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Subscribe to RSSRepublican strategist Vin Weber talks about the latest in the GOP nomination race and the upcoming health care battle.
This morning we asked if Rick Santorum had gone too far by saying it would be better to vote for Barack Obama than an Etch A Sketch Republican like Mitt Romney.
Well, Santorum has now tried to walk back the comment -- and he lashes out at the Romney campaign, blaming it for causing the dust up.
"I would never vote for Barack Obama over any Republican and to suggest otherwise is preposterous,” Santorum said in a statement released by his campaign. “This is just another attempt by the Romney Campaign to distort and distract the media and voters from the unshakeable fact that many of Romney's policies mirror Barack Obama's. I was simply making the point that there is a huge enthusiasm gap around Mitt Romney and it's easy to see why - Romney has sided with Obama on healthcare mandates, cap-and-trade, and the Wall Street bailouts. Voters have to be excited enough to actually go vote, and my campaign's movement to restore freedom is exciting this nation. If this election is about Obama versus the Obama-Lite candidate, we have a tough time rallying this nation. It's time for bold vision, bold reforms and bold contrasts. This election is about more than Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, or Rick Santorum - this campaign is about freedom and I will fight to restore your freedoms."
But it was Santorum who said yesterday, "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. 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.”
Newt Gingrich and Romney pounced, with Gingrich saying any of the Republicans running would be better than Obama, and Romney calling Santorum “desperate” and frustrated.
"I want to start with something Rick said tonight that I frankly was very surprised that he said and that I hope he's taking back,” Gingrich said, adding, “I may have some very substantial disagreements with Gov. Romney. There is no doubt in my mind that if the choice was Gov. Romney or Barack Obama, we would have no choice,” Gingrich said. “The danger of Obama is so great that I would hope that every candidate running -- Ron Paul, Gov. Romney and Sen. Santorum – that we would all agree that whoever becomes the Republican nominee, we have one common goal and that is to defeat Barack Obama.”
On Hugh Hewitt’s radio show this morning, Romney said of Santorum, “Desperate polls call for desperate pols.”
He added, “I know that there are a lot of people across the country that are saying we need to consolidate behind the guy who has now weathered, I think there are 38 different contests we've had, if you include all the little islands as well. … I'm sure that the Senator's hearing from some of those people saying hey, let's get going, let's move on and get our nominee ready to go against President Obama. and perhaps he's striking out with frustration from those kind of questions.”
And he went further, accusing Santorum of vanity.
“I'm afraid that Rick increasingly thinks this race is about him,” Romney said. “It's not about him. It's not about me. It's not about a personality. It's about the country. And I'm really disappointed in Rick's statement. Obviously, he endorsed me three years ago when I was running for president. He had no problem calling me a real conservative, a solid conservative. But now that he's in the race, it has become all about Rick.”
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Santorum cannot even see the illogic of his comment....he cannot suggest voters are somehow more excited about Santorum than Romney when Romney has a delegate and voter lead way over Santorum. Santorum just needs to make his case based on policy objectives...and leave the "excitement" to the voters. Santorum's ambition is turning to desperation...and, frankly, it is looking a little pathetic.
Santorum's got it all figured out, he just used the etch a sketch he brought to the rally and pushed his own "reset" button, but Santorum is still going to vote for President Obama.
Obama / Biden 2012
Now, if Santorum votes for Obama, what's to separate him from the rest of the cup in hand entitlement folks and the agenda boys who seek a steady drift to the left and big power intrusion into our lives? Maybe its the presumed intrusive prerogatives of the left where he plans to intrude his theocratic ideals?
where is the entitlement? i pay for ss and medicare with my payroll taxes big oil gets entitlement, banks get em just what are u talking about? working people pay into a lot of programs so when they need them they are there.
TO: TruthandConsequence who wrote:
When you start talking about my pre-paid social security retirement money and my pre-paid Medicare that I have been paying into all my working life, it is YOU who are attempting to interject yourself into MY life because you want to STEAL what does NOT belong to you.
Obviously, if you've paid NOTHING into the program you have NOTHING coming out, so it's actually none of your business since you have NO vested interest in either Social Security OR Medicare!
And when you pry your way into women's lives, it it YOU who are attempting to interject yourself into MY life because you want to CONTROL what does NOT belong to you.
