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Politics If Perry and Romney are RINOs, why isn’t Santorum?

After a string of entertaining Republican primary debates, yesterday’s Google/Fox deal was brutal. I learned nothing new about the candidates, nothing new about their positions, and even the prefabricated pugilism was pretty pathetic. I found myself cringing more than usual, and for the third time I found the unelectable Newt Gingrich the most compelling thing going on in these debates.

Not good.

By now it is surely dawning on many conservatives that Rick Perry is only occasionally coherent — and when he is they don’t exactly like what he has to say. I’d say Perry is starting to remind me more of George Bush, but W. was a far superior debater. Perry’s attacks on Mitt Romney (target-rich) were clumsy and his emotional appeal on the issue of welfare for illegal immigrant college students (you’ve gotta have heart) was picked apart. Judging from his primary performances, Perry is unable to offer any depth of knowledge on policy — or at least anything more specific than saying “Texas.” Sure, he might get better, but his performance should worry Republicans.

So Mitt Romney might be the candidate best positioned to beat Obama, and he might be the most polished in this field, but the base will never trust him for numerous solid reasons. Seeing Mitt so eagerly defend government coercion and social security doesn’t help one bit.

So how about Rick Santorum? The Washington Examiner’s Byron York says that Rick Santorum won. Even though he might be my least favorite primary candidate, I think that’s right. He was aggressive and kept strong on his message.

But if Romney is RINO interloper, what is Santorum?

Santorum once said this:

This whole idea of personal autonomy, well I don’t think most conservatives hold that point of view. Some do. They have this idea that people should be left alone, be able to do whatever they want to do, government should keep our taxes down and keep our regulations low, that we shouldn’t get involved in the bedroom, we shouldn’t get involved in cultural issues. You know, people should do whatever they want. Well, that is not how traditional conservatives view the world and I think most conservatives understand that individuals can’t go it alone.

To begin with, the statement is riddled with strawmen and distortions. (Why does Santorum believe that getting government out of our lives means that we “go at it alone”? Maybe it means we go to our church, or our family, or our buddies or nowhere at all by choice.) Without getting too deeply into his anti-libertarianism, this kind of thinking gives the former Senator the ideologically flexibility to decry government interference when he dislikes it while and support the types of intrusions he finds morally acceptable.

Why is Santorum being treated as if he were a charter Tea Party member? When will someone ask him (and I might have missed this) why he backed fiscal liberal Arlen Specter over Pat Toomey in the 2004 Republican Pennsylvania primaries — an election in which an endorsement might have actually mattered. And as Club for Growth points out, Santorum was always a strong fiscal conservative …. when election time was around the corner:

However, there is a troubling part of Santorum’s record on spending, which is found in the years sandwiched between these periods of fiscal restraint. His record is plagued by the big-spending habits that Republicans adopted during the Bush years of 2001-2006. Some of those high profile votes include his support for No Child Left Behind in 2001, which greatly expanded the federal government’s role in education. He supported the massive new Medicare drug entitlement in 2003 that now costs taxpayers over $60 billion a year and has almost $16 trillion in unfunded liabilities. He voted for the 2005 highway bill that included thousands of wasteful earmarks, including the Bridge to Nowhere. In fact, in a separate vote, Santorum had the audacity to vote to continue funding the Bridge to Nowhere rather than send the money to rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Has Santorum had to answer for all those votes? Seems to me he was a big supporter of the entire big government Republican agenda of the 2000s that helped bring about a Barack Obama victory. Doesn’t that make him a RINO?

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Comments (10)

  • RestoreCapitalism
    Posted on September 23, 2011 at 5:49pm

    Righteousness cannot be legislated by government. The laws of God will be both kept and broken and God will judge men accordingly. Our government can only limit the violation of others rights. We cannot stop sin, only God can do that, and he has a plan, not to worry. Live right, do right, protect the rights of others, and freedom for all men. The rest God will sort out.

