave a Comment:
Bwahahahaha!
Little Ricky was complaisant up to his beady little brown eyeballs!
What a fool believes...
"an outsider when he was inside" Washington, arguing he fought corruption and wasteful spending during his 16 years in Congress."
Sixteen years and Rick couldn't get it done so he joined 'em.....Guess Rick isn't such a good fighter, so he lost re-election.
Hmmm.......An outsider in Washington. He may have a point. Pennsylvanians hated him while he was in office. They pined away for poor Senator Heinz. In his place they got this Google entry.
Lies, lies, lies yeah there going to get you...
Outsider? Yeah maybe back in Pennsylvania. Rick is an insider period. Lobbyist anyone?
I believe it.
Surely we can imagine that Santorum's views would keep him on the outside of just about any group.
But guess what... you may think it's good to NOT be associated with the status quo in congress... but not accepted into "the group" once you're there?
Says a lot. And it's not good. He's one of those people where the better you know them, the farther away you stand from them.
Please be kind to poor ole Rick 'lets husband the planet' Santorum he really is an outsider...outside the realm of logic, reasoning and the modern world.
I think Rick probably finds himself an outsider at most things...
Keep shoveling it, Rick. You don't go from the House to the Senate by being an "outsider". There are no candidates left that arent part of the Washington elitists club. Trying to paint yourself as not one of them is an old trick that only wins over the most ignorant and simple-minded of voters....oh wait..
He was and is a lobbyist he just isn't registered as one ! Another Newt ! And i do get he is against evolution as you can see it wasn't kind to him !
Santorum is full of Santorum.
Rick also was reported to have said, "Black is white, up is down, over is under, the sky is fushia and the trees float in the air......"
By outsider, I'm sure he means extraterrestrial. His completely off-the-planet cohort of asylum escapees (Gingrich, Palin, Trump, Cain, Paul, and starman Romney) are the stuff movies are made of. Really bad, unbelievable movie.
Amazing the crap politicians will say to please a targeted audience and to get elected. But Santorum should know, the more of this kind of stuff he does, the more he is labeled a lying politician. Can't get more "inside" than that.
Santorum was an ardent supporter of Bush legislation...what sort of outsider is that?
I think it's safe to say that in any group of human beings of reasonable intelligence, Mr. Santorum would be considered an "outsider".
Santorum
Please send back your retirement benefits "outsider."
Yes, I believe he will receive Congressional retirement benefits.
SEND THEM BACK --- Ricky.
"Outsider?" Does this dimwit tool now think that he's James Dean on a motorcycle? He's an outsider only to the extent that if he showed up at my house, I wouldn't let him in.
Is there really such thing as "outsider earmarks" now? Well, if little Ricky calls his that, I guess that makes it fact rather than fiction! ....yeah...right....
He's soon to be a complete outsider standing in the unemployment line if he keeps acting like the bigoted azz he is. It's time to toss this effed up in the head man out of office.
You can NOT be an outsider in Washington for 16 years, not to mention the contacts and close ties you have to have with other members of Congress in order to get millions of dollars in earmark money approved by your peers. Just ask Mississippi lobbyist and former Governor Haley Barbour just how "close" you have to be to a whole lot of folks before they turn over millions of dollars for Santorum to take back to Pennsylvania.
Santorum is a disgusting liar.
Obama / Biden 2012
Santorum must be on Cloud 9 if he thinks he can say any kind of B.S. he wants, and some Republican out there somewhere is gonna believe it.
Obama / Biden 2012
The only "outside" thing about Santorum was that he and his family did not live in Pennsylvania or maintain a home there while he was in the Senate.
As usual, nothing but snarky ridicule and personal insults from the fisty one... what a pathetic person!
Tony D - lotsanumbers
Try this. If you are truly put out by Feisty's negative observations, why don't you balance them with something truly wonderful?
Why don't you help us understand how someone who's been inside government for 16 years is an outsider? Why don't you put his influence peddling in a divine light? Give us the positive spin on someone who violates the scriptural admonition that says, judge not.
Come on Tony D, all you did was deliver a snarky remark for Feisty. Show us the right way, the way a true Christian would deal with this kind of adversity. You are a true Christian, right?
If Insanitarium thinks he was an outsider when he was a member of Congress. I wonder what he will consider himself when the POTUS hands him his azz should he be the repugnant nominee? Oh yeah, just a loser again!
I think Karl Rove is running out of ideas and "Outsider" is simply the new "Maverick." What is scary about the GOP's demise over the next 20 years as their base dies off is the grounding of a new political pole of the Dems to keep the voters honest. Lincoln's Party is quickly running to join him.
