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Team Romney's Unfair Attack on Santorum
National Review ^ | 3/20/2012 | Guy Benson

Posted on 03/20/2012 12:13:10 PM PDT by Servant of the Cross

First, here's the set-your-hair-on-fire clip about which we're all supposed to be enraged, via Rick Santorum on the stump:

"I don't care what the unemployment rate's going to be. It doesn't matter to me..."

The horror! Rick Santorum doesn't care about the unemployment rate! Except, the former Senator's sentence went on: "...my campaign doesn't hinge on unemployment rates and growth rates. It's something more foundational that's going on." What Santorum was conveying -- albeit terribly ham-handedly -- is that his candidacy is about more than mere economic issues. He's arguing that while Mitt Romney's campaign relies on harnessing and exploiting Americans' transient economic jitters, his own focus is "more foundational." You may think that's an attractive message, or you may think it's a foolish approach in an age of crushing debt, very high unemployment, and lackluster growth. In either case, it should be plainly obvious that no presidential candidate would ever utter and mean such a tone deaf statement -- of only because of the political damage it could wreak. Romney's camp quickly blasted out an email highlighting the edited quote, asking, "he said what?!" and Romney himself has started hitting Santorum over the remarks at rallies.

I understand that political campaigns try to capitalize on their opponents' gaffes. Part of the game. But you'd think the Romney campaign might be a tad more forgiving of a fellow Republican who -- oh, I don't know -- says something silly that he doesn't really believe, but is easily clippable and taken out of context:

There are plenty of elements of Rick Santorum's record and campaign messaging strategy to question and attack. This is just weak sauce.


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: backstabber; cowards; disaster; emptyvest; fightmittnotnewt; newtbotsformitt; nomessage; rickisusedbygope; rickisusedbymitt; rickkillingteaparty; teamromney; unfair
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Videos at link. Team Romney always with the dirty hands. Underhanded. Dishonest. Hypocritical. It's their MO.

Of course, amateur hour Rick ... "albeit terribly ham-handedly" ... regularly allows these openings for Team Willard or Team 0.

1 posted on 03/20/2012 12:13:26 PM PDT by Servant of the Cross
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To: 21twelve; Absolutely Nobama; AFPhys; afraidfortherepublic; AmericanInTokyo; ...
Santorum for President Ping List.

FReepmail “Antoninus” to be added or removed.

2 posted on 03/20/2012 12:16:12 PM PDT by Lazlo in PA (Now living in a newly minted Red State.)
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To: Servant of the Cross

Didn’t everyone criticize Romney for saying he wasn’t “worried” about poor people? I agree Santorum didn’t mean what he said. But he is not a very good speaker.

Btw I might feel most comfortable with Santorum in the White House. I think he’s a very sincere conservative guy.


3 posted on 03/20/2012 12:25:07 PM PDT by Williams (Honey Badger Don't Care)
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To: Servant of the Cross

Has there been anything that Romney has done (probably ever) that has been truthful?


4 posted on 03/20/2012 12:26:59 PM PDT by svcw (CLEAN WATER & Education http://www.longlostsis.com/PI/MayanHelp2012.html)
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To: Servant of the Cross

He explained on Greta VanSusteren last night that if the heavy hand of govt. is taking away our freedoms, it affects the economy and that is the foundation of the economic problem.

March 19, 2012

‘Economic lightweight’ vs. conservative lightweight?

GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum answers Mitt Romney’s questions about his economic credentials and his own questions about rival’s conservative beliefs

http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/on-the-record/index.html


5 posted on 03/20/2012 12:27:57 PM PDT by sheikdetailfeather ("We Need To Teach The Establishment a Lesson" - Newt Gingrich)
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To: Servant of the Cross
I'm sorry, but some Rick supports are beginning to sound like


6 posted on 03/20/2012 12:30:06 PM PDT by muleskinner
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To: Servant of the Cross

Poser backstabber at work:
"Put this thing on the roof
of my wife’s second Cadillac.
"



FLASHBACK:

The McCain/Palin ticket was up ++4 to 10 pts
in some polls, days prior to Election 2008.
So rather than helping the GOP, Romney and
TeamROMNEY and the RNME (Republican National Media Establishment)
decided …to attack Gov. Palin to throw Election2008.

