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Subscribe to RSSThe Daily Rundown's Chuck Todd talks about Rick Santorum's comments to a crowd of supporters, in which he said President Barack Obama is better than Mitt Romney.
SAN ANTONIO, TX -- Rick Santorum today suggested it would be better to stick with President Obama over a candidate that might be "the Etch A Sketch candidate of the future” -- a shot at chief rival Mitt Romney.
"You win by giving people the opportunity to see a different vision for our country, not someone who’s just going to be a little different than the person in there," said Santorum. "If you’re going to be a little different, we might as well stay with what we have instead of taking a risk with what may be the Etch A Sketch candidate of the future.”
For the second day in a row, the former Pennsylvania senator brought an Etch A Sketch on the trail as a prop to remind voters of Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom's response to a question about whether Santorum is pushing Romney too far right to win over moderate voters in a general election. "Well, I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes," Fehrnstrom said Wednesday on CNN. "It’s almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and restart all over again."
The comment gave plenty of ammunition to Santorum and Newt Gingrich, both of whom have made the well-known children's toy a staple of their stump speeches.
Speaking at the USAA headquarters here, Santorum showed optimism about his chances in the delegate rich state of Texas. He told the crowd the primary would not be over by the time the Lone Star State votes on May 29.
"It's the second-biggest delegate prize, and you're going to have an important role. This race will not be over when Texas is coming around," he said.
Santorum's viability hinges on picking up a majority of the 155 delegates that will be up for grabs here. When asked about his path to the nomination, Texas plays a key role.
Still, the GOP hopeful avoided calling on Newt Gingrich to leave the race, though senior campaign advisers have said the former House speaker remaining in the race is cutting into their vote totals and that they would like to receive the former House speaker's support.
Santorum said his campaign has been in contact with both the Gingrich and Romney campaigns, though he declined to give specifics of the conversations.
"I’m worried about being a candidate. I’m not worried about anything else right now,” Santorum told reporters who asked about the nature of the conversations.
Accompanying Santorum on the trail today was billionaire-backer Foster Freiss, who is a chief contributor to the pro-Santorum Super PAC Red, White and Blue Fund. They will attend a fundraiser in Dallas on Thursday afternoon.
*** UPDATE *** The Romney camp responds with this statement from the former Massachusetts governor: “I am in this race to defeat Barack Obama and restore America’s promise. I was disappointed to hear that Rick Santorum would rather have Barack Obama as president than a Republican. This election is more important than any one person. It is about the future of America. Any of the Republicans running would be better than President Obama and his record of failure.”
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...And the GOP Clown Car continues its aimless, feckless journey towards The Cliff. The cream pies they were throwing last week have turned into mud pies. That's why all the Righties on this vine have their knickers in a twist...because they have no idea which Clown will be getting the nomination! Meanwhile, the Bloody Clown Battle is fantastic entertainment for all of us Obama supporters on the left!
Must...buy...more...popcorn....
Rick I want to thank you and Gingrich for staying in the race. I sincerely hope you both go all the way to the convention and that you continue in your honesty to tell the American public that Obama is the best and only choice for president. You are doing the right thing Rick keep up the good work.
Finally some one gave Santorum an intelligent pill.
I never imagined the GOP primary would be so much fun. These dopes are destroying what left of Republican credibility. The independents are so turned off by their juvenile antics that it looks like an Obama landslide. Keep in mind the Democrats haven't really started to campaign yet. The GOP clowns are their best endorsement. I can hardly wait to see the the DNC ads, depicting Romney for the flip flopping phoney he is.
Already starting to see the ads from the super PAC's. Just a bunch of tape of Romney saying that he'll get rid of Medicare.
It's gonna get interesting when all of the things considered off limits in Republican on Republican debates becomes entirely relevent in a Democrat on Republican debate,,,,,,,,,Birth control, Women's rights, Minority suppression, Workingclass rights, War, How does Mitt Romney run on job creation when in fact he destroyed a hundred jobs for every single one he created,,,,,,Jobs Jobs Jobs, Economy Economy Economy isn't a good path when in fact we've had 2 years of steady growth in both.
Obama has facts and non-partisan numbers on his side, So far Republicans have FOX entertainment rhetoric, fearmongering, and billionaires on theirs.
Iowa, I want to see how he handles supporting the Blount amendment. Talk about pissing off the soccer moms. Women I know, who don't even follow politics, are seething with rage for all Republicans. This is election is going to be a rout for Obama.
The problem isn't Rick Santorum saying it, The problem is that 10's if not 100's of thousands of Republicans are thinking the exact same thing, Considering the quality of the Republican nominees this could be a catastrophy for the GOP, Not done by Democrats, Not pushed or even suggested by Democrats, This IS what the Republican party is becoming and the voters DO NOT like what they see.
