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Subscribe to RSSUpdated 10:58 a.m. - TULSA, Okla. -- Aiming to snag a key win in Oklahoma's Super Tuesday contest, Rick Santorum on Sunday barnstormed in the conservative state, painting his chief rival as a moneyed but uninspiring politico whose rarefied air allows him "five home states" and possible tax breaks.
"You know, I don’t have my home state up on [Super] Tuesday like Congressman Gingrich or Governor Romney -- though Gov. Romney has about five home states," he quipped to laughter during a rally at Grace Church outside Tulsa. "I don’t know how that works, but I don’t live that kind of life. I have one home state."
(Santorum does own a home in a Super Tuesday state -- Virginia -- but he did not qualify for the ballot there. He was criticized during his 2006 re-election run for living with his family close to Washington, D.C., rather than residing permanently in Pennsylvania, the state he represented.)
Andrea Saul, a spokeswoman for the Romney campaign, said in response: "Sen. Santorum's base is Obama supporters. The last thing the White House wants is to have to face Mitt Romney in a general election, so Sen. Santorum is relying on them to throw the primary in his direction. Mitt Romney has won five contests in a row and won in every corner of the United States with Republican voters. It's going to take a businessman who is not a creature of Washington to change the status quo."
White House correspondent Chuck Todd breaks down new poll results on the upcoming Super Tuesday primaries.
Indirect digs at Romney's "kind of life" -- and his cash-laden donors --were sprinkled throughout Santorum's two-stop visit to Oklahoma.
"Guess what, rich people can move their money other places," he said in Tulsa, using presumptive frontrunner Gov. Mitt Romney as an example to illustrate a point of tax policy. "As we saw from someone who went out as I did and worked. My tax rate was about 27, 28 percent. Gov. Romney's was half that amount."
Santorum paid double Romney's tax rate in 2010, records show
"Gov. Romney has never won a state in this country where he was outspent," he told a crowd in Oklahoma City after referencing big dollar contributors to a major pro-Romney super PAC. "Think about that. Think about the fact that every state he has won he has outspent his opponent at least 4 to 1 or 5 to 1, and he's barely won."
"What does that tell you about his ability to motivate and rally the people of America for the big change we need coming into the general election?" he asked.
Mark Halperin, Savannah Guthrie, Kasim Reed and Mike Murphy offer insight and analysis on what to watch in the 2012 Republican presidential race.
The former Pennsylvania senator, who himself reaped a significant income from his tenure as a consultant after he left Capitol Hill, hopes that a common-man approach will boost him over Romney in key Southern states like Oklahoma and Tennessee.
"You go out and give us a win," he said Sunday. "And we will go on past Super Tuesday, we will go to Alabama and Mississippi and win there and this race will turn around and we will go on and be the nominee.
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I'm tiered of hearing the attacks on rich people I'm not rich but it's a fact of life in business that if one company wants to compete or take business away from another company the company that spends more money usually ends up with higher numbers but service also comes into play but also how many branches you have which equates to how much money you have. The Majority of wealthly businessmen and companies do good things for the united states the problem is NO ONE REPORTS that the 200 jobs lost benefited the 200 people who got better jobs somewhere else when companies like Bain Capitol restructured them.
Instead right now it's reported to us that it's a great that GM & Chrylser have jobs now because we spent billions of dollars on them. so it's good to raise the debt to save jobs and companies that are failures. That is the message and plan that is a poor plan. Progress creates new and better products and companies that do better things. controlling and bailing out failing companies restricts progress Most of these canidates including Obama are probably beeing mis reported and shown in a worse light than they should the problem with obama is he has a list of failed policies, the best thing romney did was not win 2008 election because now we see the results of obama's talk in 2008 romney's turn next
You certainly have a wierd sense of what is happening in this country. Have you been watching too much FoxNews lately? It tends to do that to people.
200 people may have gotten better jobs after losing theirs at a Bains Capital company. But the statistics are definitely aginst the odds of that haviung happened.
The bailout of the auto companies was not so much about the auto workers but about the thousands and thousands of sub-supplier workers. This country would have gone into a depression. No thanks to the GOP.
LL
No one is trying to take away the money of the wealthy. However, there are quite a few wealthy people, like Warren Buffet, that have stated that while they would prefer not to pay more they are definitely capable of doing so.
It's the greedy few that ruin it for the rest.
One would hope that the eventual candidate and president would consider the United States home. Unfortunately the evidence seems to indicate that if home is where the heart is then the state in which Rick, Mitt and Newt alike feel most home is the state of Unbridled Greed.
Good point! I live in Tennessee, a red state. I was once told by one of my Republican "friends" that I should move to a different state if I felt that way about a certain issue. I don't even remember what the issue was. I pointed out that I was a citizen of the UNITED STATES, and that I would live wherever I chose. I did not point out that having served the UNITED STATES for 30 years in the Army, and fought in 3 wars, with 3 Purple Hearts, among other awards to show for it. I find it remarkable that someone who chose not to serve his country would imply that I had no right to live here because I disagree with him.