Obama / Biden 2012
American Girl - please be advised that if you are near using it already, Romney has no plan to chop away at YOUR medicare or social security and, if you are young, you have not paid enough into it to call it "yours". The fact is, most retirees, if they live an average life span, will receive more in benefits than they ever paid into it. If these programs are to be self sustaining and not based on continuous Obama dollars, some math must be applied to the future. In their haste to gain votes, Democrats have come to hate math. Romney is experienced in both government and business. he understands the math of success and how to set a proper course. he also understands the complications of government and politics and is far more practiced at actually working across the aisle than obama, santorum or gingrich combined. obama is a leftist who has, since 2010, been forced to work from the middle, Santorum and Gingrich are rightists who are loathe to work from the middle. Romney is a conservative who is focused on the middle - how to restore this great country and bring jobs back for all. he will reject left and right divisiveness to steer a course toward common sense.
I call BS!
If the Romney campaign is planning on erasing everything they have said up to this point and will then hit the "re-set" button, they are basically saying they are planing on lying. Santorian needs to stick to the guns of what he is about. To say that he will accept a liar to be President just because that person is a Republican shows the fundamental problem of his party.
There has been nothing but lies being thrown around in the primary battle. Why should Americans accept this principle that it is OK to lie as long as it gets you elected? If Romney is lying to his right-wing Repulicans, he will lie to all of America if he ever gets to be President.
TO: Seventy-Year Old Guy who wrote:
I kind of took it as he's been lying all along and will continue to do so.
Obama / Biden 2012
If Romney is a liar...he would not have the success he has had in family, faith, business and government. millions have put their trust in Mitt and few have regrets.
OK, so Mitt Romney is successful, but he is still a crooked liar who plundered the businesses in this country for as much as he could as a business shark. The millions you speak of are those he disenfranchised and picked clean. They were voiceless and powerless to stop him. Only a few cronies benefited from dealings with him. His lies are epic and now he's out to devour a nation!
I thought that this teabagger repug primary season was to select a candidate for office. It's turned out to be a contest to see which idiot puts his foot in his mouth the quickest.
I finally figured it out!
The GOP is so in love with President Obama, but must appear to oppose
him, that they are insuring his re-election with their absurd energy, health-care, economic, and tax policies; in combination with their even more ridiculous social engineering policies. How better to insure President Obamas' re-election than to drive members from their own party by telling obvious lies and acting like they're stupid! They will make the last Presidential elections' minority lose most of its support from within their own party. By alienating EVERYONE the GOP gets my vote for being a real crafty bunch of Obama lovers! Thanks GOP.... keep up the good work!
So far in all of the Republican primaries there have been a total of 10,078,519 votes cast in the 29 primaries. With twenty-one states to go republicans have failed to reach one tenth of the 131,032,779 total votes cast in the 2008 Presidential election. If the low turnouts are a sign of the strength of the arguments of the GOP; CONGRATULATIONS President Obama for you will be elected to your second term. The Grand Old Party is done! The handwriting is on the wall... or at least at the ballot booth! Contrast the republican primary voting totals with the 35,029,294 total votes cast in the 2008 democratic primary and you can see that with twenty-one states to go they will have to cast 24,950,775 votes to equal the number of votes cast in the 2008 democratic primary. There is clearly little interest in who will eventually oppose President Obama in the general election. Good luck GOP; seems like your only obligation in this primary is to pick another loser!
You said it Rick. Don't lie. You pulled it back because it didn't sell with your Repubs I get what you mean . It's hard to tell Romney's position from one day to the next. Will he be that different than Obama? Maybe maybe not
Santorum is late to the party. Romney DOES NOT support federal mandates. He DOES NOT support cap-and-trade. He did support the WS bailout, but NOT the way it was done; Santorum would have rolled the dice on a total collapse of the banking sector, I suppose. Romney has posted his alternative to Obamacare, which stresses state control (10th Amendment) and individual control, not federal control. Maybe there would be more enthusiasm for Romney if Santorum quit lying about him.
I literately laughed out loud while reading this. Santorum is far more funny than the late night comics. A laugh riot!
You got that right. There isn't anything else the comics can add. Just repeat what the candidates are saying and it is HYSTERICAL.
