Monday, February 6, 2012

Rick Santorum and his love affair with Big Government

Rick Santorum is being touted as this GOP Elections true conservative. I guess if you think Big Government is a quality in your definition of "Conservative", you probably agree. Not all do however.

"(Santorum)..He is a big government conservative. Santorum is right on social issues, but has never let his love of social issues stand in the way of the creeping expansion of the welfare state. In fact, he has been complicit in the expansion of the welfare state."
Here are some of his votes. For others, Go HERE:

NEA:
 
Voted for taxpayer funding of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Voted against a 10% cut in the budget for National Endowment for the Arts.

Defense and Foreign Policy:
 
Voted for the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
Voted against requiring the President to certify that the CWC is effectively verifiable.
Voted against requiring the President to certify that that Iran, Iraq, Syria,Libya, North Korea, China, and all other countries determined to be state sponsors of terror have joined CWC prior to submitting the instrument of ratification.
Voted for the START II Treaty
Voted to allow the sale of supercomputers to China.
Voted to ban antipersonnel landmines
Voted against increasing defense spending offset by equivalent cuts in non-defense spending.
Voted to require that Federal bureaucrats get the same payraises as uniformed military.
Voted to allow food and medicine sales to state sponsors of terror and tyrannical regimes such as Libya and Cuba.

Nominations:

Voted for Sonia Sotomayor, Circuit Judge

Labor:

Voted against National Right to Work Act
Voted against Real of Davis-Bacon Prevailing union wages
Voted for Job Corps funding
Voted twice in support of Fedex Unionization
Voted for minimum wage increases six times here here here here here and here

Guns:

Voted for Federal funding for anti-gun education programs in schools.Voted twice for a Congressional pay raise.

Reform:

Voted to impose a uniform Federal mandate on states to force them to allow convicted rapists, arsonists, drug kingpins, and all other ex-convicts to vote in Federal elections.
Voted for the Specter “backup plan” to allow campaign finance reform to survive if portions of the bill were found unconstitutional.

Immigration:

Voted against increasing the number of immigration investigators
Voted to allow illegal immigrants to receive the earned income credit before becoming citizens
Voted to give SSI benefits to legal aliens.
Voted to give welfare benefits to naturalized citizens without regard to to the earnings of their sponsors.
Voted against hiring an additional 1,000 border patrol agents, paid for by reductions in state grants.

Welfare:

Voted against food stamp reform
Voted against Medicaid reform
Voted against TANF reform

Waste:

Sponsored An amendment to increase Amtrak funds by $550 million
Voted to use HUD funds for the Joslyn Art Museum (NE), the Stand Up for Animals project (RI) and the Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Project (WA)
Voted to increase spending on social programs by $7 billion
Voted for a $1 billion bailout for the steel industry 
Voted against requiring a uniform medical criteria to ensure asbestos claims were legitimate.

Spending and Entitlements:

Voted against paying off the debt ($5.6 trillion at the time) within 30 years.
Voted to raid Social Security instead of using surpluses to pay down the debt. 

Health Care:

Voted to allow states to impose health care mandates that are stricter than proposed new Federal mandates, but not weaker. 

Education:

Voted to increase spending for the Department of Education by $3.1 billion.

And there is so much more in the above and other categories.

CLICH HERE to view Source

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17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Governor Mitt Romney passed MassCare, because he was overpowered with a 85% democratic legislature. With the mandate, Romney prevented that legislature from passing something far more devastating.

What's Santorum's excuse for voting against the National Right to Work Act? He didn't have to go toe to toe battle against an opponent legislature. He was a cogressman and could vote his free will and convictions. It appears re-election was more important to him, though.

And they say Romney has no core!

Terrye said...

Anon..his excuse is that the electorate in his home state of PA did not like the right to work state...but somehow or other he does not think that the fact that Romney was supporting a policy that most of the people of Mass supported has any relevance when it comes to Romneycare.

Kim said...

Excellent post and thank you for posting Santorum information.

Everyone seems to want to give him a pass.

Brenda S. Adams said...

All right - having posted this and other posts regarding the nominees who are currently running, who would be your pick? I think many of us are becoming ever more confused the more we read, see and hear about these nominees. It's frankly quite discouraging...

Socrates said...

Brenda,

I'm from the William F. Buckley School of Thought on this.

there were 2 criteria:

1. the person closest to your views and if it is no where near 100%, that's fine. the closest anyway.
2. The best chance of beating Obama and stealing Independents away from him.

With number 2, you may need to rethink number 1, which to Buckley was the most important.

Anonymous said...

Let's try to stop attacking the most palatable candidate in favor of the other's that are even less palatable. I reject this wholeheartedly. Yes, he' a Big Gov't guy, but even more so is Romney. Now that he's gaining a little traction, the attack squad shows up immediately to remind us he's a Mitt Jr. & it will be soon said he's unelectable.

I'd put out a message along these lines:

"I understand what the people of America are saying in this decade. Their message has been heard and understood. The people are now eager for a leader who will restore, the Constitutional limitations of government, who will mobilize moral force of xxx million people to reduce and to limit the inequitable, concentration of power in any government, organization or economic combine."

With these challenging words, Senator XXX XXXX of XXX launched his campaign for the Presidency of the United States. Their force and clarity reflect the man and explain the ever-increasing enthusiasm of millions of Americans for him. They are the words of a XXX turned statesman who will accept no substitutes for fundamental American principles. They are the words of a dedicated public servant seeking our Nation's highest office; not to satisfy personal ambition, but to lead a crusade which will restore pride and self reliance at home and respect abroad.

Throughout his public career, XXX XXXX has never made special appeals to special interest groups. He never will. He is an American who will work for America; not for one particular section, class, group or party, but for all of America. He is one man in public life today who can transform principles into programs to produce a stronger America and a stronger Free World."

