Posted on 01/19/2012 8:45:39 PM PST by Steelfish
Santorum Goes After Romney, Gingrich On Healthcare
By Kim Geiger January 19, 2012
Rick Santorum, in third or fourth place in South Carolina’s Republican presidential primary race, managed to bruise the two leading candidates in Thursday night's debate – in a matter of minutes – by casting them both as advocates of big-government healthcare.
Santorum criticized front-runner Mitt Romney for the healthcare plan that he signed into law in Massachusetts and cast Newt Gingrich as unelectable because of his past support for requiring Americans to buy insurance.
Romney has long been criticized for his role in enacting the Massachusetts healthcare law, which was the foundation for the federal law that President Obama signed in 2010. But in most debates he has been able to brush the topic off by saying it was a state law that shouldn’t be forced on the rest of the country.
Similarly, it’s no secret that Gingrich backs – or at least used to support – an individual mandate. There’s even video floating around that shows him proposing a requirement that people carry insurance or post a $100,000 or $150,000 bond. Gingrich also has generally succeeded in disavowing the topic.
As we reported last year, the individual mandate was once supported by many Republicans. As lawmakers on the left advocated for expanding the government or employer role in providing health insurance, it was Republicans who proposed the individual mandate as a private-sector solution. It became toxic in the mainstream of the Republican Party once Democrats embraced it.
ThinkProgress dug up some old newspaper clips suggesting Santorum also supported the mandate when he was running in a Republican primary in the 1990s. But that position is not well-known. And on the debate stage Thursday night, Santorum refused to let either of his rivals off the hook.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
The sweater vest wearing dweeb will be lucky to get past single digits in SC, and should get on with his life.
I am sure he has a bright future in losing some more elections.
So you support one of the other 3 fools the race to the nomination?
“Santorum is a degenerate lawyer megalomaniac mental case and voted against right to work.”
Between him and a backstabbing, flip-flopping, lying pervert like Gingrich, I’ll pick the ‘mental case’ every time.
Such a freak geek. Santorum should look in the mirror...this is how he voted..
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.
I’m sorry but I didn’t see this. Santorum came across as big government.
You don't grasp that there are only two choices left at this late date -- Newt and Romney? And, that Newt is a better choice than Romney?
Santorum has zero chance of winning anything.
Santorum is trying to present himself as a conservative. His voting record shows otherwise. He is lying...flat OUT. Could NOT even win his own state of PA! he is a geek freak
I think the individual mandate would cause an immense amount of economic hardship to the majority of Americans especially if implemented during an economic downturn such that we have been mired in for the past several years. When implemented in conjunction with an obvious socialist power grab, it was double plus dangerous. This is why I was against the current mandate. 20 year old opinions on the subject are largely irrelevant imho.
Congratulations, you just picked Mitt Romney by supporting a candidate with no chance of winning and have left conservatives with the choice of Romney or Obama. Brilliant!
Well said. Santorum is the ONLY candidate who will not put off the female voters (a crucial demographic that shows Newt losing in spades) and his blue-collar appeal will peel of blue states into the Republican column. He wins PA and with Rubio as his VP, FL falls into the red column and its all over for Obama. This is about winning the general and is much more than derailing Romney. While Newt dishes out red meat, he is undisciplined and unelectable and un-telegenic and Obama will scald him over his prior support of mandatory health insurance purchase.
I'd love to see some evidence Santorum was opposing the individual mandate back in the 1990s when the Heritage Foundation first proposed the idea.
Santorum wants to take away my S/S. Well guess what? Me and millions of other Boomers (and some are Freepers) say go away!! Wa torun sucks!
You’re right, Rome.
Tired of listening to his faux angry self righteous retorts uttered between gritted teeth as well.
Go home, Rick.
This is silly. Santorum bruised no one tonight but himself. I have always thought there was more to Rick than this. Today I saw two opposite sides of the political coin. Rick Perry totally blew me away with his sincerety and his humanity and marvelous grace and class. Tonight, Rick Santorum showed me the exact and complete opposite.
He was petulant, spiteful, and nasty and his cultivated facade of schoolboy innocence is utterly gone. He was absolutely hateful lashing out like a spoiled child. I say this as someone who supported him through thick and through thin and defended him as few as several days ago. Never again.
6,210 votes in sixteen years and you pick 7 or more you don’t like. Yet, you rally behind Gingrich who is not even close. That makes you a hypocrite.
Obviously I am in the minority here, but we can use Santorum in the race longer. As Sarah Palin said, from the Bible, steel sharpens steel, and they all could use the practice. Going up against the Obama machine in the fall won’t be easy.
My opinions that Santy decided he needed to Go Hard or Go Home tonight, and I thought he brought it. He needed to show differences between himself and both Newt and Mitt, and he did. Not one of the three is a conservative from central casting. It is fair to delineate where you differ, and it is fair that with Perry gone, and with Santy only today receiving credit for Iowa, that he have a shot in SC.
FReepers were harsh and unhappy with Santorum tonight. But some of the comments were about how he looked or sounded, and certainly fault could be found with how mitt and newt look and sound at times.
Still, I do think Newt, as he is wont, wom the debate.
Almost as petulant and spiteful as your hypocritical post.
I was proud of our candidates tonight...I thought they all did a good job and any one of them will be a great improvement over the democrats.
There isn’t one that I would agree with on everything...but boy, it is refreshing to see such articulate and well thought out men striving to be our President. All stand up for freedom and American values...makes me damn proud!
He lost his state in a year that had many republicans losing their seats...strong argument you have.
http://www.issues2000.org/senate/Rick_Santorum.htm
Pretty sure he’s ranked a pretty stout conservative...if you even look through the link.