Rick Santorum told a crowd of Arizona Republicans today that he was "an outsider when he was inside" Washington, arguing he fought corruption and wasteful spending during his 16 years in Congress.
-----------------------
B u l l S h e e t!!!!!!!!!
When we came to Congress, we came and we shook things up to its very core--------------
I didn't realize lying was a theology. I doubt seriously though if it's a Christian theology. Furthermore, I guess that means Rick isn't a Christian. Which means he's lying and that makes the circle complete.
Feisty, why do you get so butt hurt over what some GOP guy says to a group of Republicans? I swear cry-baby lib's like you are the ones who make me ask myself if I should vote for Obama again. Why do you even care what he says? You are what is wrong with politics in this country.
"...Holding a rally in Phoenix before heading to Tuscan..." - Really?! He's going to Italy to campaign?! Oh, wait! I bet they meant Tucson (as in Arizona) but forgot how to spell it maybe? :-D
This is just getting comedic now. Do they honestly think this guy stands a chance? The only reason Michigan voters will favor him for the nomination over Romney is that Mittens made the genius move of advocating letting the auto industry fail (along with the entire supply chain as a consequence). Detroit will never go for someone like that. The state will go to Obama, no matter the Koch owned governor in place.
More of the usual from the "Pennsylvania Poopchute"...
I always though an outsider wouldn't be the Republican Conference Chair of the Senate. Basically the number 3 Senate Republican for 6 years (2001-2007). The guy who sets the meetings, elects the leaderships, helps set the agenda and assigns the committee memberships. That sounds WAY inside to me. Come to think of it, wasn't that when most of the crappy policies were made that helped destroy the Economy?
"lying politician"
Isn't that redundant?
Rick "less than erudite" Santorum is certainly an outsider in one sense. He is a complete outsider in the realm of erudition. Maybe even further outside than Newt Gingrich, the liar of historic proportion.
Ricky would be an outsider anywhere he goes, simply because he's an arrogant, sanctimonious, self-centered hypocrite.
Nobody likes him. Boo hoo
Why I never depend on Spell-check:
"Santorum will hold a rally in Phoenix tonight before heading to Tuscan for an event ahead of Wednesday night's debate."
I thought the debate was in Arizona, not Italy. Bring me back some wine, Rick!
Is Ricky Sanctamonium trying to tell us that he was so out of touch that his colleagues wanted nothing to do with him?
Makes me think of the guy with halitosis who complains that nice girls don't like straight guys.
JoAnne -Why was Santorum going to Tuscan ? He was going to meet with the Corleones. He wanted a super pac that no one could refuse.
Ricky was my Congressman and Senator. He was not an "outsider" he was an "out of touch" do nothing. Why do you think that he, as an incumbent, lost reelection by 18% of his constituents' vote. Think about it,
Ricky was an outsider. Once he was shoved "outside" of the senate, he got paid a ton of money to "sit" on the boards of companies that benefited from policies that he pushed through when he was inside the Senate being an outsider.
BTW, wasn't he the idiot who led the charge to defend Terri Schiavo who was brain dead and whose husband wanted to pull the plug?
Conservative voters have only latched onto the Rick Santorum bandwagon because -- like with Cain, Perry, Gingrich, etc. -- he is the leading flavor-of-the-month alternative to Mitt Romney. Lucky for Santorum that it's so late in the process and GOP voters are literally down to a choice between him and Mitt. Santorum is a blast from the past, a comforting yet archaic figure that is defined by social issues and is gleefully waging an extinct culture war. Santorum is ice cream for the conservative base, but mainstream voters aren't going to bite. http://www.sunstateactivist.org
If the GOP wants a real conservative, with real values, they could've voted for Jon Huntsman. Now their only alternative to Romney is Ron Paul.
Ron Paul 2012.
You've got it right. The GOP has become the party of "we don't want" through their current campaigning. They don't like Obama, although they aren't really clear on what specifically they don't like about him using their ideas, and they don't like each other. First and foremost, they are anti-Obama. Then they are anti-Romney. They were anti-Huntsman, who was the only smart one in the bunch. Most of all, the GOP is not pro anyone. That should tell you a lot about your future if they were to be voted into office.
Agreed scottyhomer and dirp101
I think this may be just the beginning in fact. The GOP has been drawing candidates that are ever-more extreme-right and off the deep-end when it comes to not acknowledging and addressing things like:
Until they come up with honest and coherent plans to address ANY of these, they will not attract my vote, nor much of the moderates that their idiotic fringe seem to demonize
I wouldn't be surprised if the GOP crumbles completely under the stresses of its hardliners and the need to actually be successful diverging to a point of complete failure
Don't underestimate the monster behind the door. Yes, the GOP uses flyweight candidates to pander to a fringe that's generally short on cash and education. However, Republican PACs have too much money to let the party go under without a fight of unlimited brutality.
