[Mangia E Statti Zitto]

For Senator Santorum, some earmarks are more equal than others.

[Carriage Hill]

I’ve switched my primary support to Newt, from Santorum, for this a several other reasons.

[elpadre]

Rick has been a big government politician - his rhetoric does not match his record.

[AlexW]

Much of the Katrina money was also pure pork.
There are probably Karina people still living in government provided housing.

[Josh Painter]

Social Cons: “Nothing to see here. Move along.”

[GeronL]

This is reported as a bad thing? Sounds pretty neutral

[Kazan]

First, all these attacks are doing is helping Romney since Newt's campaign is debt and isn't going to last very much longer.

SECONDLY, earmarks are apparently a bad habit Santorum LEARNED FROM MENTOR, MR. NEWT, who took earmarks to a whole new level and turned them into an art form as Speaker:

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/289425/newt-and-earmark-era-katrina-trinko

As a congressman in the House, Newt Gingrich didn’t just request earmarks: He also fundamentally changed and expanded their use.

Gingrich’s willingness to allow non–Appropriations Committee House members to push for earmarks “really changed how members viewed earmarks,” says Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) president Thomas Schatz, noting that House members had previously had to appeal to the Appropriations Committee to grant earmarks. “So [when] earmarking became more widespread, it was going to a lot more members.”

“He really set in motion the largest explosion of earmarks in the history of Congress,” Schatz added of Gingrich.