Romney, and the Van der Sloot RNME RINOs for Obama in 2008

Late in October, The American Spectator's The Prowler revealed:
"Former Mitt Romney presidential campaign staffers…
have been involved in spreading anti-Palin spin to reporters, seeking to diminish her standing after the election.
'Sarah Palin is a lightweight, she won't be the first, not even the third, person people will think of when it comes to 2012,'
says one former Romney aide…
'The only serious candidate ready to challenge to lead the Republican Party is Mitt Romney.
"Some former Romney aides were behind the recent leaks to media, including CNN, that Governor Sarah Palin was a 'diva' and was going off message intentionally."


The Palmetto Scoop reported: "One of the first stories to hit the national airwaves was
the claim of a major internal strife between close McCain aides and the folks handling his running mate Sarah Palin."
"I’m told by very good sources that this was indeed the case and that a rift had developed, but it was between Palin’s people and the staffers brought on from the failed presidential campaign of former Gov. Mitt Romney, not McCain aides."
"The sources said nearly 80 percent of Romney’s former staff was absorbed by McCain and these individuals were responsible for what amounts to a premeditated, last-minute sabotage of Palin."
… aides loyal to Romney inside the McCain campaign, said The Scoop, reportedly saw
that Palin would be a serious contender for the Republican nomination in 2012 or 2016, which made her a threat to another presidential quest by Romney.


"These staffers are now out trying to finish her off ….hoping it would ingratiate themselves with Mitt Romney."


"Who's the Palin Leaker from the McCain Campaign?
National Review Online The publication of a Vanity Fair profile of Sarah Palin
appears to have opened old wounds in the McCain campaign.
... the source of the “Diva” leak was Nicolle Wallace’s husband."


"Peeking Out From the McCain Wreckage: Mitt Romney"

"Someone's got to say it: IS MITT ROMNEY RESPONSIBLE FOR OBAMA'S VICTORY?"

"Vanity: Team Romney Sabotaged Palin and Continuing to Do So?"

"Romney Supporters Trashing Palin"

"Romney advisors sniping at Palin?"



7 posted on 03/20/2012 12:30:39 PM PDT by Diogenesis ("Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. " Pres. Ronald Reagan)
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To: muleskinner

How funny that you would say that since Santorum has been winning state after state. I guess in your deranged brain his is losing. I would imagine Newt would the trilled to lose so well.


8 posted on 03/20/2012 12:32:42 PM PDT by napscoordinator (A moral principled Christian with character is the frontrunner! Congrats Santorum!)
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To: Servant of the Cross
Of course, amateur hour Rick ...

You would wish he operated with the same guile as Romney/Obama? The fault is not in what he says but in the but in what is selectively repeated. A lot of us recognize this.

9 posted on 03/20/2012 12:36:15 PM PDT by tbpiper
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To: Lazlo in PA

Lazlo, don’t you find it just a teensy bit appalling and LOT hypocritical that when all the ‘unfair’ romney ads were attacking Gingrich with lies and distortions, not only did Santorum gain from them, but he joined in on them? Now they are shocked that the same tactics are being used against him. What the heck did he expect?
Santorum used romney to move himself forward at the expense of someone who actually has a message and solutions where Santorum has no real message and no real solutions. Everyday is a guessing game. Bad politics.
I have been very, very disappointed in Santorum.


10 posted on 03/20/2012 12:38:11 PM PDT by MestaMachine (obama kills)
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To: Servant of the Cross

ping to a ‘two-fer’ thread.


11 posted on 03/20/2012 12:40:13 PM PDT by Servant of the Cross (the Truth will set you free)
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To: Williams
This is just one more example that Rich Santorum is not ready for the White House. Santorum is out for Santorum, and his record of fiscal conservatism is a real joke. Look at the facts. I think he is a nice guy and a good family man. However, his leadership skills are not what we need right now.

We need a fighter for WE THE PEOPLE, not just the right wing of our party. Mr. Newt showed himself again today that he can challenge Obama like no other candidate in this race. Santorum wants conservatives to line up behind him. For what? Another loss and four more years of this incredibly damaging administration?