“Similarly, it’s no secret that Gingrich backs – or at least used to support – an individual mandate.”
My take on the individual mandate, for what it’s worth, is that it’s fine not to have an individual mandate so long as we can come to an agreement that people who opt out get no free healthcare. They go in debt and owe the money... period. I would go so far as to change the bankruptcy laws so it would not be excused through bankruptcy.
Well, he sure turned off THIS female voter, and I worked for him. He was hateful tonight. I don’t think hateful turns on women voters, especially CONSERVATIVE women voters.
Weak argument you have...Santorums record ..check it out
Rick Santorum’s voting record: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.
Petulant, spiteful and nasty could be descriptors of Gingrich in every debate, but his supporters call it ballsy, strong, forceful. It seems to all depend on one’s point of view. And that is OK.
Perry was giving his concession speech. That’s a little different than a debate, possibly your last, your do or die. You can’t sit back and be a classy statesman at a debate. You have to use what you’ve got. And it’s pretty hard to debate Gingrich and Romney. Newt never gets Romney on the ropes, but Santorum gets him stammering and facing him directly. I’d say that’s pretty good for the nerdy guy in the sweater vest.
I think a lot of folks, wrongly, saw this as the same thing as requiring auto insurance. Plus, with everything else the government is into these days, the individual mandate doesn’t initially seem like that big of a deal. After all, they could have simply created nationalized health care and raised income taxes to pay for it, all constitutional given prior rulings. My point? The individual mandate is certainly unconstitutional, but they could have funded it differently and avoided the issue.
That said, Newt helped defeat Hillarycare. That should at least somewhat mitigate his toying with the individual mandate that he now admits was a mistake. He might have supported it at one time, but he didn’t pass it and isn’t responsible for it now.
I have no doubt that Newt has a lot of baggage, but he actually helped roll back big government when he had his chance, and he clearly isn’t afraid to take on the powers that be.
I am not a hypocrite. I am being honest. I have known Rick Santorum for years. I defended him and worked for him even when he campaigned for specter. So don’t try to tell me about Rick Santorum. Tonight he was a rattlesnake. Period.
Santorum supported it...
Santorum Supported Individual Health Insurance Mandate In 1994 Republican Primary
Bingo. Federally mandated healthcare TREATMENT is the problem.
want to blame some people for Obamacare passing into law?.. it wasn’t Romney or Gingrich
here’s Santorum and his turncoat daddy who was the deciding vote in the Senate..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpCE1lsQ8is&NR=1&feature=endscreen
.
I watched the debate on the computer but was really mostly listening, while reading at other sites (FR) and it looked to me like Santorum was really attacking Newt instead of Romney, it was creeping me out, were you seeing that or was I misreading it?
Santorum comes across as a compassionate conservative in the Bush mold. That is not a good thing. He also didn’t come across well in tonight’s debate. Frankly, he was irritating. Nevertheless, he’s far, far better than President Obama.
Yaelle, you have every right to believe the best about the candidate you support. I have no argument or disagreement with you personally. That notwithstanding, I have watched Rick throughout this campaign and he is not the Rick Santorum I once knew.
Don't hold back. Tell us how you really feel.
“Similarly, it’s no secret that Gingrich backs – or at least used to support – an individual mandate. There’s even video floating around that shows him proposing a requirement that people carry insurance or post a $100,000 or $150,000 bond. Gingrich also has generally succeeded in disavowing the topic.”
Big government Newt? Say it ain’ so, Joe!
Ahh, so why wasn’t Newt there to save us? :)
At least Santorum voted against it rather than supporting it, like Newt did.
If I wanted an individual mandate and publically funded abortion - then I’d be supporting Newt today.
It saddens me that so many on this forum are so oblivious to this palpable truth.
yet that same candidate outpolled Gingrich in both Iowa and New Hampshire. If only Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney and Ron Paul and Baraq Obama would get out of the way, Newt Gingrich could be President.
It saddens me that so many on this forum are so oblivious to this palpable truth
Unbelievable.
Santorum Supported Individual Health Insurance Mandate In 1994 Republican Primary
He was attacking Newt with an ardor that had him fairly spitting out the words. He was flushed and sweating. It was extremely disconcerting for me to see him like that.
Strange don’t you think that in any of the debates when Santorum raised this, neither Gingrich, Newt or anyone else sought to rebut him?
Continually posting these anti-Santorum website links don’t help. There are for sure plenty of the same on Gingrich and Romney from HuffPost, MoveOn etc. The basic point remains unrebuttable- Santorum is the only candidate standing who is electable in the general because he can win the or tie Obama on the female vote, is youthful, can win PA, and with Rubio as VP can bring FL back into the red state column and its all over for Obama.
There are a multitude of positions and votes in your post that made 100% of my wife’s and my family , who live in Western PA, feel betrayed by Rick S. some years ago. Fedex Ground is headquartered outside of Pittsburgh and his support for unionization is equivalent to the most recently tried “brown bailout “. This was also an issue for RPS, which eventually became Fedex Ground.
Strange don’t you think that in any of the debates when Santorum raised this, neither Gingrich, Newt or anyone else sought to rebut him?
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I didn’t see the debate- and wouldn’t (haven’t) said any negative on any of the candidates.
But just on the issue of rebuttal- Newt’s surging- his job tonight was to get one great soundbite- and then make no mistakes.
I see he accomplished the former— if he stayed away from confrontation, he likely acomplished the latter.
I support Newt. But, Rick’s a good guy- I wish him luck.
Santorum won’t get the male vote.
I hate to say it, but Santorum is totally out of his league on the debate stage. He acts like a teenager.
Gingrich said that he would repeal all pages of Obamacare.
How many pages were in the government mandated perscription drug bill that Santorum voted for?
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