This is multinational corporate power at work, and those old boys are capable of paying for anything, in the interest of maintaining their version of the status quo.
@ Melissa-1175724-1762238
Agreed.
At this point, it doesn't matter who the candidate will be. America needs NO MORE of Obama. With his not so shovel ready jobs. Trying to enforce private institutions to pay for things against their beliefs. Creating Lunchbox Nazi's to inspect children's lunches, telling the parents that they know whats better for their kids then the parents do. Class warfare brought on by this administration, and the broad exaggeration's stated numerous times, that has become the war cry by his blind, deaf, and dumb sheeple. Shame on anyone who would support this mistake.
Jason,
I hope Santorum wins. Then you can tell us about how you feel about being a Catholic like it or not. Ricky has already established Protestants (and Jews and everyone else) are not Christian and have no place in HIS America. You can then live in the United States of Santorum, where separation of church and state not only is eradicated but found unconstitutional. Everyone that does not agree will be declared un-American and a product of Satan. He is already claiming Satan is taking over the United States (this is part of he argument against Protestants). He will then cut everything out of the budget that is of any value at all to the common person and build a Corporate playland where regulation doesn't exist. Enjoy your food while there is still a little protection against selling "bad" food and everything else that is no longer real but very profitable.
Yes, he will make a great president! You have to be pretty bad when even Rush Limbaugh questions your political existence.......
Jason- HaHaHahaHaHaHa..Obama 2012. Oh yeah!!!
Lunchbox Nazi? Can you folks on the right get any more ludicrous?
Lunchbox Nazi
Well that is what they are. they don't have the right to inspect school lunches.Especially when they refused a turkey sandwich and replaced it chicken mc nuggets.That was pretty lame and stupid.
I'm getting tired of all the bs
Santorum sucks and you all know it
Romney sucks and you all know it
Gingrich sucks and you all know it
good bye!
Melissa, your warning is a wake up call to anyone who has become complacent over the pitiful field of GOP nominee wannabees and thinks the Dems will have a cake walk in November. It's going to be fought tooth and nail all the way.
Thank whatever gods may be that money can sway weak minds, but it can't buy votes in our democracy.
OBAMA/BIDEN 2012
ted patrick- hello! You're right and I know it!The republicans no not have one single candidate who is not stupid, insane or an out and out liar, or all three and I know it.
I sure hope so.
Far too many people vote almost purely by what they see on TV alone and never bother to question the rationality of their own beliefs...look no further than most of the posters here that simply want Obama out and cannot actually list any reasons why that they can backup with reputable sources.
Of course he was an outsider, he was far more corrupt than the typical congressman, and that's taking note of the fact that 1/2 of congress has been involved with illegal insider trading which is blatantly illegal, and these scumbags remain unprosecuted because the typical voter doesn't have a pair of cojones to share between them.
He was an "outsider" when he voted to raise the debt ceiling FIVE times. He was an "outsider" when he voted to fund Amtrak and Planned Parenthood. He was an "outsider" when he voted for the 2005 highway bill (the "Bridge to Nowhere" bill). He was an outsider when he supported the 2003 medicare prescription drug program. Speaking of bridges, I hear he's selling one. Any takers?
"Will you be the generation that sat on the sidelines and watched as candidate after candidate comes up and the national media takes their axe out to try to destroy them in every way possible as they’ve done with every single republican candidate," Santorum said.
The GOP candidates have been way ahead of the lame stream media in generating juicy headlines. Nobody could have made this sh!t up.
Eliminate Cabinet Departments, pick three, any three.
God spoke to me in the wee hours of the morning and convinced me that I was chosen to cure gayness in America.
Libya? Wait, my head is kind of twirling around.
Pres. Obama's theology is not Christian. (Son of Muslim,maybe?)
I'm against earmarks unless I believe they are for a good cause
Our moon colony can apply for statehood once the population reaches 13,000
Lets close all those damn embassies.
Show me the real birth certificate
You have a very high opinion of the lame stream if you think they can top these whoppers. Let me know if you cannot match the above to one time active candidates.
Romney tries to pull the same trick. He's only an outsider because he keeps losing. No one wants to be an insider more than Willard, who hates hates hates being on the outside.
Although scoring 1.3 bil taxpayer dollars for the Olympics isn't exactly outsider status, now is it?