The greatest mistake this country made was having any bush-liar as president, including his criminal father.
The entire Planet wold be in far beeter shape today if that bush-bunch and slime like kkkarl rover had never existed.
The greatest danger this Nation, and the entire WORLD now faces, is having any wall-street owned, big-oil friendly, and elitist managed republican as President, EVER AGAIN!!! That, especially so with this cycle's bunch of tt-GOP circus clowns.
The USA needs to purge itself of this facist CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE, called the "GOP", The GOP= GESTAPO ON PARADE~~
Absolutely love the KKKarl Rover! So true dat!!!!!!!!
its time for Santorum to "check in" and start getting those shock treatments and meds...not sure it will do any good though when you are that F*cked Up!
...by outlawing abortion, banning contraceptives provided under government mandated insurance, and proposing a constitutional ammendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
Yeah, that sounds like freedom restoration to me! (dripping sarcasm)
Jeezus - leave that to the Churches to decide if they'll allow traditional weddings. Personally, I feel there is absolutely zero reason tax-paying, law abiding, voting citizens of this country should not be allowed to enjoy the same liberties I do.
Either way, it should not be the federal government's decision to decide what is or is not marriage. Period.
I heard Lil Ricky say that none of them are the right choice, i dont think i misheard that? And then Newtie says if the choice were Gov. Rumnuts or Obama, then we have NO choice! Thank you Mr. Gingerhead! You and Lil Ricky both agree with Obama being the best choice, as do most true Americans! OBAMA/BIDEN 2012
I hadn't actually read the actual Santorum words until this article, and based on all the media hoopla and headlines, I thought Santorum really had crossed a line.
Then I read his words for real, and I'm like, "Really?" There was nothing wrong with what he said. It was a hypothetical, and meant to be interpreted that way. It didn't say he should or WOULD vote for Obama, only that if the person who is voted in is barely any different from Obama, then you might as well just keep Obama. It was a rhetorical comment implying we need change. The media has misled the public in this one, making Santorum look bad where he wasn't absolutely spot on.
How do you make this guy look bad? He looked bad coming out of the gate, got worse as time went on, and is now sticking his foot in his mouth virtually every day, making himself into a complete joke, fool, and parody of himself. How do you make a guy like that look "bad"?
Difference?!; THE Republican Party Is SOLELY RESPONSIBLE For the Terrible Gas Prices. To stall Prez O's economic progress, To INTIMIDATE We Americans into voting for MittTaxPITTANCERommel, TheVomitorium or THEGangrene and begin IndenturedNationalServitude. Would You LIKE working HARD for $3.00P/DAY?? WHILE MittTaxPITTANCE cleared $45,000,000 and paid 13% While WE "little people" paid the balance of his Tax Liability - $8,000,000?! AND! AND!!! NO UniversalNationalHealthCareSystem like our allies have; Even the TowelHeads have national healthcareSystems without being Cleaned out of their money to pay "Monthly HealthCare Premiums". The ceo of UnitedHealthCare took home $128,000,000 for year salary in 2009. There can be NO change with these republicanCrimeCartelSoldiers. Maybe WE Americans should stop and smell the Money before going to the voting booth??
I'm speaking, at the moment, solely about this particular news item. Other things that supposedly have made Santorum look bad have been matters of opinion and personal politics. In this case, however, it is entirely on misrepresentation of the clear meaning of his words.
If you are deaf, dumb, and blind, vote Republicans in 2012. Sadly the deaf, dumb and blind will probably vote Republican, but they sure a play a mean pinball!
Great, now he blames Mitt for putting those stupid words in his mouth, maybe Bush also. "If you don't vote for me, I'll take my ball and play for the other team." Tricky Ricky Sanitorium
I think Rick Santorum was planning to vote for President Obama all along.
Obama / Biden 2012
Looks like Santorum decided to use an Etch A Sketch too.
Obama / Biden 2012
Obama/Biden 2012 - it's a shoe in with the GOP circus.
Little American Girl-724855
They are Backkkkkkkkk... Just like little kids in an shcoll yard, how immature coming from the left and the right, while those in the middle watch and decide who the winners are. Remember boys and girls it is we the Independents that will decide and so far those on the left need to grow up.
i think you meant with obama/biden it is a shoe in the mouth!
