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Subscribe to RSSIn a convention with few reminders of the 2012 Republican primary just a few months ago, Rick Santorum brought everyone back.
The former Pennsylvania senator delivered a somber speech that was more about his personal story than a ringing endorsement of Mitt Romney. It hit on many of the same themes he pushed while pursuing his longshot presidential bid, including family values, marriage and abortion.
Addressing the Republican National Convention, Former Senator Rick Santorum broke from the recurring theme of criticising President Barrack Obama's fiscal policies to emphasize social issues.
In fact, even though Santorum was the first speaker to raise the welfare issue, his allusion to abortion was the best-received line of his speech.
“I thank God that America still has one party that reaches out their hands in love to lift up all of God’s children -- born and unborn -- and says that each of us has dignity and all of us have the right to live the American Dream,” Santorum said to a standing ovation.
On welfare, Santorum, who touted his work on welfare reform in the 1990s, accused the president of trying to “weaken our republic” and acting as if he were “above the law.”
“President Obama’s policies undermine the traditional family, weaken the education system,” Santorum said. “And this summer he showed us once again he believes in government handouts and dependency by waiving the work requirement for welfare.
“I helped write welfare reform; we made the law crystal clear -- no president can waive the work requirement. But as with his refusal to enforce our immigration laws, President Obama rules like he is above the law. America take heed, when a president can simply give a speech or write a memo and change the law to do what the law says he can’t, we weaken our republic.”
Of course, the welfare attack has been widely discredited, and there is still a work requirement for welfare. There also was limited crowd reaction to the attack, which has become a mainstay of the Romney campaign on the trail and in millions of dollars in television ads.
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The repulicans want to get rid of abortion and they want to cut welfare.Who is going to help out the glut of children born if they do outlaw abortion and cut welfare budgets?It's like they are saying,We will make sure you are born,but when ya hit the ground we sure ain't gonna help ya.Poor people don't want to be poor and are not proud of being poor.There is lazy people in all walks of life,not just the poor. The Republicans want you to think that the only reason someone is on welfare is because they are lazy.For the most part that is not the truth.Most welfare receipients are children and people to young or to old to work.Check the facts,come up with your own conclusions.Don't trust what any political party says..........
retired:
From a fellow Nam era VET.Thanks for your, Honest,Faithful, and valiant service. If you are interested.Go to Bureau of Labor Statistics and US Bureau Of Statistics and you WILL----SEE that there are THREE times MORE Whites on welfare than Blacks."WHO" has the most on it is beside the point when NO ONE physically able to WORK should be on it in the first place.It ONCE was exactly that way.The BLASPHEMING God-- Republicans have been spreading that damn lie for 40 years.
MCnasty,
Republican's don't care if women get abortions, we just don't want to pay for them. Perhaps, once liberals get it through their entitlements mind that being responsible is a better answer to unwanted pregnancy and contraception and that government is not the answer for instilling those kind of values in people, maybe there will be fewer unwanted pregnancies... You can argue with me but you would just be arguing for liberal's incapablilties of taking personal responsibilties for themselves... Grow up! This country is in deep financial @!$%#!
Isn't it the republicans who want to cut funding for planned parenthood, you know, the resource that the poor use to keep from getting pregnant?
Mike ... Right on sir! The privatization and voucher-happy ultra right wing 'bible thumping' evangelicals and Tea Party blue bloods and 'powdered wigs' don't seem to understand that the rights of women and the services of Planned Parenthood were fought for over a century ago by Margaret Sanger and others who knew that the poor and the disavantaged had no access to reproductive advice, care and contraception. The holier than thou brain dead Neocons are totally out of touch with reality. No woman wants to get pregnant if she has reasons not to ... but many do not have the financial resources to seek health care on their own. If the GOP actually hate the poor and the minorities so bad, then why would they not insure that venues like Planned Parenthood remain properly funded so that those 'terrible and evil' poor, minorites and disenfranchised would not reproduce themselves so much? They are cutting off their 'blue blood' noses to spite their noble pasty-white faces. Insane...They have to put down the caviar, the Dom Perignon and the Macanudos and get out of their ivory towers, it's a real world out there. Thanks for your post, have a nice evening.
