Rick Santorum agrees more with Chris Christie on national security policy than he does with Rand Paul, but he’s no fan of Christie’s rhetoric on the matter in his recent back and forth with Paul.

“I don’t like Chris’s rhetoric particularly,” Santorum tells National Review Online in an interview. “Christie’s rhetoric is a little harsh, sounds like a Democratic excuse for the policy … using the 9/11 thing was a little over the top in my opinion.”

In July, Christie dismissed libertarians having “These esoteric, intellectual debates,” and added, “I want them to come to New Jersey and sit across from the widows and the orphans and have that conversation.”

Santorum doesn’t agree with the approach to defund Obamacare in the continuing resolution.

“If I was in the senate right now, I’d be in a leadership position, and as a leader, I would see this an important issue to find common ground,” he says. “I don’t think it behooves anyone on our side to have a Republican split on this issue.”

Instead of defunding, he suggested that Republicans push Democrats to suspend parts of Obamacare for a time.

Asked about recent allegations, reported by The Iowa Republican, that Iowa state senator Kent Sorenson had received a check from the Ron Paul campaign to switch his endorsement from Michelle Bachmann to Paul, Santorum bluntly said, “Nothing would surprise me from the Paul campaign.”

Right now, Santorum is splitting his time between running a Christian movie studio and politics.