These guys should be the family outcast not the Republican party leaders!!!
I'm thinking that this could very well end up working in Romney's favor.
If Santorum's comment angers enough Republicans he may have just handed Romney the nomination.
Before this I didn't actually think Romney could get to the 1144 and the Republicans would end up in a brokered convention where hopefully cooler heads pull in a real candidate to run against Obama.
The main selling point for voting for Obama right now is that if any of these jokers that are running to the Republican nomination get in the White House our country is in for some very bad times.
I see it a little differently,,,,,,,,,,MANY Republicans are unhappy with any of their choices and between Santorum saying this and Romney saying things ARE better under Obama's policies,,,,,As an Inde I know I'll be voting for Obama, But what happens if 1/4 of the Republican voters also vote for,,,,,,,,Obama??
Well Bo the country will be BANKRUPT as we can NOT bail ourselves out like GM OR THE BANKING SYSTEM.
So with that said hope you are ready for $10 a gallon gas and higher energy cost to support people like SOLYNDRA and the rest of OBUMMERS puppet masters.
The country can NOT get any worse than UNDER DEMORAT CONTROL
Hahahaha,,,,,,,Gasoline was $1 higher during Bush's last Summer in office than it is now. With record production in the USA and Canada it will be pretty tough to disguise the normal artificial inflation of having a Democrat in office during an election year.
The country can NOT get any worse than UNDER DEMORAT CONTROL
Well, there you are wrong. I know that all Republicans seem to have memory problems lately but how can you forget that the country has already been worse under Republican control! George W. Bush and Republican majorities in both houses of Congress rode this country to the brink of ruin. And not one Republican candidate can come up with any plan other than doing exactly what Bush and his Republican cronies did to ruin us.
We are slowly recovering from the ill effects of the last Republican leadership and I, for one, do not wish to to give Republicans a chance to repeat it. I will be voting a straight Democratic ticket this Fall.
Wow the GOP field is so bad they will not support each other lolololololololol
so sorry, there is not a Republican candidate that I would trust the future of our country to or a democrat for that matter. to bad they don't print ballots with a "none of the above" box on them. no one has addressed the income tax problems, social security, illegal immigration, or the over zewalous cuts in military spending. while the US has the most technologically advanced military in the world sometimes you have to "put boots on the ground" to get the job done. we should be able to do this without activating guard or reserves who lack the training that the regular military has, or the mental commitment that combat requires.
Just when I thought it was safe to believe in a possible candidate, Santorum, he is definitely out of here! Gingrich and Santorum are looking more like a couple of cry babies and I'm wondering is this really all that the Republican party has to offer? Romney at least is trying to be positive. Whether he can get that clunk head obama out of office is still a concern, but seriously Santorum and Newt need to go back to their playpens and get their diapers changed cause they stink!
obama better than Romney....no way!!! This Country needs to be given back to the people and the people of this county need to feel like Proud Americans once again!
NO obamacare that will destroy the ecomony even more than anyone of us can imagine....wake up folks before we make a mistake that will be with us forever!
I'm sure all the Founding Fathers are turning over in their graves at this moment of history...I was born and raised in this country but this is a very sad time for all of us.
No, It is not very sad for all of us, Some of us think it is hilarious that the Republican party cannot come up with one even semi-acceptable candidate, These guys are CLOWNS plain and simple,,,,,,,The family values candidate has cheated on every wife he has had and abandoned both in their time of need, The Business exec candidate has destroyed 100 jobs for every job he has created and ranked almost dead last in job creation as Governor. The morals and religon candidate admitting he has had a porn addiction and disavowing ANY other Religon than Christianity,
No it is only a sad time for you Limbaugh fed Republicans. How does it feel to have your dog lick his own ass?
I think it is great you Republicans are banging one another in public so much for morality. HA! HA! HA!
Romney will start breakinbg up the country into pieces and selling them to the highest foreign bidder. That's his specialty.
You do not speak for me! I was born and raised in this country, too. Stop getting upset and live with the fact that there is no repub candidate worhty enough for the Presidency. I am now resigned to the fact that we will have Democrat for President for another 4 years. Accept it and move on!
He is just saying if it is not him then this country is in a world of $hit NO MATTER WHO IS IN OFFICE.
HE is just trying to get the REPUBLICANS Stirred up to vote for him.
No you can;t twist this one with a republican lie. He said Obama is the best choice.
Suck it up and accept it you Republicans are cannibals!!!!!!!!
