Santorum and Specter - What next... Potus and VP 2012
Posted on 01/15/2012 4:05:06 PM PST by red flanker
Rick Santorum can point to a conservative legislative record and sterling credentials on social and cultural issues. The left hates his guts.
Even so, he’s got a long way to go before he can consolidate conservative support ahead of the Jan. 21 South Carolina primary.
One reason why: Arlen Specter.
Nearly eight years after Santorum endorsed his Pennsylvania Republican Senate partner against a conservative primary challenger, that single act continues to haunt him, an almost unforgivable heresy that lingers uncomfortably in the minds of many conservatives.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
Consider the conservative hating source FRiends.
I’d supported Santorum since the mid nineties.
When he pulled this nearly unforgivable stunt, especially against Pat Toomey, the animosity I felt for him was almost irreversable.
His name felt like poison in my mouth for years.
When it came time to work for him against that empty suit/fraude, Bob Casey Jr., I went to the campaign office and they had no materials. Nice job running a campaign.
But when I look at this field, he’s the best option at this time (with Cain being run out and Bachmann folding her tent), so that’s where I’m throwing my support.
In the Primary, Romney is low on the list.
In the general, ANYONE BUT OBAMA!!!
RICK PERRY would not sell out a Pat Toomey to endorse a rhino.
RICK PERRY 2012
I was hopeful about Santorum. But I have been seeing too much legitimate dirt about him lately. He appears to be just as much a Rino as everyone else who is running. No Thanks. Sad that we could not get one real conservative on the ballot.
Specter should have been put on a boat and sent back to Scotland.
Any Rick thread starts a battle of the Ricks and the ulitmate battle for 3rd or maybe 4th place.
Bingo! This is a hit piece aimed at sowing doubt in Conservative minds.
There are no perfect candidates. Santorum is quite acceptable to me and I’ll take him ahead of anyone else running.
Anyone who did not vote for John McCain on principle may cast the first stone.
So, who's campaigns has Rick Perry worked with in the past?
Please see my post at #9.
already voted for him in FL..........
anybody but obama...
I’m not a Santorum guy but for those who vote social conservative first to hold his few transgressions against him seems off. He’s 99.9% of what they’d want (not small government enough for me). I guess a few issues are easier to highlight vs. dozens for Newt and legion for Romney.
You must not know the story of how R. Perry in 2004 undercut TX Supreme Court Associate Justice Steven Wayne Smith, a leading opponent of affirmative action. He was doing that at the same time Santorum stood with Specter.
Its ironic that the same guys who spent years trashing Santorum for supporting Specter are now trying to rehabilitate him. But I think its too late. The damage is done.
What A Big Government Conservative Looks Like
NEA
Voted for taxpayer funding of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Voted against a 10% cut in the budget for National Endowment for the Arts.
Bankruptcy
Voted for a Schumer amendment to make the debts of pro-life demonstrators not dischargeable in bankruptcy.
Defense and Foreign Policy
Voted for the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
Voted against requiring the President to certify that the CWC is effectively verifiable.
Voted against requiring the President to certify that that Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, North Korea, China, and all other countries determined to be state sponsors of terror have joined CWC prior to submitting the instrument of ratification.
Voted for the START II Treaty.
Voted to allow the sale of supercomputers to China.
Voted to ban anti-personnel landmines.
Voted against increasing defense spending offset by equivalent cuts in non-defense spending.
Voted to require that Federal bureaucrats get the same pay raises as uniformed military.
Voted to allow food and medicine sales to state sponsors of terror and tyrannical regimes such as Libya and Cuba.
Voted to limit the President’s authority to impose sanctions on nations for reasons of national security unless the sanctions were approved by a multilateral regime.
Voted against requiring Congressional authorization for military action in Bosnia.
Voted to give $25 million in foreign aid to North Korea.
Voted to weaken alien terrorist deportation provisions. If the Court determines that the evidence must be withheld for national security reasons, the Justice Department must still provide a summary of the evidence sufficient for the alien terrorist to mount a defense against deportation.
Voted against delaying the India Nuclear until the President certified that India had agreed to suspend military-to-military exchanges with Iran.
Voted against the Conventional Trident Missile Program.
Nominations
Voted for Richard Paez to the 9th Curcuit (cloture).
Voted for Sonia Sotomayor, Circuit Judge.
Voted for Richard Holbrooke to be Ambassador to the UN.
Voted for Margaret Morrow to be District Judge.
Voted twice for Marsha Berzon to the 9thg Circuit.
Voted for Mary McLaughlin to be District Judge.
Voted for Tim Dyk to be District Judge.
Voted for James Brady to be District Judge.
Labor
Voted against National Right to Work Act.
Voted against repeal of Davis-Bacon Prevailing union wages.
Voted for Alexis Herman to be Secretary of Labor.
Voted for mandatory Federal child care funding.
Voted for Trade Adjustment Assistance.
Voted for Job Corps funding.
Voted twice in support of Fedex Unionization.
Voted against allowing a waiver of Davis-Bacon in emergency situations.
Voted for minimum wage increases six times here here here here here and here.
Voted to require a union representative on an IRS oversight board.
Voted to exempt IRS union representatives from criminal ethics laws.
Voted against creating independent Board of Governors to investigate IRS abuses.