Peace ~
Daniel ... I see you don't ever want to talk about the nearly 8,000 American dead, the 67,700 wounded and disabled, (including my Marine son), and the $3+ Trillion that your fiendish friends Bush and Tricky Dick Cheney cost us with two godamn needless wars in Iraq and 'Afghastystan'. Where is your holy morality and your conscience with that mess that they got us into? For nothing. However ... we sure did have tens of $Billions though to hand off to Cheney 's friends at Halliburton, Kellogg Brown and Root, Raytheon, DHS, Blackwater and a dozen other companies whose CEOs had the inside track to no bid open-ended contracts with that SOB and his 'bought and paid for' hawk friends in Congress. Now those bastards are all smoking Macanudos and sailing luxury yachts around the Cayman Islands, (Mitts favorite haunt), to keep an eye on the tsunami of blood money that they salted away in thier tax-haven bank accounts.
Don't insult my intelligence by saying that there is no money for poor women, minorites and the disenfranchised who need medical advice and reproductive care through organizations like Planned Pareenthood while your smug uber-rich friends in the GOP literally f*****d hard working Americans out of $ Billions of their tax money and are now living high on the hog in some tropical paradise. I wouldn't vote for that thief Romney and his 'bible thumping' little schill Ryan for the town dog catcher if they paid me. You should absolutely be ashamed of yourself for your comments about the poor and the disadvantaged who need medical care. Take off your powdered wig, get off your high horse and get a frigging life! Enough ....
The part of this movie I love the best is where the rupubliking guy says "hey I paid 13% on all those tax returns!" How is this such a close race? Well landslides don't get folks watching television. It's gotta be a horse race or nobody gives a crap. This is all about money....and I got nothing against money, but don't lie about it! Especially to the people who are dying to make sure you stay rich you sorry lying losers.
santorum talks about taking people off of welfare and making them work but he doesn't mention where all of these job's are coming from. sure they can take people off of welfare and watch the crime rate go up. the republicans don't worry about poor people because most of them have money but poor people vote too. that's the trouble with santorum and mitch romney they both let their own personal religious values dictate everything they do. as long as it's good for them they think it should be good for everybody. it's not. i live in santorum's old district in pa and the reason he didn't get re-elected is because he's a two-faced idiot.
~Rick Santorum on Mitt Romney, campaign event in Tennessee, February 2012
Wish he was capable of realizing that the born-already need his care and compassion, also.
The GOP won't admit it but they hate the fact that a black man is President of the US. They just can't stand it..................if only they would tell the truth!!
We all need to remember that what you and I call "lying," the Republicans call "creative nonfiction"!
~Rick Santorum, ABC, March 2012
Bad decision to have Santorum speak. Santorum is a man that is constantly seeking to sleigh imaginary dragons. He loves to talk about family, and how democrats and liberals conspire to destroy families. The rate of divorce among the major religious sects in the U.S. is similar. Catholics and other Christian sects have slightly higher divorce rates than the atheist segment of the population. But you put Santorum behind a dais, and off he goes, spouting nonsense. Santorum should be a principal at a Catholic high school; maybe there he’ll find the illusion of social uniformity he desires. He mentioned presidential memorandums. If presidential memorandums can kill the republic, then the republic already died with Bush/Cheney. Perhaps the most ridiculous statement Santorum made was how the mining and petroleum industries are “stewards of the abundant resources that God has given us.” His cheesy, dramatic, fairy tale rhetoric makes me cringe with embarrassment. I don’t want to hear about a fairy tale reality. I don’t want to hear about how bad the other guy is. I want to hear about a plan. Passing a protection of marriage amendment won’t grow jobs, deal with the cost of healthcare, or provide greater access to affordable higher education. Neither will removing public funding from Planned Parenthood or banning contraceptives and abortion.
Horatio- Great post!!!!!!!~~~~~~
He puts dragons in a sleigh? DUMB!! Shows your level of education and nullifies your stupid ass comments
Horatio...
