E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
LIVONIA, Mich. -- On the day Mitt Romney criticized him for not focusing enough on the economy, Rick Santorum stressed the need for simplifying the tax code, cutting trillions from the budget and building the Keystone pipeline.
Joe Raedle / Getty Images
Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum often splits his time on the stump between focusing on jobs and social issues.
And while the former Pennsylvania laid out his economic plan to a local Chamber of Commerce here, he also pivoted into the social issues that have come to largely define his campaign.
"The separation of church and state that our founders believed in, which is what I just described, has now been turned on its head," he said. "And now, it’s the church, people of faith, who have no right to come to the public square and express their points of view, or practice their faith outside of their church."
That was received with applause from the 300 supporters in attendance.
"All reporters in the back, they say, 'Oh there’s Santorum talking about social issues again,'" he said. "No, I’m talking about freedom.
I’m talking about government imposing themselves on your lives."
The balance between talking about the economy -- which will likely be the most important issue in the Novemeber election -- and social issues has been a delicate one for the Santorum campaign. The candidate often splits his time on the stump between focusing on jobs and focusing on the issues of abortion, the family, and religious freedoms. Now, in a state hit particularly hard by the recession, the former Massachusetts governor is trying to exploit it as a weakness in his rival.
Stumping in Rockford, MI, earlier in the morning, Romney said of Santorum, "It's time for him to really focus on the economy."
Responding to Romney's critique, Santorum told reporters, "Tell him to watch my speech."
On the eve of the Michigan and Arizona primaries, the Romney campaign unveiled a new line of attacks against Santorum, building off his "sometimes you take one for the team" defense of earmarking during last week's debate. Santorum did not use his speech to defend his fiscal record in Congress, but instead split time between portraying himself as a consistent conservative and introducing his plan to rebuild America's manufacturing and energy industries.
"This is a tax plan that isn't conforming to any type of school of economics, because America has its own destiny," Santorum said. "We don't fit into a school. We do our own; we cut our own path; we're Americans; we can do things different, and we can be successful in doing it. Our plan is bold. It doesn't just, you know, take an existing tax code and play around with it in 59 or 69 or 89 different tweaks."
Last year Romney unveiled a 59-point economic plan.
Santorum's first of three stops throughout the Wolverine State compliments an op-ed he in today's Wall Street Journal outlining the major tenants of his plan.
"Capitalism is painful," he said. "We all know markets are painful sometimes. When people dont keep up, when people do things that the market doesn't like, a lot of people suffer. They suffer more if you try to rig the game. I've been consistent on that. I can go after President Obama on that. No one else can in this race can."
Leave a Comment:
Santorum is a complete idiot, locked into his fundamentalist religious beliefs and lacking the intellectual drive to look past them. Probably the same can be said for his supporters.
you people are such hypocrites according to your philosophy martin luther and martin luther king jr should have stayed in their churches behind the pulpit and kept their mouths shut
Martin Luther lived in Germany. Not our business
MLK worked on civil rights. He never claimed there were religious issues connected to the civil rights movement.
Absolutely nothing hypocritical about it. Trying to reach a bit there...
you guys remember all your dumb comments when hillary says i dont feel noways tired haha
Santorum is not fighting for freedoms. He, like all other Tea Party/GOP runners, keep talking about our government taking over more and more or our rights, yet all he and the other candidates do is talk about changing things (the government) as they see it. Santorum, especially, keeps putting his religious beliefs and convictions into his politics and platform. He would like to see all Americans do things his way, or the way of his Medieval Catholic Church. He is a very scary politician and has absolutely no respect for our President or the way he speaks of him. Anyone like Santorum who is college educated (a lawyer) and is wealthy enough to home school his large family of children, has no right calling President Obama names. This is about politics, a platform, not about his very personal and hateful words. His body language and facial expression says it all.
I told y'all3 years ago this election will be about religion...and y'all laugh and called me A liar
the mark of the beast ..is the tea party God is talking about
"And now, it’s the church, people of faith, who have no right to come to the public square and express their points of view, or practice their faith outside of their church."
He must be talking about some other country. In this one, God is on our money, in our Pledge of Allegiance, all of the US Presidents have been Christian, and nearly every member of Congress throughout our nation's history has been religious. 2 + 2 = 5?
Rick has truly lost His mind. Could you imagine Rick anywhere near the RED BUTTON. SNL has to be loving this. :)
hey tea party who is the liar now
They are.
yes ...have i been saying this try
Yep, I remember.
thanks..
the Church of today ,,have turn out like the scribes and Pharisees who killed Christ and the disciples ..Christ like people...yes they were religious and loved god just like you tea party people..but really are doing the devils work
nascar fans love the owners most of them worked there way up the ladder they were not handed anything oh thats right lefties dont understand that priciple
how about rev wright wonder should we shut him up tell him to keep his comments out of the public forum he might hurt obamas numbers
Rev Wright is so yesterday, can you catch up with the times now. Is that all you got? Obama/Biden in ANOTHER LANDSLIDE.