Not even an original crack. Ed Schultz first used this line on his show on MSNBC. Ed is a very liberal commentator. So Ricky boy is borrowing a line from a liberal. I I were Romney, I would be prominently pointing this out.
Interesting. Santorum borrows heavily from Glenn Beck too. I don't think he has an original idea in his head! If you use someone else's line, you must cite it. It's the ethical thing to do. People don't mind quotes by other people, but when you co-opt the line as your own, its plagiarism.
While living in Virginia does Santorum still own a home in PA.?
Rjw says, "Separation of Church and State was about keeping government out of church, not the other way around. Research and check it out. nut, dingbat, basic principles, sheesh!" I would like to know where you do your research. It certainly is NOT in any university history department in this country nor any other for that matter.
You are simply spreading untruths to benefit your scewed outlook on our present situation.
LL
It has to go both ways. The United States was always meant to be a society of diverse culture. For anyone to bring their religion into government is an infringement on the religious freedom of all other religions.
There is a reason that the word "god" doesn't appear in the U.S. Constitution.
You just had to post that, didn't you?
The next amendment will call for you-know-whose name to be in every Article and Amendment, not to mention the Preamble and the title.
I am very surprised they didn't quote his most famous idiot remark at this rally (I was there just for laughs). He said how he would tap energy resources right here that Obama is against, meaning more offshore drilling, hydraulic fracking, etc, etc (all of the things that would ruin our environment). Then comes the remark that man is not responsible for global warming, but the winning statement was "CO2 causes global warming??! Tell that to a plant!" Yes, he said this. Talk about the most idiotic statement in the world.
He is against Obama care which is what got him into the race. Says the gov't should not dictate everyone paying for health insurance. Nooooo, instead, let's have people without insurance go into bankruptcy and lose their homes to pay their medical bills and have taxpayers pay for public hospital patients who can't afford other care.
After hearing him last night, I am convinced he is a delusional person. Says he's going to reduce the deficit but not by increasing taxes but will lower taxes. Fantasyland is nice, eh?
Hey Santorum, the only homes that mexican Republican corporate puppet has are the ones his wife gave him!
The mex puppet says he has ALL THE RIGHT BUSINESS BACKGROUND to run the American Peoples' country! Every time the government has tried to run a SERVICE TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE as a BUSINESS, it has failed MISERABLY! ASK OUR POSTAL WORKERS, THEY CAN TELL YOU! Government CAN ONLY PROVIDE A SERVICE, IT CANNOT RUN BUSINESS!
So Santorum tell the mex puppet you'll run the government as a SERVICE to the American People, NOT A BUSINESS! Look what corporates have been permitted to do to the American People! We want our country back! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! IT'S TIME FOR CHANGE, AND THAT TIME IS NOW! Not later, but right NOW!!!
Santorum, if you want to get elected, stop our OIL CORPORATIONS' OIL from causing MAJOR INFLATION of ALL OTHER PRODUCTS, that we, the American People have to pay for!!
5 home states, really....rick, everyone knows this already, well maybe except for the Dumb FUX watchers and all you will accomplish by mentioning this will just confuse them..
Santorum, you dumb ass, you had it made in Michigan and you start spewing ignorance about one of the most popular presidents in American history, and putting women second place or last place. Without to much trouble you should be able to self destruct in Ohio.
Oh, and AOL is a sponsor for Limbaugh also. Time to switch providers.
Huffington Post put out a disclaimer saying AOL is one of the dirt bag sponsors as well.
It tells me Romney has enough money to go up against Obama!
Does that make Romney a SNOB too? At least Romney knew the rules on how to appear on the ballot in Virginia, one of Santorum's 2 home states.
Rick, Rick, Rick--you know you don't have a chance of getting the nomination, and you sure can't beat Obama, so you strike back with nitpicking remarks. So what if Mr Romney has homes in five states? He worked for them and can afford to maintain them. All you're showing is sour grapes.
Well looks like Mr. Santorum is going to make the case againist Romney being uper-rich for the democrats. That's right Mr. Santorum keep hating it's so much fun to see.
TO: Jeffrey B. Greer who wrote:
We already know the "Jobs Cremator".
Obama / Biden 2012
What a rich little whining baby! Who's now calling the kettle black? Ricky may not be as rich as spitt, but he is rich, and way out there somewhere!!! This sounds like jealousy to me, plain and simple! Ricky is mad that Spitty has five homes, and lil ricky only has three, wah, wah, wahhhhhhhh.... I am so sick of rich out of touch basturds thinking we are stupid enough to follow their particular b.s.!!! Oops, sorry to all you stupid followers of the POG, out there! Did i get that right, POG, or GOP? Either way, stupidity! Rich people, no matter how they try, they will never understand what its like to struggle to buy food, or gas, or will it be meds this month? NEVER! And the one side that NEVER gets it, is the Greedy ONLY FOR THE RICH PARTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EF-em all this season!!!!
and probably a couple of small islands.