Mr. Newt can defend our values better with life-long leadership skills and a REAL track record of accomplishments. Santorum had his chance in the Senate and look what he did with it after Mr. Newt left the House. He drove up budget deficits with his wreckless spending and backing of liberal big union proposals. Don't be foolish with you vote...it is too important.

Conservatives need to line up behind Mr. Newt, beginning in Louisiana. EAGLES UP MR. NEWT!

12 posted on 03/20/2012 12:40:59 PM PDT by Bobbisox (All American Conservative Mama Grizzly (MR. NEWT - 2012)(MS. SARAH - 2020))
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To: Servant of the Cross

Funny Santorum should be complaining about unfair Romney attacks on him.

If it weren’t for “unfair” Romney attacks on Newt, Rick wouldn’t even be in the race anymore.


13 posted on 03/20/2012 12:42:29 PM PDT by moonhawk (Rush, Mark, Sean: Conservative talkers. Sarah, Newt: Conservative DOers. Mitt: Conservative faker)
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To: Servant of the Cross

Santorum is a stuttering bumbling idiot , just like Obama.

You’ve chosen as favorite another dilettante, who never managed even an ice cream stand in his life. That’s not what the country needs now.

Spare us your stupidity. Sanctimonious Rick is a lost case.


14 posted on 03/20/2012 12:42:52 PM PDT by Marguerite (When I'm good, I am very, very good. But! When I'm bad, I'm even better)
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To: All; Servant of the Cross

Rick says Romney beats up his opponents (in order to destroy them) rather than give his own message.

Here’s what Romney did to Newt:

“Romney insists on trying to destroy Newt Gingrich over the same false, trumped-up ethics charges just like Democrats did. He’s acting exactly like a power hungry Democrat who is willing to say anything to get elected ..”

excerpt http://www.therightscoop.com/new-romney-ad-smears-newt-over-old-ethics-charges/

Romney joins the Dems, with their trumped up charges, even though Newt was vindicated.

I hope Illinois voters aren’t believing any robo calls against Rick Santorum from the Romney camp.


15 posted on 03/20/2012 12:47:12 PM PDT by Sun (Pray that God sends us good leaders. Please say a prayer now.)
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To: moonhawk

“Funny Santorum should be complaining about unfair Romney attacks on him.

If it weren’t for “unfair” Romney attacks on Newt, Rick wouldn’t even be in the race anymore.”

Not only that, but Santorum was running negative, untrue ads against Newt, AT THE SAME TIME as Romney did.


16 posted on 03/20/2012 12:47:12 PM PDT by Marguerite (When I'm good, I am very, very good. But! When I'm bad, I'm even better)
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To: MestaMachine

This isn’t an article from Rick. It is someone at NR bringing this up. I also don’t remember Rick running ads against Gingrich anywhere. He didn’t have the money to waste on it.

Everyone keeps putting all this importance on Newt collapsing because of how Romney slammed him in IA. How can you explain his collapse after SC, and then after GA? I can. Newt is running a terrible campaign. Just today his financials show that he is in deep debt. All that money from Adelson and nothing to show for it. Right there might be the problem with him and not the ads against him.

Rick, on the other hand, has been running a solid campaign against Milt this whole time with the MSM, Drudge, Milts Super PAC, Milt, FOX News, and the Establishment dumping all over him, yet he is still competitive with no money.


17 posted on 03/20/2012 12:50:11 PM PDT by Lazlo in PA (Now living in a newly minted Red State.)
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To: C. Edmund Wright

oops ping.


18 posted on 03/20/2012 12:50:49 PM PDT by Servant of the Cross (the Truth will set you free)
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To: All; Lazlo in PA

It’s a shame that some Republicans have this misconception that Romney will create jobs because he was a businessman.

But what did he do for MA?

“Massachusetts Health Care Reform Has Left Small Business Behind: A Warning to the States”

snip http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2010/09/massachusetts-health-care-reform-has-left-small-business-behind-a-warning-to-the-states


19 posted on 03/20/2012 12:54:24 PM PDT by Sun (Pray that God sends us good leaders. Please say a prayer now.)
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Comment #20 Removed by Moderator


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