GOP Candidates Attack Santorum’s Record as Senator
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Image Credit: Chris Carlson/AP Photo
Some Republican presidential candidates today turned their attacks on Rick Santorum’s congressional voting record, hoping to portray the former Pennsylvania senator as a classic Washington insider as he picks up a head of steam in Iowa caucus polling.
“If you look at the spending issue, Sen. Santorum voted for the bridge to nowhere,” Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., said on “Fox News Sunday.” “Santorum has stood for earmarks, stood for spending.”
Tea Party conservatives and President Obama have long characterized the process of “earmarking” as a wasteful and sometimes corrupt. Lawmakers have used the earmarking process to divert money to moneyed interest at the local level but some, such as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., still defend the practice as a way to encourage cooperation in a divided Congress.
Santorum, a self-proclaimed fiscal conservative, defended his decision to divert money to Pennsylvania today while on “Meet the Press.”
“I don’t regret going out at the time and making sure that the people of Pennsylvania, who I was elected to represent, got resources back into the state after spending money,” Santorum said.
But multiple GOP contenders renewed attacks today on his voting record, a bet that spending earmarked for Pennsylvania would not play well in the Iowa presidential primary.
“Why was it important to vote for a Montana Sheep Institute?” Gov. Rick Perry said on “Fox News Sunday,” referring to another Santorum vote.
But many politicians, including Perry, have benefited from earmarks when accepting money from Washington through the appropriations process in the Congress. Perry has accepted such projects as governor of Texas but today attributed his decision to accept money to a system controlled by Washington.
“That is the process that they put in place in Washington, D.C. And I will tell you that the reason that states have to go up there and play that game is because Washington is broken,” he said.
Santorum, while defending his choice to appropriate money back to Pennsylvania, does regret some votes. “I’ve made some mistakes,” Santorum said on CNN earlier this week.
“For example, you know, I talk all the time about having voted for No Child Left Behind. And, you know, it was a mistake. You know, it was a … a dumb thing to vote for because it gave more federal control over education, which was something that, you know, I didn’t advocate for, but I voted for.”
Also at issue is his 2003 vote to extend Medicare drug benefits to seniors, a vote that some fiscal conservatives have come to characterize as irresponsible. Santorum admitted to making a mistake on Medicare during a 2011 ”Fox News Sunday” appearance.
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Niether Paul nor RINORomney represent mainstream Republican thought. I hope out of Gingrich, Bachmann, Perry and Santorum at least 2 droput after Iowa so real conservatives have a chance at regaining the party and defeating Obozo.
Posted by: Joe King | January 1, 2012, 5:06 pm 5:06 pm
He told 2 lies this morning on “Meet the Press”. That won’t help him either.
Posted by: bob | January 1, 2012, 5:19 pm 5:19 pm
Sanatorium, LOL
Posted by: Jim Bob jr. | January 1, 2012, 5:25 pm 5:25 pm
R.I.P to the moderates. No one cares about you until the general election comes along. And even then, your voices don’t matter.
Posted by: KmaImprov | January 1, 2012, 5:53 pm 5:53 pm
Isn’t it wonderful standing on the outside looking in while all the Republican candidates bash each other to let us know that none of them are qualified to be president?
ya gotta admit, it’s priceless.
Posted by: Bob Devendrf | January 1, 2012, 6:41 pm 6:41 pm
Watching ABC world news tonight… the lead line… your voice your vote….. excuse me ABC did you forget there is more than one party… this is not my voice nor my vote…..
Posted by: confidential416 | January 1, 2012, 6:42 pm 6:42 pm
hello to every one – hope yous had a good xmas – pity we didnt get snow was all prepared wi sledges kids loving it any ways , all the best for 2012 –
micky buely
Posted by: mickbuely | January 1, 2012, 7:44 pm 7:44 pm
This guy is a joke. He talks about “freedom” but the ONLY freedom he is interested in is corporate freedoms to screw consumers, employees and the planet. Freedom for individuals to make personal choices in their personal lives, forget about it!
Posted by: dan | January 1, 2012, 8:55 pm 8:55 pm
Santorum has a very small chance and is very boring. Not much of a mention about Ron Paul, who in a near tie for first place in the Iowa polls. If you go over to the CNN site, they have a nice video link for all of the candidates… Except Ron Paul! lol. They don’t even try to cover up their disdain for him. This is the most shocking thing about this election cycle – the mass media is trying to manipulate the vote and it does not even care that it is so obvious. They know their power and use it to their advantage. What ever happened to unbiased reporting? Corruption killed the unbiased man.
Posted by: politicsdude | January 1, 2012, 11:13 pm 11:13 pm
All these guys do is slam each other. it’s pitiful.
Posted by: DianaGail | January 1, 2012, 11:19 pm 11:19 pm
All these guys do is slam each other. it’s pitiful. POSTED BY: DIANAGAIL
**********It’s all a sick act. At the end, they’ll all be kissing each others butt,
trying to be on the GOP ticket. Pathetic bozos.
Posted by: michael | January 1, 2012, 11:27 pm 11:27 pm
PROOFREAD ABC! My God! For a multimillion dollar company you can not afford someone to proofread your stories? It drives me crazy. Every Single Story.
Posted by: Educator80 | January 1, 2012, 11:31 pm 11:31 pm
Obama just signed the NDAA – allowing the military to act as a police force that can arrest and indefinately detain american citizens, but the good news is, he did it with ‘regrets.’
So great news about Santorum’s record, he didn’t believe in No Child Left Behind, he just voted for it.
It’s great how these people care so much as to really be in tune with individual liberty and small government- at some non-voting level.
Meanwhile Ron Paul actually votes against this stuff – but isn’t the least bit gifted in his ability to represent himself in words.
But you know what – at this point, Ron Paul is the only choice. I’d love it, if there was an even better choice, but I can’t imagine voting for Santorum – he’s a big government Republican, his only claim to being conservative are his religious views.
On Fiscal policy, he isn’t the least bit conservative.
Posted by: RoboBobo | January 1, 2012, 11:52 pm 11:52 pm
America is”screwed.” The incumbent president is very unpopular. The field of Republican candidates seeking to replace the president are not popular either.
Posted by: NoFlyZone2 | January 2, 2012, 12:13 am 12:13 am
Sanatorium was despised by most of the people in my neighborhood in PA
Posted by: Harry | January 2, 2012, 12:30 am 12:30 am
Wow, ABC. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Congrats on making a surging GOP candidate look bad no matter what (at least trying to). Objectivity??
Oh, back to the 8-’s when ABC was class.
Posted by: cjkosh | January 2, 2012, 6:31 am 6:31 am
The fact is Ron Paul has a 30 year record of upholding individual freedom, rights, liberty, based on the Constitution. He opposes the corrupt over-powered Federal government with things like the privacy invasion of the TSA, the evil Patriot Act, the 4th amendment killing NDAA bill, the internet censorship bill SOPA, the racist and corrupt War on Drugs, and the unjust wars in the middle east.
Ron Paul is the only one fighting against those issues. Ron Paul is the ONLY vote that can beat Obama, pulling votes from dissatisfied Dems, the growing Independent population, and a growing portion of the Republicans. A vote for Paul is the ONLY vote for peace, prosperity and liberty.
Posted by: Mike Ikeo | January 2, 2012, 6:38 am 6:38 am
Didn’t Sanitorium – yeah that’s right – get nailed in 2006 by CREW for being the most corrupt politician in DC?
Posted by: mginva | January 3, 2012, 6:21 pm 6:21 pm