Nicely said sir ... tell it like it is! The only 'stewards' and 'beneficiaries' of the nation's oil resources are the Koch Brothers, Halliburton and Schlumberger Oil Services, as well as the Big Oil commodites traders working in concert with the Wall Street 'casino boys' who run up the prices to gouge the public at every turn of the screw. Holier-than-thou 'bible thumping' Santorum is a total phony and a schill for the 'Romney/Ryan Corporation' whose only agendas are to insure even greater profits for the Fortune 500 corporations through tax breaks, loopholes and back room deals with the stripe-suited crooks on Capitol Hill. It should be spelled 'Capital Hill' due to the literal army of lobbyists who spread tsunamis of cash and favors at the feet of our bought-and-paid-for Senators and Congressmen. The entire frigging government is so godamn corrupt that it is literally beyond comprehension and way past any ability to get it under control. Regarding Romney the 'magic underwear man' & 'Little Eddie Munster' Ryan, all I know is that I wouldn't vote for those two wolves in sheeps clothing for the town dog catcher if they paid me. Any thinking person can see through those two fakes like a pane of glass. Thanks for your post. Have a nice evening.
Peace ~
The GOP: Where education is referred to as a luxury.
Santorum talks about welfare but he's going to be on the public dole (prime tax-payer-funded healthcare) for the rest of his life, and that includes his family.
Daniel- Really? That worn out tired, and so not true argument, covering people on their insurance,to who they pay premiums with birth control, how is that the government paying for birth control?
There are already laws against federal money paying for abortions! Next?
This big Liberal entitlement problem, we are just coming out of a major economic crisis, where millions lost their jobs, and you GOP/baggers are shocked that more people need help? So what's your answers, cut the programs that so many need, and shame and ridicule the poor and out of work people. Hows that working for you all?
hummbird -
Well put! The totally out of touch 'holier than thou' uber-rich blue-blood ultra right wingers simply have the opinion of "I've got mine ... hooray for me, and f**k you!" You are right... more people need some help because the Bush/Cheney debacle with their $3 Trillion wars and their uncontrolled Wall Street 'casino boys', Banks and Insurance companies put the hard working poor and middle class into the Grand Canyon with lost jobs, homes, equity, savings and health care. The 1% privilidged and rich already have most of the power and 85% of the wealth but that's obviously not enough ... they want 100% and they will scheme and try to get the remainder from the backs of the working poor and the middle class (what's left of it). There is no conscience, no humanity and no empathy for the 312 million Americans who are struggling right now. Frig the 'Romney and Ryan Corporation' and the luxury yacht that those two phony thieves sailed in on. I hope to Hell that their ship hits a godamn iceberg in November and sinks to the bottom of the ocean where it will actually do some good ... as an artificial reef. Thanks for your post.
Peace ~
The willful and persistent repetition of a thoroughly discredited lie tells you all you need to know about the Republican attitude toward voters: they think you are STUPID. And if you buy the lie, you are.
~Rick Santorum, Harvey, Louisiana, March 2012
Democrat idiots are SO pathetic!!! Make me puke.
You might have a medical problem. You should have that looked into. Republican idiots, like you, make me LAUGH!!!
Elitist a**hole. Grow up and grow a brain that works.
America first - oh, hell, why bother....
Demos...you are losers and LOSING!!!
Reminds me, Chris Christie should get on Biggest Loser after all this nonsense about the Repubs winning the White House is over with. Really it's for his own good. I don't want to be a fat-o-phobe, but he has 0 chance of being a Presidential nominee unless he drops a good 100 lbs.
100 pounds? Off which leg?
Santorum's a religious zealot. Borderline nuts.
Right Wing radicals and extremist foolishly think that freedom of speech means you can say ANYTHING you want.For the record.
First amendment to the US Constitution which these narrow minded infidels NEVER read and study:
Freedom of speech is the political right to communicate one's opinions and ideas via speech. The term of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used. In practice, the right to freedom of speech is "NOT" absolute in "ANY" Country and the right is commonly subject to "LIMITATIONS", as with libel, slander, (defamation of character) obscenity, violation and incitement to commit a crime.
Print this off or copy it right wing wack jobs so you will KNOW what you are talking about and STOP listening to Rush Limpig and Fox sux.
The GOP loves those unborn babies but once they are out and need welfare to survive they are screwed.