Romney said it months ago when he admitted the economy was actually improving, Jobs were being created, spending was being cut
It is so nice to see the Republican supporters running to the river to clean their shorts.
HA! HA! HA! First their insane garbage spewer Rush Limbaugh the guy who beat his maid and stole her drugs loses almost all his support and hopefully will be off the air soon forever.
Now Santorum tells his supporters to back Obama because he is the best choice.
Rick you only have one last comment to make that will clean up America and the political system.
Rick being that you are an honest church going individual who like George Washington would never tell a lie.
You must tell the Gop to dump Boehner, Ryan and all tea party perverted freaks and definately get rid of all the republicans currently in office that has spent the last four years screwing over Obama.
You must and have to in good Christian conscience help replace these bottom feeding Republican scumbags with good solid right minded Democrats.
THE GOP FINALLY HAS AN HONEST MAN IN THE RACE. THANK YOU RICK SANTORUM!!
Yes he is saying he is BETTER THAN OBUMMER.
Anyone can see that.
At what?? LOL,,,Santorum was voted out of office for his incompetence
It is truly sad that Santorum is acting like a liberal and giving himself a black eye. Politics have really become low on the chart for professionalism by both the Democrats and Republicans. I have never seen anything like what has been going on in the GOP campaign. From Reid holding bills to be voted on and Bohener being a traitor to the Republican party, politics have gone to the dogs. These people make a career out of lying, cheating, steeling, and looking out for their own self preservation. They ALL have forgotten or never learned, that they were put in office by the American citizens. They are suppose to be working for the better good of all Americans. If you first go into office honest, you are taught how to be apart of the good ole boys society and become one of the crowd. A total fake of a person. All politicians should be voted out of office and a new Congress should emerge. Our government is not what our Constitution is about! Start in November for a total change of our government.
They have no clue what is better for the rest of american they can not see past there own NOSES. That are thumbed up at everyone else, because we are not as good of people as they are.
They have a diluted vision of america.
Hmmm...radicals - on the left or the right - usually hate those within their own midst, with whom they disagree, more than their nominal opponents. People like Santorum consider people like Romney, traitors to the "cause," which may, of course, only be carefully and precisely defined by them.
It's the reason that extremist movements almost always end up in a dictatorship. International communism wasn't destroyed primarily by the West's united stand against it (although that didn't hurt); it was primarily destroyed by an extreme nationalist who feared that if communism went international, he would lose control. That guy was Stalin and the "threat" wasn't western capitalism, it was Trotskyism, within the Communist Party itself.
And, no, I don't think Rick Santorum comes close to Joseph Stalin...just sort of leans that way.
Anyone know how many mormons there are? I was trying to figure out how many votes romney will get.
HOPEFULLY MORE THAN OBUMMER the RACIST. Got to get the BIG SPENDER out of office.
But I see you are to old to care about this country as you will probably not live long enough to see this country destoyed by the FOOLISH SPENDING THIS CLOWN (OBUMMER) DOES.
The only state in which they have a majority is Utah, with 68%. Idaho has 26%. Several Western states have 4-6%; the rest of the states are in single didgets, with most below 1%.
Not ALL Mormons will vote for Romney. Believe it or not, there are Mormons who are Democrats; Harry Reid is LDS. And, many economic conservatives who are NOT Mormons will vote for him...the Reaganomics and supply-siders. Glenn Hubbard, a right-wing economist and Dean of the Columbia University Business School, is a chief Romney economics advisor and served under Bush as Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, from 2001 to 2003, and played a significant role in formulating the Bush tax cuts.
In 2006, he faded into semi-obscurity and joined a think-tank working on a project for the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank...presumably using Bush's Texas connections and getting out of Dodge before the crash. Personally, I'd contend - based on personal research - that the Bush Administration saw what was coming in 2006 and began changing the deck chairs on the Titanic. Greenspan retired. Paulson took over as Secretary of Treasury. Shelia Bair was appointed head of the FDIC. Etc.
There is substantial circumstantial evidence that the reason the Bush tax cuts were NOT repealed following 9/11 was a combination of: 1) political fear of losing a second term, as Bush Senior did when he raised taxes; 2) economic philosophy of Reaganomics, which Bush and his advisors believed in; and 3) the believe that the wars would be short and inexpensive. To ensure domestic economic growth, the Administration began pushing an "Affordable Housing Program" to develop, build and sell 5.5 million homes in ten years, in June 2002. The subprime housing boom took place between 2003 and 2006.
Basically, what we will get under a Romney Presidency is very similiar to what we got under Bush...although I assume they would try and correct SOME of the mistakes.
