Rick Santorum: 2012 Presidential Profile

Richard John Santorum Born May 10, 1958  in Winchester Virginia, member of U.S. House of Representatives from 1991 -1995

Served in the U.S.Senate from 1995 – 2007. Married to Karen Garver Santorum and together they have seven children. They currently live in Penn Hills Pennsylvania.

Rick Santorum refers to himself as a Social Conservative and most people who have worked around him agree with that statement. Mr. Santorum earned the nick-name Rooster during his high school days in which he was described as noisy, dogged, showy, and determined like a Rooster who never backed down. When watching Mr. Santorum during the recent Fox GOP early 2012 Presidential debates, we could definitely see the Rooster side of Mr. Santorum,  judging by the fire and determination he showed when answering the questions. While Mr. Santorum has some fairly solid Conservative credentials from his previous stints in the U.S. House and Senate, he has also had his share of controversies and mis-statements that seem to dog him wherever he goes today. This is the aspect that makes Mr. Santorum appear to be an enigma of sorts, within conservative circles.

Let’s start with the example of what possibly led to his being defeated in his 2006 Senate re-election campaign. He was beaten resoundingly by Democratic State Treasurer Bob Casey Jr., the son of a former Pennsylvania Governor. Santorum’s Senate seat was targeted by the DNC as an integral part of their plan to capture control of the U.S. Senate in the 2006 elections, and Mr. Santorum has mentioned the DNC operatives and their collaboration with media outlets to slander him several times when asked why he lost his re-election bid in 2006. This shouldn’t surprise many informed conservatives, considering the lies, misinformation from the downright classless DNC of recent years. What may surprise some conservatives is the fact that Rick Santorum supported the RINO Arlen Specter over the proven conservative Pat Toomey in the 2004 Republican primary for the U.S. Senate, and we all now that Specter turned out to be a traitor against all conservative principles. It should be noted that the progressive Republican party,  at all levels, including national and local, got behind Specter over Toomey here. This points to Santorum going along with the progressive elements of old guard power and going against common sense conservative principles. I find it odd that the Rooster let the progressive GOP push him into supporting Arlen Specter over Pat Toomey during this debacle, and the conservative voters of Pennsylvania showed their displeasure by not voting for Santorum in 2006, causing him to lose his Senate seat like so many other GOP Senators which allowed progressives to take over the U.S. Senate at the very worst time imaginable.

Santorum on the issues.   Complete rundown on voting history and stances on the main issues can be found  here.

Abortion – Solid Pro-lifer- against abortion except in rape and life threatening situations to the mother.  Rated 0% by NARAL making him anti-abortion.

Budget and economy – Voted for balanced budget constitutional amendment – Solid conservative on cutting spending and deficits.

Civil rights- Rated 25% by the ACLU meaning he has an anti-civil rights voting record. The 25% must stem from his voting no on banning afirmative action hiring with federal funds. America has a problem with incompetent minorities being hired over better qualified applicants in our federal government today, and it shows in how dysfunctional and incompetent most government programs have become. This leads to exorbitant numbers of people having to be hired to do the job one person did just 20 years ago. This leads to inefficiency and a waste of tax payer dollars. One university study pointed out that it now takes eight government workers to do the job of what one worker did as recently as 1990. Anyone continuing to support affirmative action hiring of incompetents in America just because of race, national origin or political party, is guilty of enabling the widespread incompetence we see within our government and across America today. It is also an extreme form of discrimination and the facts prove it. A true conservative will demand the most qualified individuals be hired before racial quotas are filled, lest our country’s workforce become more dysfunctional than it already is.

Corporations – Rated 100% by the US COC, making him a solidly pro-business candidate.

Crime – Very solid conservative who also voted against abolishing the death penalty.

Education – Voted for school vouchers in DC. Voted against taking money from corporations tax breaks to further fund public schools, which are already receiving record amounts of funding while our quality of education in America has declined steadily for a decade or more. Santorum is solidly conservative in demanding improvements in education through private tutoring, school choice, and better monitoring of student performance. There are numerous reasons why some schools turn out better students than others, and we can’t just keep throwing billions of more tax dollars at the problem, hoping for a magical cure.

Energy and oil – Votes on energy and oil staunchly conservative, with support for drilling leases in Alaska’s  ANWR and the Arctic National Wildlife refuge. Voted yes on targeting 100,00 hydrogen powered vehicles by 2010. Votes yes on defunding Solar and renewable energy while voting yes on approving a nuclear waste repository. Has stated on numerous occasions that he doesn’t believe it is the government’s role to take over the energy industry.

The environment – Green activists and environmental groups label Santorum anti-environment protection which is the same old typical misinformation they usually propagate when slandering conservatives. Santorum is for protecting the environment, just not at the expense of what are now our only viable, proven energy sources – domestic oil , natural gas and coal.

On Foreign policy – This is an area he needs to clarify his previous Senate votes on. Voted YES on enlarging NATO to include Eastern Europe, on giving 17.9 billion tax dollars to the IMF, and strengthening the trade embargo with Cuba. Also voted YES on capping foreign aid at 12.7 billion in 1999.

Government reform – Kind of wishy-washy here. Voted numerous times to further allow Lobbyist gifts to Congress. Voted yes on funding for the National Endowment for the Arts. Voted no on campaign finance reforms. Voted yes for Voter photo ID for voter registration. ( which is ridiculous that people can register to vote in certain places in America with just a signature in the first place) Voted yes on Presidential line veto powers.

Gun Control –  Voted no on background checks at gun shows. Voted Yes on stiffer penalties for gun and drug offenses. Voted Yes on maintaining current gun laws that allow sale of guns without trigger locks.