    Report Post » RestoreCapitalism  
  • DrunkReport.com
    Posted on September 23, 2011 at 5:07pm

    that doesnt contradict the article at all

    Report Post »  
  • workingclass artist
    Posted on September 23, 2011 at 4:51pm

    When Santorum was in congress his border security bill called for the same things Perry’s been asking the Feds for since 2005 and Perry has also asked the Feds to quit poaching our agents that we train. Perry has spent Texas money on border security and used the Texas Rangers because the Feds have screwed us. Santorum was pure political hackery last night. Texans decided on in-state tuition and it’s a states rights issue. Immigration & Border Security is a Federal Issue& a National Security Issue. Santorum took one trip to California years ago and says he knows the border….Sheeesh!

    Report Post » workingclass artist  
  • nixome2003
    Posted on September 23, 2011 at 4:23pm

    Mr. Harsanyi, Does the constitution ring a bell, Now I have to defend someone with common sense here too???

    Report Post » nixome2003  
  • Docrow
    Posted on September 23, 2011 at 2:12pm

    I am not satisfied with the republican presidential candidates and I wish we could morph two or three together. I think it will require compromise to remove our current president but I hope there is not more of the same as our current in our comprise. No matter what I will hold my nose and vote republican then go vomit.

    Report Post » Docrow  
  • cemerius
    Posted on September 23, 2011 at 1:48pm

    Just like EVERY politician…they have an overwhelming desire to spend other people’s money! Once they recieve their “blood dues” they spend it like it is rain in the desert! We need a status quo cleansing of our “political elite” sic……

    Report Post » cemerius  
  • HappyStretchedThin
    Posted on September 23, 2011 at 1:33pm

    Mr. Harsanyi, you’re better than this.
    Santorum needs to answer for his votes, yes, but can’t you leave the quote twisting to the liberals?
    It’s quite clear in context that Santorum was making a PRO-Conservative argument contra radical Libertarianism. He believes in Conservative RUGGED individualism, but not individual isolationism of the kind that’s only theoretically possible in a purely libertarian imagination. His book was making a pro-liberty, anti-big-govt argument via culture. Of COURSE he believes that individuals should decide anything they want, he just WISHES they’d choose the cultural VALUES that uphold the liberty that limited govt makes possible.
    I personally suspect his votes were more on a pragmatic plane (YES, Specter was a bad call ideologically, but he WAS a ranking Repub at the time, poised to take over the Judiciary committee, and Toomey couldn’t have had that kind of clout that early–your hindsight is 20/20, but you can‘t judge him by today’s standards), but he’s not wrong that big-business behaves like a “private” form of govt bureaucracy sometimes, and that consequently conservatives can’t just blindly support ALL business without giving up the cultural ground of morality upon which their proper fiscal conservatism is ultimately based.

    Report Post » HappyStretchedThin  
  • Janc60
    Posted on September 23, 2011 at 10:35am

    I agree about Gingrich. He seems the most intelligent, mature, and focused on the reality of the importance of the 2012 election and where our country is headed now and especially if Obama is re-elected. But, he’s unelectable. It is sad to think we have this disaster in the WH and the danger he poses and this is the best the GOP can do for candidates to thwart him.

    Report Post »  
    • KidCharlemagne
      Posted on September 23, 2011 at 12:34pm

      Gingrich has several notable liabilities and is one of those “global-warming is gonna’ get ya” types.

      When you cast your lot with Pelosi and Gore, then you’ve sold your soul to the devil in effect:

      Nancy Pelosi and Newt Gingrich Commercial on Climate Change
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi6n_-wB154

      Report Post »  
  • PilgrimStuckInBizarroWorld
    Posted on September 23, 2011 at 10:34am

    only a true conservative for us
    do not let the media pick our candidate
    look at the record of the people running
    character matters most
    choose wisely, stand up,and stand strong
    enough is enough

    Report Post »  

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