Des Moines, Iowa — I’ve been getting some great emails this morning (keep them coming), but the ones that stand out have shared a theme. In short, a few readers have said, “Look, Bob, we like Santorum, but I can’t get over his endorsement of Specter,” or his “support for earmarks.” Here’s one example:
I lived in PA’s 18th Congressional district in 1990 when Santorum shocked western PA politics by beating incumbent Doug Walgren. He did it with hard work and lots of “retail politics,” whatever that is. Although I thought Santorum was way too hot and boastful in every debate this fall, I always thought he would surprise in Iowa because of his sheer doggedness.
I campaigned for Toomey in 2004, and never forgave Santorum for undermining him as a favor to Specter. Evidently, a lot of my fellow PA conservatives felt the same way in 2006. I simply didn’t vote in the US Senate race that year. Pundits [can] never understand what a total sense of betrayal we early supporters of Santorum felt in 2004. That 2006 18-point shellacking Santorum experienced was his penance. Despite that, I never felt Santorum fully addressed his betrayal of the voter as he seemed to think his loyalty was to Specter.
There is a long way to go in this GOP race, but I would not count Santorum out. I never thought I would say this, but I admire the man’s determination and might even vote for him again. He doesn’t need to grovel or beg forgiveness, just admit he was wrong and say the people of PA were right, as they replaced Specter with Toomey in 2010. He also needs to say he will never again put his loyalty to a political colleague above that of we, the people.
I can forgive Santorum about Spector. It was a deal to get better supreme court justices and it did help get us Alito.
It is Santorum's big government conservatism that gives me pause. External Link
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI didn't envy Santorum's position regarding Spector. Either campaign for Specter or have Specter block judges.
The real culprit is whoever or whatever flawed processed that allowed Specter to become head of the Judiciary Committee.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbusePro-abortion Arlen Spector to Pro-life Santorum he would not block Alito if he got the "indispensible" endorsement of Santorum over PA's Pat Toomey?
Wow, Spector comes cheap. Ditto the principled integrity of his fed earmark crony Santorum.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseGoodbye to Goldwater
Rick Santorum's Republican crusade for big government.
As Goldwater repudiated Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon, so Santorum repudiates Goldwater and Ronald Reagan. It's now official: Philosophically, the conservative movement has split. Post-Santorum, tax cutting and court bashing cannot hold the Republican coalition together much longer.
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Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSantorum is at least as stubborn about the Specter endorsement as Romney is about Romneycase. If Rick ''fessed up, he would disgust me less.
Also, I never get the apology that the deal helped "get us Alito". First, that position presupposes that Toomey would have lost. Second, it ignores that Specter was the deciding vote for many monstrosities, including Obamacare.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseBeing a life-long Pennsylvanian and following all the elections (up until a few years ago) very closely, I can tell you there is much less chance that we would have Toomey as a Senator today if he had defeated Specter in the 2004 primary.
The reason for the "get us Alito" line is that Specter could have shutdown Alito's nomination as was his wont. That was the deal most believe Santorum extracted from Specter.
Also, without Spector's endorsement during the 1994 election he would have lost to liberal Harris Wofford.
Read Michael Barone on Why Santorum Endorsed Specter here:
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Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI find it hard to get by even just the mandatory national public service for all thing, let alone the rest of it.
Americorps-type thinking is bad enough when it's just a boondoggle providing paid vacations for a handful of liberal college students. Universalizing it and making it mandatory is nuts.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSantorum has a horrible voting record. It's not conservative. Of course he endorsed Specter. Santorum is a big government GOP politician. Why wouldn't he do what's politically expedient?
If the choice is between Romney and Santorum it's a no brainer. Pick the executive.
I'm depressed with this match-up.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe obvious choice is picking the flip flopping liberal who has some executive experience. If you have a problem support Santorum's voting record, how could you possibly support Romney who has voted at one time or other on every issue the left has supported.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseRick needs to say: "As President, I will not get involved in Republican primaries."
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThat is all I expect - but I do expect it. Until then, I'm still considering other options.
Alito was nominated in November 2005. How can Santorum take credit for facilitating Alito nomination and approval? That sounds like spin to me.
It was likely more the fact that Republican Senators regard other Senators (even Democrats) like one of a Band of Brothers. The problem being is that Democrat Senators are more like the German machine gunners on the cliffs, not the fellow dog face on the beach. Amazing how the 'Pubbies miss that.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe Spector endorsement ought to be a PLUS for those who beleive in strenghtening party. How come the moderate wing never supports the more conservative candidate at the same rate as the other way around?
Does anyone believe that Santorum endorsed his fellow PA senator based on anything but party loyalty and to have one more GOP senator in a closely devided senate? Yet how many of the more moderate folks returned the favor when Santorum ran?
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"He doesn't need to grovel...just admit he was wrong and say the people of PA were right."
When has sanctimonious weasel Rick Santorum EVER admitted he was wrong or his critics right?
? ?
"I admire the man's determination..."
Lyndon La Rouche, Na dar, & George Wallace were determined too. Santorum might as well be too. Save for his profession as a Newt-like lobbyist he has nothing else to do.
"Maybe I'll vote for him again."
Too bad the rest of the country won't. Women, independents, & many conservatives no likey smug unyielding zealots deficit charisma, executive experience, or private sector accomplishments who brag they sponge "Bridge To No-Where" earmarks, will bomb foreign nations willy-nilly, strongly advocate "Intelligent Design" in public schools, and want to ban contraceptives because it's "a licence to do things in a sexual realm counter to how things are supposed to be".
That's not what 2012 will be about.
America's taxpayers don't like D.C. elite's who promote Big Gov't boondoggles while conning residency to misappropriate $73,000 out of their pocketbooks, either.
As the good citizens of PA have made clear. To know Santorum is not to love him.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseRick crashed nearly 20 points last time around & hasn't been re-elected to public office since. Ditto Team Obama & their MSM will make it their #1 priority that America know Santorum well.
Every political candidate has bad endorsements on their record. It's a pretty silly thing to still hold against a guy seven years later.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI agree. There are some good reasons not to like Santorum, but this isn't one of them. People are looking to hold a grudge.
And it all worked out in the end - Spector's gone and Toomey's in the Senate.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI'm not a Santorum supporter but let's cut him some slack on the Spector endorsement. The two were colleagues in the Senate. For all I know, they worked closely with each other and Santorum personally admired or liked Spector. Perhaps they were friends; I don't know. But I would never expect Senator A to go out and campaign against a colleague (Senator B) of just because the challenger might better reflect the views of Senator A than Senator B. I actually give Santorum credit for deciding that despite Spector's more liberal leanings Santorum would stick with him (assuming it was done for personal reasons - friendship, collegiality, etc. - and not some political deal). It would show he values something higher than political victory of his preferred policy proposals.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt would show Santorum values Washington insider cronyism over conservative principles & loyalty to the country.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbusePeople I know who have known Santorum tells me he is as nice a guy as one could hope to know - even pro-choice Republicans tell me this. His appearance in the debates to date has been strident and whiny, but when they show him campaigning in Iowa I see the person my friends tell me he is.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI support Romney and hope he is the next president - primarily because we need a big UNDO and if it is not done and done carefully we won't be the same country ten or even five years from now.
Santorum is the perfect candidate of some - hard core pro-life and anti-gay marriage and government help for all - even if we have to borrow from non-Americans or run a printing press in the government basement. I just don't think he understands that we can't keep running the deficits at the same rate as now.