Guns
Voted to require pawn shops to do background checks on people who pawn a gun.
Voted twice to make it illegal to sell a gun without a secure storage or safety device.
Voted for a Federal ban on possession of “assault weapons” by those under 18.
Voted for Federal funding for anti-gun education programs in schools.
Voted for anti-gun juvenile justice bill.
Reform
Voted for funding for the legal services corporation.
Voted twice for a Congressional pay raise.
Voted to impose a uniform Federal mandate on states to force them to allow convicted rapists, arsonists, drug kingpins, and all other ex-convicts to vote in Federal elections.
Voted for the Specter “backup plan” to allow campaign finance reform to survive if portions of the bill were found unconstitutional.
Voted to mandate discounted broadcast times for politicians.
Voted for a McCain amendment to require state and local campaign committees to report all campaign contributions to the FEC and to require all campaign contributions to be reported to the FEC within 24 hours within 90 days of an election.
Immigration
Voted against increasing the number of immigration investigators.
Voted to allow illegal immigrants to receive the earned income credit before becoming citizens.
Voted to give SSI benefits to legal aliens.
Voted to give welfare benefits to naturalized citizens without regard to the earnings of their sponsors.
Voted against hiring an additional 1,000 border partrol agents, paid for by reductions in state grants.
Taxes
Voted against a flat tax.
Voted to increase tobacco taxes to pay for Medicare prescription drugs.
Voted to increase tobacco taxes to fund health insurance subsidies for small businesses.
Voted to increase tobacco taxes to pay for an $8 billion increase in child healh insurance.
Voted to increase tobacco taxes to pay for an increase in NIH funding.
Voted twice for internet taxes.
Voted to allow gas tax revenues to be used to subsidize Amtrak.
Voted to strike marriage penalty tax relief and instead provide fines on tobacco companies.
Voted against repealing the Clinton 4.3 cent gas tax increase.
Voted to increase taxes by $2.3 billion to pay for an Amtrak trust fund.
Voted to allow welfare to a minor who had a child out of wedlock and who resided with an adult who was on welfare within the previous two years.
Voted to increase taxes by $9.4 billion to pay for a $9.4 billion increase in student loans.
Voted to say that AMT patch is more important than capital gains and dividend relief.
Welfare
Voted against food stamp reform.
Voted against Medicaid reform.
Voted against TANF reform.
Voted to increase the Social Services Block Grant from $1 billion to $2 billion.
Voted to increase the FHA loan from $170,000 to $197,000. Also opposed increasing GNMA guaranty from 6 basis points to 12.
Voted for $2 billion for low income heating assistance.
Waste
Sponsored an amendment to increase Amtrak funds by $550 million.
Voted to use HUD funds for the Joslyn Art Museum (NE), the Stand Up for Animals project (RI) and the Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Project (WA).
Voted to increase spending on social programs by $7 billion.
Voted to increase NIH funding by $1.6 billion.
Voted to increase NIHnding by $700 million.
Voted to for a $2 million earmark to renovate the Vulcan Monument (AL).
Voted for a $1 billion bailout for the steel industry.
Voted against requiring that highway earmarks would come out of a state’s highway allocation.
Voted to allow Market Access Program funds to go to foreign companies.
Voted to allow OPIC to increase its administrative costs by 50%.
Voted against transferring $20 million from AmeriCorps to veterans.
Voted for the $140 billion asbestos compensation bill.
Voted against requiring a uniform medical criteria to ensure asbestos claims were legitimate.
Voted to increase community development programs by $2 billion.
Spending and Entitlements
Voted to make Medicare part B premium subsidies a new entitlement.
Voted against paying off the debt ($5.6 trillion at the time) within 30 years.
Voted to give $18 billion to the IMF.
Voted to raid Social Security instead of using surpluses to pay down the debt.
Health Care
Voted to allow states to impose health care mandates that are stricter than proposed new Federal mandates, but not weaker.
Voted twice for Federal mental health parity mandates in health insurance.
Voted against allowing consumers the option to purchase a plan outside the parity mandate.
Education
Voted to increase Federal funding for teacher testing.
Voted to increase spending for the Department of Education by $3.1 billion.
Voted against requiring courts to consider the impact of IDEA awards on a local school district.
Energy
Voted to allow the President to designate certain sites as interim nuclear waste storage sites in the event that he determines that Yucca Mountain is not a suitable site for a permanent waste repository. Those sites are as follows: the nuclear waste site in Hanford, Washington; the Savannah River Site in South Carolina; Barnwell County, South Carolina; and the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee.
Voted to make fuel price gouging a Federal crime.
It will then be up to you Floridians to finish Mendacious Mitt and put Rick over the top.
Supporting Specter WAS unforgivable heresy. He supported one his senate buddies over the cause of conservatism. He fell for the “he’s a safe republican vote” nonsense. And when Specter was re-elected, he predictably stabbed conservatives in the back. We would have more conservatives on the courts if he hadn’t been chairman of the Judiciary committee.
Specter did everything in his power to halt conservatism. And Santorum helped him.
Of all the candidates, I like Santorum the least, and not just for the Specter episode. I have decided I will unenthusiastically vote for him in the general. I will not vote for him in the primary.
We were telling the Purity Caucus not to go down that road because that machine will be turned on someone they assumed to be without sin.
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