Santorum to CNN: “I’m Proud of My Earmarks” (Video)
Posted by Jim Hoft on Friday, January 6, 2012, 6:19 AM
Rick Santorum is famous for his social conservative positions.
Unfortunately, his record economically is not so clear.
Santorum bragged about is earmarks on CNN in 2009.
Rick Santorum even went to South Carolina to campaign for earmarks.
RedState reported:
Just a few weeks before DeMint stood for re-election on South Carolina’s ballot, Rick Santorum showed up in DeMint’s neighborood to tell everyone Jim DeMint was wrong on earmarks. “Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania said the Constitution gives Congress control of the purse strings and that he supported earmarks for port deepening while a senator – the opposite of the position that DeMint is taking. But former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia said DeMint has shown “moral courage” in refusing to support any earmarks, including one that the State Ports Authority says is needed to study the deepening of Charleston Harbor.”
Santorum went on John King USA on CNN tonight and again defended earmarks claiming “Jim DeMint did it too” without acknowledging DeMint repented and has since led the fight against earmarks. When asked about what he may or may not have said about black welfare recipients, Santorum defended himself by claiming he got earmarks for a black community in Pennsylvania.
Get ready for conservatives to have to refight this critical fight against the gateway drug to big government spending.
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Published May 23, 2012 at 4:57 am - 67 Comments
More Liberty commented:
hahahaha….Oh man.
donh commented:
and proud of that angel award he gave to The Second Mile foster home of Jerry Sandusky.
SnowSoul commented:
And I thought Newt Gingrich was arrogant…
gee! commented:
How many in congress don’t have earmarks?…………just askin
ugh commented:
sorry Jim your boy Newt is falling now…way to continue with the mudslinging…how about conservatives all rally around the process and quit slamming our own candidates, congratulations on making the job easier for liberals…
Fuquay Steve commented:
Jim to himself : ‘Hey, I got an idea – let’s jump on Santorum- that’ll help the Romney campaign!’
Dr B commented:
That’s nothing. Listen to him brag about promoting liberalism together with Barbara Boxer and Hillary Clinton!
http://youtu.be/RnfURvvNSI8
Mary commented:
Okay, I’m not as educated as some of y’all, but bare with me….I send (unwillingly) my hard earned $$ to the Feds by way of “taxes”. The Feds then get to decide how my $$ is redistributed around the US and even the world. But if my Congressman fights to get some of my $$ back into my community for a (hopefully worthwhile) project (otherwise known as Pork) they get a load of you-know-what from people in other parts of the US.
I’m thinkin we aren’t looking at this from the right perspective.
Not sayin Santorum is right or wrong. It’s the system that needs to be fixed.
Have you read “Throw Them All Out”? Kinda makes your head explode.
donh commented:
Rick will prove to be a one hit wonder , but he helps the party continue its shunning of the Ron Paul 20% for another week. He will eventually get some quasi televangelist show on Fox following Huckabee. Prince Rebus will then tweet the establishment hack drones to vote Perry in SC so that the Romney Sanitarium chatter collapses into Romney Perry chatter and you won’t have to aknowlege Ron Paul’s existance.
KornKing commented:
@donh-what took so long for the antiPerry’s to get here?
Deanna commented:
Mary commented:
Okay, I’m not as educated as some of y’all, but bare with me….I send (unwillingly) my hard earned $$ to the Feds by way of “taxes”. The Feds then get to decide how my $$ is redistributed around the US and even the world. But if my Congressman fights to get some of my $$ back into my community for a (hopefully worthwhile) project (otherwise known as Pork) they get a load of you-know-what from people in other parts of the US.
I’m thinkin we aren’t looking at this from the right perspective.
Not sayin Santorum is right or wrong. It’s the system that needs to be fixed.
Have you read “Throw Them All Out”? Kinda makes your head explode.
Exactly. Congresscritters give their constituents what they want. I think that may be what they’re supposed to do, I mean they did elect them and all. I’m not going to condemn pork and be a hypocrite. If a congresscritter gets a bridge repaired or a library updated for his constituents that’s one thing. All those people condemning pork are probably using some of it.
That said, I will condemn pork that only serves special interest or cronies rather than the district or state or nation as a whole. But tunnels for turtles or saving small uselss fish or building roads to nowhere or airports with no traffic or phoney energy schemes is another, and that’s what needs to be fixed.
