Santorum Tells Romney He Doesn’t Know What He’s Talking About In Earmark Scuffle

video

by Frances Martel | 8:50 pm, February 22nd, 2012

» 15 comments

Rick Santorum may have responded mildly to Rep. Ron Paul calling him a flat-out “fake” at the beginning of tonight’s CNN debate, but he did not take attacks from Mitt Romney similarly, challenging him on the subject of earmarks and telling him that, having not been in Congress, he didn’t “know what he was talking about” when attacking Santorum for making Congress spend so much more money on earmarks.

“You’re allowed to your own opinions, but you’re not entitled to your own facts!” Santorum told Romney after the latter scolded him significantly for his use of earmarks while in Congress. The debate stuck mostly to policy positions and the history of what Santorum did in Congress with few personal attacks and much crosstalk– Romney and Santorum’s agreement on accepting the line-item veto being perhaps the most indicative of how substantive the debate was. Santorum did also take a backhanded swipe at Rep. Paul, calling him “one of the most prolific earmarkers in Congress today,” before qualifying that as not necessarily a compliment.

Newt Gingrich made his first strong showing in the debate, explaining that earmarks are not necessarily bad because “if you have Barack Obama as President and you have a Republican House, you may want to the House imposing some things on the President.” He also went into a pronoun minefield over the other three candidates attacking each other for doing precisely what they all do on this topic, one the other candidates followed with some difficulty.

The segment via CNN below:

2012 elections, CNN, debate, Earmarks, John King, Mitt Romney, newt gingrich, Republicans, Rick Santorum

http://mediamatters.org/ Leedog

The only thing Mitten knows is that the trees are the perfect height in Michigan!!
http://profile.yahoo.com/CQYIJTDNUC2Z64WD5QEYHU7C7U Jemma

If you are looking for excitement of boring life, I have a place to recommend. —-casualmingle dot ‘c~o~m—– for people who seek casual encounters and one nite stand thing. come on join it now to find your perfect match/!! gfxhbfg
Anonymous

And that he likes cars. American cars.
Anonymous

I think Mitt did look stupid in this exchange, as all of the other candidates knew more about the process, but I think many voters probably didn’t follow what was going on. If you didn’t know something about earmarks going in, you’d be lost

Also, it’s pretty obvious Ron Paul is the right hand hatchet man of Mitt. I actually like a lot of what Ron Paul has to say, but I his partnership with Romney bothers me
shonangreg

Santorum says the earmarks gace us the V-22 Osprey “in our war with Islamic fundamentalism”. This seems quite revealing. The Osprey is useful in general battles. Multi-usefulness is its big feature. We can use the Osprey in many battles around the world, not just the ones in part against Islamic fundamentalism.

The approriateness of those battles may be a different matter, but Santorum seems to think that a direct battle with Islamic fundamentalism is something America should wage. In his self-righteousness he wants another Crusade, this one from America.

And for those who do want to hit out at some centers of Islamic activity, it’s not that I think we should not be weary of militant Islam, but the same is true of many other forces and religions in the world. Islam is not the overriding problem in the world today those beating the drums of war make it out to be.
Anonymous

Give the edge to Mitt tonight. He and Ron Paul did a good job of exposing Santorum for all his support for big government and bailouts. Just as Romney has no credibility to criticize the president for the healthcare mandates, Santorum has no credibility criticizing the president for wasteful spending & bailouts. Seems as if Ron Paul is the only one that could criticize the president without looking like a hypocrite.
http://www.proactivepolitics.blogspot.com/ Norbit Peters

Great Debate last night.
Romney picked up a lot of juice and respect; Gingrich crystallized the message.

What a contrast with the talking-bytes Carnival Barker in the White House.
http://www.proactivepolitics.blogspot.com/ Norbit Peters

70 pages to 2700 pages.
It’s the difference between targeting health care reform and targeting a Central Government takeover through regulation – it’s the Alinsky way!
Anonymous

Hate to disagree with the God, Ron Paul that is, but you don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Spending is not that evil
http://www.facebook.com/people/Emma-Thomas/100003357377085 Emma Thomas

Oh, please. It was a snooze-fest. When Newt promised $2.50 gas, I went to eat a banana and watch air in the kitchen. To be honest, I can’t watch Obama either. He bores me to death mostly. But that ‘debate’ last night was silly.
Anonymous

Who peeled the bannana for you Emma?
The Real Royal Emperor

In fairness, he also likes lakes. The Great Lakes but also the small inland lakes.
corri anderson

you have to give it to santorum, he is a good politician, regardles of his nutbarness
Anonymous

It’s the difference between governing as the president of the United States and governing as the governor of Massachusetts.
corri anderson

Hey, which one of you is going to babysit norbit after Obama is sworn in 2.0?. Obviously he can’t be left alone.