9/11 had just occured and the World was watching how the Americans were going to react. Security was beefed up like crazy. I was there ! Pat what would you have done if you had been the one in charge? Cancel the Games or provide the extra security measures to insure an incident free Olympics? I personally don't want a Washington insider as my President-we have seen the results over and over like the ground hog day movie at that front. I also don't need to be warm and fuzzy with my President either. I just want the guy to do the job and bring the parties together to get something done for the good of the American people. Oh, and by the way, Romney WON the Governorship of MA and brought the political parties together. 85% Dems and 15% Republicans.
Not the point Pat is making, its the statement of being an outsider when in fact he is the ultimate insider, a lobbyist. Mittens didn't have the party of no stopping any legislation, it takes two to tango and the GNOP can't dance.
Like Romney had a choice with only 15% of the electorate behind him.....What you seem to be missing is an understanding of the nature of events and decisions this President has faced. If you had such understanding, you'd have to acknowledge he's already better at the job on the face of things. I mean, really! Most posters have no idea what it takes and has taken these last three + years, so how can they assess how prepared the candidates are to step into such times? Shoot, if there was ever a time to "hold the course" it would be now.....
@ NC open heart
Agreed. The reality is a whole lot different when your boots are actually in the mud and you're in a world of sh*t.
I recall that Obama wanted to do more to close GITMO, revise immigration and re-evaluate things like the Patriot Act.
But that was before he got to the White House and had his first briefing on these subjects. There's A WHOLE LOT that is not disclosed to the public (at least right away), and politicians like to make lofty promises about what they are going to (try to) do, but that's before they are given the full picture and know just how much strength they will have to wield in office.
To people angry with Obama...actually try and see what he's proposed and what actually ends up hitting his desk...they are far from the same things!
If you want to be really angry at government, be angry at your congressman and senator...the public pays far too much attention to the President and not nearly enough to the other lunatics.
If you are going to do anything this election season, please hold ALL of your elected representatives with the same level of suspicion that you hold for the opposing party's candidates!
oh please jacksonhole: now the absurd over=spending on the olympics was all explainable due to PATRIOTISM???? Rewrite history much??
Seriously: Good post. You are right on that people only want their "representatives" to bring home goodies from Washington and don't look at how much each one of these legalized crooks hurts the country in the big picture.
Grill your "representatives" about why they are not doing their job and only worrying and working at getting elected.............Make them LIVE in DC and stop these paid jaunts home to visit the "people"..............errr.....their supporters$$$$$ that is
jacksonhole76 - If MA. loved him so much, then why didn't he run for re-election? Why did he have to destroy all traces of his glorious administration? Why did he have to shake down the government for big bucks for the "corrupted Olympic games"? Yeah right, he hates big government unless its helping him!
So don't vote Republican if you have a problem with all of them, but also don't insult someone like jacksonhole76 for having an opinion himself. You people are so ridiculous with your better than thou comments. None of you have a crystal ball, if you do maybe we should vote for you.
Jackson
Romney saved the Olympics. Good. Romney undercut his stated fiscal principles by soliciting a Federal bailout of the Olympics. Bad.
Not that he didn't do the right thing, but that he claims moral and fiscal superiority over other politicians who do and have done the same thing.
PC101-bunch of numbers...alot of people are going to take your suggestion and not vote Republican this election.
"Satan Santorum" has a cultural and social thinking of a Confederate States Of America Politician in or around 1859. He is a Right Wing Religious Radical, who is living inside his very Emotionally Disturbed mind. This individual does not believe in contraception, public education, the Bill Of Rights, the US Constitution, Women's Rights, the Civil Rights Act Of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This individual is proving everyday to be Cognitively Disabled, and very ethically intolerant of others. Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! The Party Of NO has got to GO!!
............................Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! The Party Of NO has got to GO!!.....................................
You Betcha....
You have a problem with Saint Santorum and his 'women in chains' campaign? Actually, since he's likely to take a whole helluva lot of conservative r's down with him as he lurches the party ever radically right...he may be the BEST thing to happen to this country in quite some time. Can you imagine the day Americans ever think about putting someone of his ilk in charge?
As my wife says Tea-publicans like Ricky need to put an aspirin between their
teeth to abort idiocy.
Santorum's claim is almost as ridiculous as Gringrich's "I'm an outsider claim"
What makes him think and outsider who is so narrow minded in thought is better for us.....someone who only cares about his agenda.... a president represent "ALL AMERICANS"... all our families came here for "FREEDOM :FOR ALL RELIGIONS" .... you need to represent ALL not just a FEW! Get a grip read the JOB DESCRIPTION.