Rose commented:
THIS confirms what I said about his attacks on Ronald Reagan the other night – he is just looking for cover for his own actions by claiming “everyone does it”.
When push comes to shove, Santorum always breaks Left – HARD LEFT.
Rose commented:
#9 January 6, 2012 at 9:51 am
donh
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Paulbots still bemoaning the fact that AMERICA REFUSES to vote to be drug-addicted SLAVES of Middle Eastern terroristic dictator enemy drug suppliers of America.
Oh boo hoo!!!
Eddie Baby commented:
Santorum: “It’s ok. I stole money for black people.”
Fionnagh commented:
This guy is a disaster. Roughly 20% of Indies make or break an election. Santorum’s gonna lose the Indies. Like me.
gee! commented:
I no Santorum fan here……………. but Regean himself admitted he made mistakes……….just sayin
Rose commented:
#4 January 6, 2012 at 9:24 am
gee!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, that is the point, ain’t it.
“Everybody is doing it” ain’t the “CLEAN UP D.C. AND DO IT RIGHT NOW” MESSAGE that the VOTERS are sending, now, is it!!!
Rose commented:
#16 January 6, 2012 at 10:09 am
gee!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Santorum ain’t confessing and repenting – he’s BRAGGING.
Reagan didn’t do that.
More Liberty commented:
I’m sorry but who really cares if he dared make a negative comment about Reagan. Reagan had many good qualities be he also had bad qualities as well. Let’s be honest here, he dealt with the Terrorists in Iran by giving them arms for those hostages.
retire05 commented:
Considering Jim posted early this morning the flyers that went out from the agribusiness in Iowa that is getting fat off corn subsibies, pimping for Romney and Santorum, I guess the joke is really on Iowans, Romney and Santorum.
That little government piggie died at midnight on 12/31/11. Ah, poor ethanol piggie, the Iowans knew him well.
So the billions of taxpayer dollars that lined Iowa corn farmers pockets for 30 years, IS NO MORE. I guess those Iowans who have realized that the pork (ethanol) train just ended now have a lot of egg on their face.
Memo to Iowa corn growers: the check’s NOT in the mail.
Mike commented:
An 18-second video beginning with the words “I’m not saying, necessarily. . .” So, he was clarifying something else he just said. Maybe I’ll disagree with those omitted comments too, and maybe I won’t.
But it’s clear that something here was taken out of context. Maybe the context will help Santorum and maybe it won’t. But sorry, an 18 second video like that isn’t very convincing.
west1890 commented:
On one hand we have Santorum-earmarks for the state he represented. On the other hand we have Obama- earmarks, pork, high profile jobs in government for Marxists, Socialists and Communists, throwing money at his union buddies, bundlers etc. on a
universal scale, lies, cheats, corruption on a scale that we’ve never seen before, refuses to release his personal info beyond a fake birth certificate, lies, lies and more lies…….. so pick one. I choose Santorum.
dunce commented:
Every expenditure must be examined. Is it needed? Is it a responsibility of the federal govt.? Could it be done by the private sector with tax incentives? Is it urgent? How important is it in comparison with other things in the budget? What can be cut from existing programs to pay for it and not exceed the budget? Notice i use the word “budget”, note that we have not had one since obama was installed by vote fraud.
Nancy commented:
Oh, crud, let’s invent a new term for earmarks…are you talking about Congressmen trying to get projects that your state really needs ( always present) or the bribes used to get Dems to pass the health care bill (and Reid’s famous Cowboy earmark). These are two different things. When Santorum cited Reagan’s ‘mistake’ it was the temporary fix to Social Security instead of real reform. I LOVE Reagan but he sometimes had to compromise or thought he had to when Santorum was saying that we have pushed real reform away to later Congresses to save re-election when the people refused to listen to warnings. Be honest or at least know what you’re talking about.
Han Solo commented:
Well, funny he uses the EXACT SAME explanation that Ron Paul does. And they are both correct.
It IS CONGRESSES job to appropriate money.
The whole ‘ear marks is bad’ thing is a lie, a distraction from the real problem that even the republican establishment does not want you to figure out… its the SPENDING and DEBT that are the real problems, now how its spent, but how much.
bg commented:
++
like it or not, Honesty is the best policy..
i mean, just take a look at “i wouldn’t vote yes on a Pork bill, but
i will Pork the bill knowing damn well others will” Ron Paul..
more hypocrisy here..