Obama is not preaching ..at the white house..he is not changing the constitution to benefit only the Christians that's why y'allare so angry.....people they will wait until a next time when they elect more supreme court Judges to do just that..meaning far right judges
people of faith can't practice their faith outside of churches? what does that mean? I see plenty of web sites, people talking about faith all over the place, etc.
More lies from our good christian (LOL) santorum.
He's just playing 'the victim'. Everyone likes to be the victim. It would be nice if we could expect more from Presidential candidates.
oh I know..he's lying and pandering to his crowd. They try to make it sound like christians are hunted down in the streets or something. Good grief, there are churches on every corner, web sites and tv shows galore, etc. Interest in organized religion is declining in the US, and they need a scapegoat to blame it on.
Its a shame they think god is so weak he can be twarted by banning organized prayer in school.
there is still a silent majority they spoke out nov 2010 they will speak again in 2012
The sleeping giant is alive and well. Obama/Biden in ANOTHER LANDSLIDE.
There was nothing silent about them in 2010.
So far this year, very quiet and primary turnouts are down by more than 6% from 4 years ago.
We heard over the weekend what makes Rick Santorum want to puke. Well here's what makes me want to puke; the sight of and the thought of Rick Santorum. Rick Santorum, a piss-poor excuse for a man who has no integrity; a man who lies as he tries his best to create a culture war between blue-collar Americans and our great president; a man who once said in the last few years that he wanted higher ed for every child and is now accusing our great president of being a snob for wanting higher ed for all American children too (BTW - this is something that 94% of all Americans want for their children); a blasphemer who claims to be Catholic and lies about being pro-life as he supports capital punishment. He does not speak for true Catholicism and should not be taken seriously.
Rick Santorum is toast and he knows it. How else can you explain is elevated angry tone as he revels on and on and lies about matters in an effort to gain attention and support that he is losing by the day. Rick Santorum is desperate and should be ignored at all cost.
christs death and resurection was his plan not the devils
what does that have to do with santorum lying about the "attack on religion"? And his claiming he is for "freedom" when he wants to restrict, oh, gays from marrying thus depriving them of freedom?
I guess for santorum "lies = truth", sadly.
have you people notice the far right English is deferent than plan English...seems the ,English ;language has changed...rick is smart must mean the opposite
no rev wright will be come so 2012 if you people dont get off this religious kick your on obama said he sat there for twenty years and never heard any black liberation theology we need to vett him on that if the discussion is going to keep up this path how about the spiritual advisers he has now collective salvation anyone
What?
is that a batman riddle
hey, feel free to try to raise rev wright as an issue now. If you think that santorum's relgious views vs obama's are going to help him win, go for it! I'm sure being against birth control is a "winning" issue in the general election. lol. :)
sound like obama might have six percent or higher loss in independents failed policies people are tired of leadership from behind
Obama has the Independents locked up, you think any of them would ever love for the far right GOP. I can't wait for the debates against President Obama, Lets just say it's the last nail in the GOP coffin.
do i need to waste time with punctuation
no, but you should "waste time" posting more relevant items, and learning how to REPLY to existing posts instead of constantly starting new posts.
collective salvation. thats what obama says he believes in you dont even know what kind of cristian he is
Did Rush tell you that?
hey I'm a liberal and a seventh day Adventist..am i going to hell...i worship on the real sabbath day..the seventh day
seems to you so called christian Church. i would be condemn just like Christ huh..because im not in real Church..like Romney huh..i guess Romney and myself are what you call collective huh,,because God told you huh
If you've been a good Boy you'll go to Heaven.
hahahaha
Seems to be Santorum is a lil "special." If he is, welcome to 4 more years for President Obama.
Santorum is beginning to remind me of both McCain, and Palin, all wrapped in one.
It's hard to believe this batch of republicans can even fool some of the people some of the time. I'm joining many other of my republican friends and voting for Obama to keep the country moving toward recovery. Now, if we can just enact some campaign reform America could really make a comeback.
i thought you guys were talking about religion and politics. the public forum. how santorum needs to keep his views to his self. but if you guys make it an issue it will be. obamas veiws will be vetted if we need to know what santorum and romney think we need to know what obama thinks you dont seem to mind when he qoutes the bible
no I'm a Christian ..its your party the world needs to fear.not some camel jockey
No, nobody says Santorum needs to keep his religious views to himself. All we want is for him to keep them out of government. Exactly what is it that you don't understand about that?
thats not for me to judge judge not not lest you be judged but you guys have a test for santorum why not obama im saying your barking up the wrong tree leave it alone
that's what the scribes and Pharisees also said
Are you drunk?
the "test" for santorum is that he not try to use religion as a basis for policy making. He fails that test, obama passes.
blondie - Have you ever heard of a complete sentence? You're making all the other blonds look like geniuses. Good grief!!!