TO: Concern Citizen-856329 who wrote:
I'm a registered independent and I say Republicans are not fit to hold public office, and I sure ain't going to vote for any Republican so they can get in and go to work for Grover Nordquist!
Obama / Biden 2012
So, yesterday, Rick said: "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.” The obvious message is, you're better off with Obama than Romney.
And today he's saying: "I would never vote for Barack Obama over any Republican and to suggest otherwise is preposterous,”. So, it sounds to me that he's admitting that he's preposterous, and therefore we should simply disregard what he says. Fair enough. Though I already decided that after his comment regarding higher education.
I think the time is right to round up all the left-wing and other liberal haters, embark them on Navy cargo ships in Miami, pin notes on their shirts they are politically persecuted Americans that want to emigrate to Cuba, where all can suffer equally, then disembark them on landing rafts we wind up and throw onto the beaches of Cuba.
TO: rebelwcause who wrote:
You first, and don't come back.
Obama / Biden 2012
Does this mean that now we have Etch a Sketch on the GOP ticket, too? HAHAHAHA - these candidates are SO incredibly ignorant. They are a train wreck. Just when I think I am getting bored with it all the GOP never lets me down. Thank you Mutt, Sanitarium and Papa Smurf. Oh, and Etch a Sketch. HAHAHAHAHA
The Etch A Sketch toy was invented in the late 1950s by André Cassagnes, in his basement. He called it "L'Ecran Magique", the magic screen. In 1959, he took his drawing toy to the International Toy Fair in Nuremburg, Germany. -Wikipedia
Do you think we can make an exception?
Nobody knows who you Vote for once your in that booth alone....I just know that there is a lot of Closet Obama supporters out there, is Rick one of them? LOL!!
Once more Republicans have to learn that words have consequences.
Boy, here we have another flip flopper, there is actually more than jus Romneys!
click to read my seed.
Interesting santorum says 'restoring freedoms' when everything he talks about is taking more freedoms away.
.
Ricky's idea of freedom is living under the Christian Taliban.
No thanks.
There is no such thing as a "Christian Taliban"...if you are Taliban and need a weak America, then Obama is your man. if you are Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, atheist, wiccan and want to get this economy working again, then Romney is your man - and the Taliban be damned.
TO: TruthandConsequence who wrote:
Sayeth the serpent.
Are we supposed to PRETEND that we don't know that Romney made his millions by buying out businesses that had big employee pension funds, ripping the employees off for their retirement money, laying off American Workers, liquidating the businesses, and then shipping American Jobs Overseas?
Not a chance.
Obama / Biden 2012
Why are Republicans running against Obama, rather than running for the issues that they (supposedly) believe in? Fiscally, I'm very republican, but the horrible tangling of social issues with fiscal issues is why I wouldn't vote democrat, and it's why I can't vote republican since Reagan. It's horribly frustrating. I wan't a businessman to come in and run things like a viable business, making things stable again and leaving the social issues for states to deal with.
You just spelled R-O-M-N-E-Y!
Bazu - the social issues don't matter to but maybe 10% of the GOP. The liberal media applies it to ALL Republicans.
Why? Because they are giving cover to Obama so he doesn't have to run on fiscal issues, energy policy, health care, etc.
Romney is not going to run on social issues at all. Romney is a solid family man so he's got the evangelicals when push comes to shove.
BTW - Reagan was much admired by that 10% for his conviction abortion was wrong. Which he once noted that "the only thing I notice is that all the those who favor abortion have already been born" - which is striking in its simple common sense.
TO: Bazu who wrote:
Because everything Republicans plan to do is harmful to American Workers, and the only folks who benefit from Republicans' "Plan" are already wealthy.
Just take a peek at the Ryan Plan and you'll know why Republicans are NOT openly endorsing it even though they've all signed on.
If the American People knew what Republicans have in store, then Republicans couldn't ever get enough votes to take any office.
Obama / Biden 2012
American girl - your post explains why liberals are the minority party in the U.S. and always will be - no matter how much you pander to your abused workers in the U.S.
At-risk capital supplied by the rich = new ventures that employ the middle class. It is inarguable and the American people know it.
Don't be taken in by the one-time event where a carnival barker fooled the people and got elected President in 2008. He's gone this year.