Health care – Rated 0% by the APHA meaning he has an anti-public voting record, which uses Socialist propaganda as its base talking points. If people want the same health-care as the working class, they should just get the hell to work for it, instead of asking others to pay their way in life, period. (My opinion)  Voted Yes on Medicare means-testing ( which is common sense reform) and voted NO on blocking medical savings accounts. Mr. Santorum is anti-Obama-care, anti-government run health care and anti-Socialist wealth redistribution that is inherent in Obama-care, which is a stance anyone posing as a conservative candidate needs to take today, lest we have to expose them as progressive RINOS and fake conservatives.. and kick them out of our government!

Homeland security – Voted pro-military in most instances. Voted Yes on re-authorizing the Patriot Act. Voted Yes on 4.6 % military pay reaises. Voted Yes on another round of military base closures. Voted Yes on cutting nuclear weapons below Start levels. Voted No on restricting businesses with entities linked to terrorism. Voted Yes on Deploying National Defense Missile System ASAP.

Immigration – Voted Yes on building the fence. Voted No on Guest Worker program. Voted No on illegal aliens participating in Social Security, ( and coming here at 64 years of age and sucking off the U S taxpayer for 30-40 more years, as they are now doing) Voted No on giving Guest Workers a path to citizenship. (Apply for citizenship like the rest of the honorable legal immigrants) Voted Yes on limiting welfare for immigrants.

Taxation- Voted yes to permanently repeal the death tax. Voted pretty much for less taxation , across the board spending cuts, and for needing a super-majority to raise taxes in Congress. Rated 81% by NTU,  (National Tax Union) meaning he is a taxpayer’s friend and the enemy of big government, big spending Liberal Socialists and RINO- fake Conservative Republicans alike.

WELFARE – Voted Yes on Welfare block grants and allowing State welfare waivers, while also voting Yes for welfare reform. Also voted to increase the Earned Income Credit, which is also another form of Liberal wealth redistribution.

On The Issues website lists Santorum as a Hard-Core Conservative. Looking at today’s $14.5 trillion dollars of debt, maybe a hard core Conservative is just what we need in 2012. America can hardly afford anything less.

News note: May 12, 2011- Ethics Committee finds Santorum guilty of  breaking federal law and Senate rules in alerting Ensign  here.

Recently after Mike Huckabee and Donald Trump withdrew their names for the 2012 Presidential candidates, NBC Political Director Chuck Todd contended the decisions by Donald Trump and Mike Huckabee to forgo presidential runs leaves “an opening now for the economic populous, a sort of confrontational fire-breather, if you will, in the Republican Party.” Todd soon repeated his disparaging “fire-breather” formulation: “There is a vast opening now for the social conservative, sort of what Pat Buchanan was in 1992, this fire-breathing, pitch-fork carrying, I’m mad and heck and not going to take it anymore Republican.”  Could the Rooster,AKA, Rick Santorum fit that description? It certainly appears so, from what we see so far from Mr. Santorum.

It will be interesting to see how Mr. Santorum fairs against a stockpile of moderate progressive Republicans like Newt Gingrich and Jon Huntsman and the rest of the old-guard GOP in the near future discussions, interviews and debates.. He should be able to hold his own  in future debates against the supposed new breed of conservative faces, such as Herman Cain, Mitch Daniels and others,” if ”  he can keep his cool and stick to his staunchly conservative roots. Could all the Tea-party groups, Libertarians, and true Conservatives lift Santorum over the old guard GOP candidates in 2012? Looking at what happened in the 2010 elections, I would have to say yes, Santorum could be the man in the 2012 GOP Primary. That brings us to the inevitable question of whether Santorum could ever be expected to topple Obama and his Chicago inspired get out the vote billion dollar-buy-the-election campaign?  My answer comes from another quiet force to be reckoned with in the 2012 elections, one way or another. YOU BETCHA, Mr. Santorum could bring the Obama Socialism train to a screeching halt in 2012, if given half a chance, and maybe just a little support from the GOP !

 

See the profiles of other potential 2012 GOP Candidates

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Rich Mitchell

Rich Mitchell is the editor-in-chief of Conservative Daily News and the president of Bald Eagle Media, LLC. His posts may contain opinions that are his own and are not necessarily shared by Bald Eagle Media, CDN, staff or .. much of anyone else. Find him on twitter, facebook and

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One Comment

  1. “Voted No on restricting businesses with entities linked to terrorism.”

    I think you just lost me, Mr. Biundo.

    I cannot and will not support anyone who does not have a strong stance against Islam in this country. Islam is not compatible with our Constitutional form of government and anyone who has read the Koran knows that no matter what they say, there is no such thing as a “moderate” Muslim. We cannot coexist. It is not possible.

    My father died serving this nation in Vietnam when I was 12 years old. I will not dishonor his memory by supporting anyone who will allow any further Muslim infiltration into our government or our society.

    When it comes down to it all Muslims will do as the Koran instructs, and the Koran instructs them to kill the infidels who will not convert to Islam.

    If Mr. Santorum wants the vote of patriotic Americans he will disavow Islam in all its forms.
    Maybe he should have a discussion about Islam with Lt. Col. Allen West.

    “We the people” have had enough!

      1. Yes, Mr. Abraham, I do know what I am talking about. Read the Koran, why don’t you, and I would suggest that you don’t just read the pretty parts.

        The translation for Islam is submission. That is what Islam is all about, and you can continue believing the politically correct nonsense spewed by the media and so called “moderate” Muslims or you can educate yourself on the real Islam.

        Here’s a start for you. Mark Gabriel was a Muslim, and he studied Islam his whole life. He is an Islamic scholar, and I think he probably knows a little more about it than either of us:

        https://www.bibleprobe.com/magabriel.htm

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