==
Candy commented:
You know, all the paid and clueless comments on this post alone would make me vote for Santorum.
Just saying.
The country goes to hell and the infiltrators do the same thing every election… and people fall for it.
If your candidate is great, post a link to their record; Stop slamming others and push your man.
J Craig commented:
C’mon is this the best Hoft’s got? What a bad joke? How about Satorium guilty of payoffs, or taking bribes, or putting relatives on payroll? This is the best you can do? Seriously.
Santorium is the one.
Freddy commented:
And the gateway bandwagon of hate rolls on ….
Seems like Santorum was long gone before they started in on the 10,000+ earmark absurdity of the Pelosi/Reid congress.
But, never mind the details of the truth, just stick to the ‘hate fest of the day’.
reliapundit commented:
all these attacks on mitt by rick and newt are idiotic.
they are competing to see who we want to take-on obama, not who can beat the other two.
they should all keep their comments to attacking obama and proposing changes.
saveus commented:
but earmarks allow some local say in where in the taxpayer dollar goes instead of letting king obama make all the decisions to put taxpayer money where it will buy him the most votes
Redpillpatriot commented:
EARTH TO JIM…… The LIBERALS don’t need any help destroying this country. Santorum is the best choice we have, if you listen to him, he explains himself well. PLEASE STOP BASHING THE GOOD GUYS!
DaMav commented:
Palin wasn’t good enough, Cain wasn’t good enough, now the effort to destroy Santorum is underway. I assume the idea is to get Romney or Paul ’cause nobody else is even making the radar screen in the polls.
DaMav commented:
@reliapundit #32
Amen
J Craig commented:
#32
Thanks I needed to vomit and your comment helped me achieve that goal.
el polacko commented:
if santorum should, somehow, become the candidate then obama wins. there are SO many of santorum’s past statements that are mis-informed, ill-informed, willfully ignorant, often loony, and sometimes downright hateful that there will be ample ammunition to make him a national laughingstock and worse.
one thing that can be said for romney is that his baggage is light. you can only beat up on him for ‘flip-flopping’, state healthcare, and mormonism so much before those become empty attacks.
Ausonius commented:
Some of you are truly amazing, including the author, who seems to have a bent to like another candidate.
So who is it gonna be? Is this site infested by delusional paulites who can only see the prospect of their legalize weed dream come to fruition? (I know, the elevated THC level helps swallow the comments opposing the war against Hitler and the coming war with a nuclear-possessing Iran.)
Perhaps it is more establishment Romneyites who just practice a scorched-earth policy against any rivals showing themselves as a threat to his crowning.
Any non-Romney who shows life, some of you cannot wait to tear down.
Sadly, Santorum has been a senator and therefore has an extensive voting record that holds some votes he too likely held his nose while making in order to obtain support for other measures, much like I will have to do if Romney is the candidate (not quite sure how I will stomach voting for Paul, perhaps I will have to staple the nose shut).
Perhaps some of you scholarly sorts cannot wrap your brain around that.
Ausonius commented:
#38 you cannot be serious about Mitt not having heavy baggage. Methinks his carry ons alone would occupy the first class section.
The singular greatest issue to object to obama is health care. That alone makes Mitt the singular worst candidate to face him (for crying out loud his advisers assisted in crafting obama’s version!) Too many Mitt supporters seem unable to grasp this.
Then there is his senate campaign in ’94 against Kennedy where, among other things, Mitt loudly mocked the Reagan movement and distanced himself from it in total.
I’m sure there won’t be much unearthed while he was governor of one of the most left wing states in the union, right? And why is it no one is bringing those actions to light? Is it because he A.) was elected to and governed from a conservative position in one of the most liberal states; or B.) because the establishment has kept him guarded (he was not a frontrunner in ’08 and was not therefore scrutinized as he might have otherwise been) and obama certainly would rather dump what they have after he has been selected when it would benefit them more.
We know he was pro-choice before he was against it. What else?
Fuquay Steve commented:
How heavy is that water you are carrying Jim? PS The Daily Caller is hammering Santorum on the gay stuff – you might want to jump on that (not literally but figuratively). Then go to the stuff they said about JFK – you know, who does he follow first – The Pope or the Constitution? That’s always popular, when all else fails. Let us know if you need any further advice.