John:
The Republicans can send ALL of the so called "Welfare Dead Beats" to Communist Red China where THEY sent them ( Jobs)during their 16 year dominance in DC.12 with the Congress, and the first four under Bush.They had dominant control for all of that time to screw the American people and still had marginal power the last four years of Bush.
The American economy will NEVER be what it once was because modern America was built on MANUFACTURING and ALL but a precious few of those millions of Jobs are in an ENEMY NATION.America was NOT built on ANY other countries massive BETRAYAL of their own people like the GREEDY Rich has done the American people after their bought and paid for Politicians passed legislation ALLOWING to do so."SOME" of us keep UP with what those traitors are doing.What they have done is high treason according to the US constitution and Bill of Rights which forbids giving aid, and comfort to the ENEMY.It came on THEIR watch and that's that.There is NO defense, you indoctrinated right wing wackos.And DON'T start your it was the unions shyt.unions did NOT betray the American people.They made concessions after concessions in order to HELP their companies to stay on their feet.You Bastards come on here filled wit rage like a rabid dog spewing your venom and don't KNOW jack shyt about what you are talking about.
So the President does what all Republicans are always crying about, giving the states more control and now they not only make a bald-face lie but disagree?
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/aug/28/rick-santorum/Santorum-Romney-claim-Obama-ending-welfare-work/
Wow, they built an entire speech around this lie.
As an independent, I am looking for an alternative to Obama. He has not done what he said he would do. Lot of excuses, some valid, but there is an issue of trust. However, if the Republican platform is based on obvious lies, such as getting rid of the work requirement for welfare, it appears that they can not provide a valid alternative. I find it even more disheartening that an alleged man of God, like Santorum, can get up and speak what he knows are lies.
There are so many valid, real issues; I do not understand why Republicans can not be honest. I do not understand why they think they need to make things up. Obama has made enough mistakes that they should be ahead by ten points. He has provided many real issues to run on.
I want to vote for a candidate I believe in, rather than voting for the lesser of two evils. Romney has not given me any reason to believe he is the lesser of two evils. BS issues, hiding his past, picking an extreme ideologue for VP, refusing to discuss details of his plans, no transparency in his funding ... none of this makes me comfortable with him. Picking Ryan tells me he will go with far right wing solutions for the economy, which will put us right back in 2008. I can not afford to lose half of everything I have, again.
Steve Good Post.
If the Republicans would have been half as interested in making the country right again as they were about making President Obama fail....we would be out of this recession.
In my opinion that's the reason I claim the Republicans are not fit to govern and do not deserve your vote.
A whole lot of fairly obscene rhetoric here... I hate to point out what a blind man can see, but here goes: It does not matter whom the resident idiot-in-chief cluttering up the White House happens to be (Republithug or Demodummy or whatever). When we have the most absolutely worthless Congress in living memory, NOTHING CAN GET DONE!
It would be nice (at least, logical) if Americans just might pay a little bit of attention to this deficit...
538blog:
Electoral Votes: Obama 298.1 Romney 239.9 (takes 270 to win)
Chances of winning Obama 68.7 Romney 31,3
Popular Vote Obama 50.6 Romney 48.2
I'm from eastern Pennsylvania. Ever wonder why Santorum dropped out of the race just before the Pennsylvania primary? "HIS OWN HOME STATE?" He couldn't win this state if he owned it and offered everybody free rent for a year. WHAT A DOUCHE! Why are we still hearing about this @!$%#? I thought Dick Cheney receiving a new heart was bad enough. Like he really deserves that too.
works for a living ...
Nicely put. And speaking of Tricky Dick Cheney ... he and his thug friends in Congress all get cradle to grave health care, life insurance and everything else, free of charge. Then these crooks have the bald faced audacity to tell hard working poor and middle class Americans who have no health care for themselves or their kids that it costs too much! Since that prick Cheney got in the White House 12 years ago this nations tax payers have kept him alive with untold $millions in medical care, all free, including a temporary heart and a recent transplanted one ...( the only real heart he ever had). All I can say is that I have had a number of people tell me that when he croaks they will make it a definite point to go to Arlington Cemetery to piss on his headstone... and I know that they are hoping that they can do that sometime soon. Thanks for your post.
Peace ~