Republican Santorum endorses Romney for president

Reuters ^ | 5/8/12 | Tom Gannam

[Evil Slayer]

(Reuters) - Former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum endorsed his one-time fierce rival Mitt Romney on Monday, a move that may help the party's presumptive White House nominee win over religious conservatives.

Santorum said in an unusual late-night statement that the two have differences, but that he came away from a meeting with the ex-Massachusetts governor impressed with Romney's "deep understanding" of economic and family issues central to the campaign.

"Above all else, we both agree that President (Barack) Obama must be defeated. The task will not be easy. It will require all hands on deck if our nominee is to be victorious," Santorum said.

"Governor Romney will be that nominee and he has my endorsement and support to win this the most critical election of our lifetime," he said in the statement, which was emailed to supporters.

The socially conservative former Pennsylvania senator, who won 11 state contests and was the favorite of Republican voters in a Reuters/Ipsos poll for the No. 2 spot on the ticket, is best known for his strong opposition to abortion and gay rights.

He clashed sharply with Romney in several televised debates, but his support may now help Romney win over religious conservatives before the November 6 election.

Santorum had been reluctant to give an endorsement, but he said that changed after a "clear-the-air" meeting with Romney in Pittsburgh on Friday. The question of endorsement did not come up, but Santorum said the conversation was candid and focused on issues.

"During our meeting I felt a deep responsibility to assess Governor Romney's commitment to addressing the issues most important to conservatives, as well his commitment to ensuring our appropriate representation in a Romney administration," he said.

[Diogenesis]

Too bad Santorum is not too smart.

MITT ROMNEY - THE PROVEN BAD GOVERNOR

"As U.S. real output grew 13 percent between 2002 and 2006, Massachusetts trailed at 9 percent.
* Manufacturing employment fell 7 percent nationwide those years, but sank 14 percent under Romney, placing Massachusetts 48th among the states.
* Between fall 2003 and autumn 2006, U.S. job growth averaged 5.4 percent, nearly three times Massachusetts' anemic 1.9 percent pace.
* While 8 million Americans over age 16 found work between 2002 and 2006, the number of employed Massachusetts residents actually declined by 8,500 during those years.
"Massachusetts was the only state to have failed to post any gain in its pool of employed residents," professors Sum and McLaughlin concluded.
In an April 2003 meeting with the Massachusetts congressional delegation in Washington, Romney failed to endorse President Bush's $726 billion tax-cut proposal."
[Cato Institute annual Fiscal Policy Report Card - America's Governors, 2004.]

Willard “Etch-a-Sketch” Milt, the magic, ineligible, backstabbing RINO:
"I bet you $10,000 that whatever my position
on immigration will be, whichever day it is, as it mutates,
it will ALWAYS be reported on FOX-Bain "News"
by either of my anchor-wives-in-training as both ‘severely conservative’
and ‘exponentially clear’."

[SeekAndFind]

He doesn’t sound too enthusiastic about it...

[MichaelCorleone]

I never could figure out why conservatives would jump on the Romney bandwagon; at this point why would an ‘endorsement’ be necessary.

The answer, I think, is that if/when Romney loses the GOPe can't point the finger at (in this case) Santorum and say “See, if you endorsed Romney your supporters would have voted for him and he would have won!”

Hannity, Limbaugh, Coulter, and the others are just chomping at the bit waiting to blame conservatives for a Romney loss, should it occur. Never mind that the GOPe gave us, once again, an unwinnable candidate.

[diamond6]

I wish some good things could happen for our side.

Sigh.

[svcw]

swish - The sound of my respect for the man out the window.

[Evil Slayer]

And the fat lady sings when Sarah endorses mitt.

[Ingtar]

He sounds less enthusiastic than Newt did.

[izzatzo]

“Hannity, Limbaugh, Coulter, and the others are just chomping at the bit waiting to blame conservatives for a Romney loss...”

Coulter maybe, but Hannity and Limbaugh I don’t think are going to “blame” conservatives for a Romney loss. Rush will, however, blame moderate/elitist GOP’ers for Romney’s selection as the candidate and his loss, if that occurs.

You should listen to Rush more often because it’s obvious from your comment that you don’t.

[Signalman]

Romney will win in a landslide.

[convertedtoreason]

Romney wins! Except on November 2012. HE’S POSER AND A LOSER.

[Evil Slayer]

Mitt waiting for the phone call from Sarah. waiting....waiting....waiting....

[Logical me]

Don’t like it but have to. No choice.

[MichaelCorleone]

“You should listen to Rush more often because it’s obvious from your comment that you don’t.”

It's true that I give Rush far less time now than in years past. The list of reasons for that are long, but suffice it to say that Rush advances the interests of the GOP more than he does conservatism and as a result, hinders our efforts to return this country to her rightful place in the world. How's that? Because the Republican Party has turned into a 'go-along, get-along' organization. That's never going to get us where we need to be.

Whether or not Rush ends up blaming conservatives for a Romney loss remains to be seen. I do not dislike Rush and I hope you are correct.

I do know the GOPe has incredible disdain for the conservative, especially the ‘social conservative’. They are just not welcome in this party anymore. We are not taken seriously.

[izzatzo]

The GOPe do have disdain for Conservatives, and Rush continually points that out. Rush believes Conservatives need to control the GOP. I agree because I am one of those who say there’s not a “dime’s worth of difference between the parties”; but, when I say that, I mean the ‘rats and the GOPe/moderates, i.e., those other than true Conservatives. The GOPe/moderates can hang as far as I’m concerned.

[izzatzo]

Defeating Obama is the key, I don’t care who does it at this point. I do wish we had a real Conservative as the nominee though.

[Hugin]

Never mind that the GOPe gave us, once again, an unwinnable candidate.

That's a pretty absurd assertion, considering Romney leads in both Gallup and Rassmussen polls, is raising more money than Obama, and Zero owns the mess were in; high unemployment, high gas prices, and a million new forclosures expected this year. A Romney landslide is far more likely than the other way around.

[mosesdapoet]

When this was announced by way of FOX AM (radio)the reading by the newscaster went like this :
“It the middle of the night Santorum announced his tepid endorsement”
And right away I felt much better about something we all knew was comming.

[Sun]

“He doesn’t sound too enthusiastic about it...”

You are are correct.

“Santorum’s underwhelming endorsement of Romney”

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/santorum-underwhelming-endorsement-romney-081055500.html