Sounds like Saint(Wannabe) Rick is waging class warfare. Isn't that a mortal sin for all GOP/Ters?
So if Santorum was to make his money off of investments and interest that is taxed by law at a rate of 15% would he pay twice the amount, what the law requires? He must think Mitt should pay twice what the law requires of him. How stupid does Rick think the American people are? Of course Rick pays a higher tax rate. His income is classified differently to the IRS than what Mitt's is. Personally I would like a President who is well off so he doesn't have to worry about his finances and book deals etc. He can concentrate 100% on the job at hand.
No one person can change the status quo in Washington. Every president has to fight with congress to get their agenda through and even then a lot of the time they can't.
This i very true. Romney wins by overwhelming his opponents with cash. He won't be able to do that in a general election. He may be the inevitable Republican nominee but I think they are deluding themselves if they think he can beat Obama. He has not substance, just cash.
Santorum is such an engaging fellow. Warm, affable, great Presidential material .... UNTIL you listen to what comes out of his mouth! At this point I don't even know what his Job ideas are, nor how he would run his foreign policy decisions. But I certainly know he sounds like the GOP Taliban when he speaks to social issues.
Now there was a time when I believed these fellows, like Kennedy, could separate their religious opinions from the rest of their being enough to make them palatable to others. But Santorum has made it abundantly clear that he is unable to do that. Finding out that the conservative GOP backs not only no abortions, but no birth control as well was a real shocker to some. People only listen to those parts of the message that sound good and gloss over the parts they find difficult. But Santorum has really laid it on the line what he really wants. I don't want any of your Religious doctrine governing my personal freedom.
From another Poster, sorry I cannot giver credit:
Santorisms:
Do you know another gaffe that flew under the radar for people about Santorum? He owns apartment properties around Penn State, and rents to students. Now, this isn't bad on its own. However, this information was made public after his rant about college, and after his statement about the federal student loan program.
This is the thing, a good majority of students in college these days rely upon the federal student loan program to be able to afford college. These student loans not only cover tuition, books, and fees, but they also provide money for housing.
Yup. Rick Santorum is receiving rent income from students who get money from the federal student loan program to pay for their housing. Ironic, isn't it?
To me it is real simple. If churches want government to stay out their business, then Churches should stay out of politics! If you are a tax exempt religion, then you are not contributing to the general welfare of our Country. Until you do, stay out of politics!
None of the GOP canidates could hold a candle to anything. It is time to find a new canidate that will truly represent the GOP and the United States. Along with the people if the GOP wants to put the hammer to Obama. Obama sucks.
Santorum would know about that. While he duped the Pennsylvania voters into believing he resided in PA, he actually resided in Virginia.
If Romney wasn't such a flip-flopping, pretender of being "a regular" guy, when he's really a wealthy elitist, then he might pull off the presidency. He is not "real" in many senses.
His verbal gaffes, poorly managed campaign, plastic mannerisms, homes in 5 states and out of touch affect make him look unreal.
He manages to pay little taxes compared to his vast wealth (via tax sheltered off-shore accounts) - so unlike most average Americans.
Yup, the best presidency campaign money can buy!
If i had this guys cash i would have 50 home states.
I don't see Santorum's comments about "5 home states" as about "being rich". I see it as being "calculating". Romney has been trying to get into politics most of his life. He buys real estate to benefit himself in a race. (Example: The REPUBLICAN Governor of Massachusetts needs to seem "more conservative", so he goes and buys a place in New Hampshire.) He's got places in the East, now he needs places in the West (California). It's a game!
Romney will do anything to get an edge, and it's hurting him in the long run b/c he can't commit to anything!
Real estate is a way to park and protect your money outside of the banking system. Many people of means do this. Up until the real estate bubble burst, it was a better investment than the stock market. There is nothing wrong with this practice. It would be wrong to tell people what to do with their own money, or how to spend it. Professional athletes, actors, and entertainers blow through their money because they do not manage it wisely. But most wealthy people I know are very frugal, and are careful in their purchases and investments.
slimjane, I get that. He can do what he wants with his money. I'm just noting that this guy is working hard to be President using image (5 home states) and trends. He hasn't had an opinion that's stuck more than an election cycle.
Uh I doubt he buys property to get as foothold, that is just silly.
I own 8 homes too, most are in vacation areas, I use them, I rent them out, I trade them with friers who have the same...we rarely stay in hotels except in cities. They have been good investments, all but my primary home are owned free and clear. I will probably buy more. (FYI I am a democrat)
Nothing wrong with investing in Real Estate. I started by accident, but now between my property and my friends I basically have 20 vacation homes all over the US, Central America and even in Europe. They cost me nothing with the rental income.
I am not a Romney fan, but give up this little fantasy of yours