Honestly, can Mitt Romney make a statement like this? Could he even mouth these words. I don't think so. At the minimum, Santorum has courage, tenacity, boldness & loyalty to his family, party & supporters. Praise him for his actions, actions where he did the best he could in the circumstances of the politics involved in the Senate. If people are going to equivacate on Romney's actions of governing a "liberal" state, you're going to have to apply Santorum's equivacations in the Senate.

Socrates, if you want some real conservative values where this message came from go here:

http://bit.ly/elSEYN

What's your message? I'll tell you what I suspect, "elect Willard Mitt Romney at any cost come Hell or high water."

Anonymous said...

Oh my heck, this list is devastating. Welcome to the spotlight, Rick!

-Martha

Anonymous said...

DOUBLE Ouch!

Bob said...

LION HEAD,

Hardly an attack. All the links to these votes go back to the governments web site.

We hold Romney and Gingrich to their records, why not Santorum.

I'm disgusted by these votes. I had heard he was big on earmarks for PA, but all this is just to much to accept of a next President.

We need just the opposite in the WH.

Anonymous said...

I am from PA originally and I still have family in PA and they are SHOCKED that Santorum has gotten away with his tag line that he is the real conservative.

Santorum endorsed Arlen Specter over Pat Toomey and Arlen went on to win and also went on to place the deciding vote for Obamacare.

Santorum also opposed e-verify and Santorum was also for no child left behind and the Medicare Part D legislation.

I will say this again, and that is the fact that the Tea Party came about as a result of Republicans like Santorum who went along with GWB's spending. Santorum is a career politician and lobbyist just like Gingrich and Obama. He brings nothing new to the table.

Due to Santorum's record on spending,If Santorum was still in office in 2008 during the TARP vote..I am convinced he would have backed GWB and voted for TARP.

Noelle said...

Wow! Before my reading this post, my biggest complaint against Santorum was his utter lack of leadership experience. As it stands, he is my (distant) 2nd choice. (I can't support Gingrich because 1. he is a petty, hypocritical, pretty much utterly despicable person. I would have a hard time supporting Ron Paul because I completely disagree with his foreign policy, and he has never accomplished any of his agenda during his time in Congress.)

The fact that the source of this post is from the quintessential ABR indicates that it is for full disclosure, thus not for the purpose of "attacking" Santorum.

Romney has his flaws, no doubt. But for me those flaws are minor when compared to his tremendous strengths - strengths that we need in our country right now. No other candidate who is either still in the race, or ever was in the race can begin to compare with Romney's overall positives: tremendous success in the private sector, not just becoming very rich on his own, but also creating 10s of thousands, maybe even 100s of thousands of jobs. That matters! His record of success in turning around floundering and failing organizations, most notably the 2002 SLC Winter Olympics. We NEED a turnaround artist now. His success in balancing the budget in MA. There may be some argument about how he raised fees, and in the eyes of some people they consider that a tax. I don't, for the record. But the people of MA got the benefit of a balanced budget and a smaller government too. We definitely need that!

Rick Santorum seems to be an honorable guy. I definitely respect him as a husband and father. But the simple fact is he is not the perfect conservative that people want. Such a person does not exist. Every person, every candidate is imperfect. As a candidate he has failed to get on the ballot in several states. That kind of lack of organization will never win. No major candidate should have to admit that they failed to get on any state ballot, especially one as important as Virginia.

Anonymous said...

Rick Santorum's flown under the radar because few saw him as a threat, not because he has a conervative record. There is plenty to be vetted and plenty to claim against his conservatism.

Santorum's got the record of a big government spender and can't counter Obama on this very, very important national debt issue, because Santorum voted against a balanced budget and likes to pile on debt.

Romney's still the best choice, because he's balanced every budget he's ever placed his hands on.

The ABR's just cannot face the reality in front of them: Romney's the best choice among the candidates running.

Get over it alreay!

Romney 2012!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Terrye said...

Lionhead..Talking about the man's record is not attacking him. People who do not like Romney have been after him for months and months..I have been told that they are not holding him to a different standard, in fact they are only vetting him.

Well, it is time to vet Santorum. Besides, he can not beat Obama..I think it will be hard for anyone to beat Obama, but I find it even harder to believe that Santorum can win a general election. And believe me, Obama will bring out everything about this man.

Terrye said...

leighrow...I don't have a big problem with the original TARP vote..the money that was loaned out when Bush was president has been paid back and people can complain about it all they want, but TARP worked and I do agree that Santorum would have voted for it..I think that given the financial panic of the times most people would have..

I also don't have a huge problem with Medicare Part D...that was the only way to get Medicare Advantage and Health Savings Accounts, both of which conservatives approved..and the Part D program has come in 43% under budget.

My problem with Santorum is the pretense that he is something he is not..he might as well be honest about all this and defend his record, that is what he will have to do if he runs against Obama.

Terrye said...
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Terrye said...
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Doug NYC GOP said...

Terrye - You are right on the first TARP - no problem with that. It was done to support and stabilize the dollar. Money Market Funds are the main holding accounts for everyone's cash. They basically are mutual funds of various bank notes and loans and valued each day at $1.00 per share. Their are NOT supposed to fluctuate in price.

Because some of the banks were holding troubled assets there was a significant risk money markets might be valued less than $1.00 per share, thereby destabiling the money. In other words a dollar moight be worth $0.96 - which is a 4% devaluation. Having you doolar not worth a dollar when you wake up one morning, coulod have caused a panic or run.

The real trouble with TARP began with Obama initially insisting banks couldn't repay it. He wanted them on the hook for this cash and having to use it in tandem with his programs. The banks balked and that idea was shut down. TARP2 was passed and that program was where yo had all the shenannagins take place.