If Santorum were to win by some horrible accident he would claim he had a mandate to do as he pleased, just like Bush 43.
Exactly....Hitler was an outsider too.....
If Rick Santorum says he himself is a Christian, why is he such a damn liar?
funny how that's been happening with all the so-called self-proclaimed religious right-wing candidates. They're ALL lying.
Because, as Frank Graham said today, they believe they are sinners and all their sins are forgiven. Never do they say they are under any obligation to stop sinning. Plus Ricky boy just runs off to confession and fondles his beads in penance.
Just have to "repent" and all is well so why not lie??
I don't know, but why don't you ask Obama, he says he is a Christian.
PC101-bunch of numbers...but he doesn't stand on a soapbox shouting it, whether or not people want to hear it.
I'm looking forward to the day that people stop voting for candidates based on their religion and actually based on what their policies and political track records are.
Don't you people get it...all of this bleating about who's more devout is merely a distraction from having to tackle the difficult and fundamental issues plaguing the nation? These morons don't want to be called on for the hard subjects, they want you to whine to them about religious ideologies and what sorts of stances they take with regard to eroding personal liberties for other people you can't stand...that's their favorite subject because it doesn't require that they tell you about the man behind the curtain that's pulling their stings!
Enjoy your puppet show you social conservatives
It's not "Outsider" rICKY it's "Religious Extremist" you are!
I bet you believe it's ok too kill Doctors like the other "Religious Extremist"
Bull Cookies.
Anyone want to bet on what CNN's John King's First Question will be at the Debate?. This time I think he will make a fool of himself by asking something like; This question is for you Mr Santorum. Do you really think that Satan is involved in all of this. It surely wont be about the big issues like the Economy and Jobs. What is your best guess?
Sixpak
Of course not! Don't you know that as the media, if you don't "play ball" with politicians, you stop getting invited to press conferences and interviews?
Asking the hard questions is partisan politics
Pull your punches, don't make waves, you'll upset the wrong people and lose advertisers and ratings
And God(tm) help you if you piss off Rupert Merdoch or Ted Turner, they'll run you out on a rail for going against their interests
I hear the Teaparty wants to take out all of the Republican Party? Why do Republicans keep supporting their own extermination??
Because they're addicted to the unquestioning support that the mush-heads in the teaparty and religious right offer them in the flyover states and the racist parts of the South.
It's like the political equivalent of being addicted to coke I presume...a great boost of energy and drive, but it makes you nuts and ruins your long-term health.
Appealing to moderates wins you the general election, but the money is on the fringes where there are select vested interests that want a "special" say in political dealings. You can't appeal to these financial backers while appealing to moderates...so you need to find groups of people that will vote for you regardless.
Wow, Santorum really has quit a bad smell, doesn't it?
This guy is unbelievable..Talk about Bush being the great divider.Santorum got him beat by miles..This guy is coaching the next Timothy McVeigh...
Ricky,,, When the entire 434 other members of congress refuse to play with you because you're a barely coherent religous wingnut,,, It doesn't mean you're an outsider,,,, it means you're an outcast,,, that's a Big difference there, frothy,,,
I am a resident of Pa. and old enough to remember when Santorum was a senator and he was a lousy one!
This is because Santorum is an INSANE NUTJOB!
I think the term he was actually looking for was "outcast."
Well, DUH.............he has never made any sense except to the dumb.
Not an insider? Ricky, you were the Republican Conference Chairman for the Senate, the third most powerful position on the Republican side of the aisle. Don't lie when the falsehood is so easily proven.
Yuh, right! Mr. Earmarks is an outsider. And the moon is purple.
Gee Rick, why were you treated like an "outsider"?
Could it have something to do with the fact that you're a wingnut, even among wingnuts?
Of COURSE he was an outsider. He was too weird and crazy even for the other Republicans. They called him 'the whiner.'
He's INSANE. It just shows how stupid so many in this country are - most never even knew he was in office and most of those never knew how bad he was.
Oh, please, Senator! You hung onto George Bush's coat sleeve in order to place yourself in every photo with him that you could. You prided yourself on being in touch with the top administrators of that horrible 8-year reign of terror in Washington, and you told us in Pennsylvania that you knew all the 'right' people and had tight relationships with them.
Claptrap. Nothing but claptrap.
Anyone who believes Santorum's crap claim should be committed to a sanitarium. There is no such thing as a politician who served 16 years in the congress as an "outsider".
Republicans are so ucked up they are starting to hate each other
No they just hate anyone that doesn't let them have their own way and ALL of the time.
Just like you apparently.