P.S. Correction: Hubbard left the Administration in 2004, when he became the Dean of the Columbia Business School. The 2006 participation in the project for the Dallas Fed was in addition to his Business School role. The other 2006 changes did take place, but it more likely that Hubbard simply left after Bush's first term than in the sense of running away from what was coming...in 2004 the subprime market was on its way up.
Tumbleweed,
What the f*** is going on in Arizona?
I am from Kansas and it has been going over a cliff since the good Christian Sam Brownback took over. He is doing just what Jesus would do- cut services for the poor so he can hand the money to the rich.
Back to AZ: I LOVE the Southwest and travel there often. However, we now stop at NM. I just can't bring myself to bring any dollars into AZ with all of the craziness going on.
What is going on??? And, why has NM held onto their sanity, but AZ seems to be going adrift?
I'm a republican in a democrat county. I despise obama, but KNOW he is going to be re elected.
My party doesn't want obama defeated. If they did they would have put someone up that could beat him.
So, justsaying, you would vote in someone that is #1, a cult member and #2 has ties on both sides of a border we are trying to close?
Got to get the BIG SPENDER out of office.
We already did: Bush is gone! Now we gotta concentrate on the rest of the big spenders - Boehner, McConnell, Cantor, Kyl and all the other Republicans who voted 7X to increase the debt ceiling under Bush but drove the US to the brink of default when Obama tried to increase it once!
shame;how? santorum;have the nerve to make knows; frame =on mitt romney.....
WTF are you trying to say
Oh Carole, I hope you aren't of child-bearing age or you may as well change your last name to Duggar. What you need is a man... wink wink.
This is the only statement from Santorum that I have agreed with. You can bet he is busy figuring out how to spin this one because I am sure he is going to say he didn't bean what he said.
I think he meant what he said I read it as he is BETTER THAN OBAMA.
Do people really believe Santorum is smart enough to be President? I'm beginning to think even GDub is smarter.
Rick ... Im a conservative Republican.
Time to apply your theory on birth control, buddy, It's time to pull out.
Did you know Santorum is Opus Dei. His boys go to an Opus Dei school, His priest and church is Opus Dei and he said that was what guided his desicisions. Look into it. Why isn't the msm reporting this?
Ah...another Papist Accusation. I believe Romney was, at one time or another, a "bishop" in the LDS Church, which has only a lay hierarchy. And, wasn't George Washington a Mason?
Opus Dei is a very dangerous organization. Google it and see for yourself, everyone. Santorum's association with these radicals is reason enough to keep him out of office, any office.
Did you know Santorum is Opus Dei. His boys go to an Opus Dei school, His priest and church is Opus Dei and he said that was what guided his desicisions. Look into it. Why isn't the msm reporting this?
Probably the same reason they're not reporting the 'Newsweek' story about Ricky's wife having an eight year affair with an abortion doctor old enough to be her grandfather. What a bunch of freaks.
This is the craziest bunch I've ever seen the republicans run.
You're so right. I seriously believe they know they can't beat Obama and are saving their 'A' team for 2016.
This IS their "A" team.
The rest of them- from the South Carolina governor and Gov. Chris Crisco and Mitch Daniels are just as crazy. Crisco is a mean, son-of-a bi****.
NONE of them would work for the middle class, they all would try to dismantle Medicare, once again let health insurance companies screw their customers, and they all want to return to the days of back alley abortions and let young women bleed to death. (And they call these beliefs, "pro-life" ha, ha)
the swanp people got them some croks of @!$%# acumin to the buyou. romney santorum and gingrich. they needs to tag um. hahahaha them country boys don't need them kinda croks swimming to close by. WAKEUPAMERICA.
Wow. Just when I think it could not get any worse, one of the GOP-ers opens his mouth and inserts foot. They constantly provide fodder for the public. I watch for the shear entertainment value. This is rich ground for comedians, late night talk show hosts and sketch comedy shows (SNL). I am sure SNL has planned sketches based on the recent comment by Slick Rick. The GOP has really turned on itself and made cannibalism its cause. Goes to show you, ambition without morals and wisdom produces... the present candidates for the GOP! Who needs comedy when you have the present offering of the GOP candidates. I am intrigued, shocked and entertained. Keep it up!
rick you have finally told the truth GOOD BOY
And to think i thought this guy could'nt tell the truth.
Obama/Biden 2012!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The challenge as with any election is having candidates who will not sell us out. It's really too bad that you have to have a lot of money to be considered a candidate these days. The ones who know hardship are the best ones for the job. For the money by the money!
2-faced Mittens is simply an "Off-shore banker's client".
Ricky InSanitarium is simply a religious nutcase who has a war on women shtick!
Both are disgusting.
BTW: Obama/Biden win in 2012! No doubt!!
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