It's Not Easy, Being "Clean"

by JASmius

....especially when you're dirty, dirty, dirty.

Over to you....Mr. Newt?:

The leadership of the Rick Santorum Republicans proved disastrous:

The Rick Santorum Republicans never passed a single balanced budget, after inheriting balanced budgets and record surpluses. They racked up $1.7 trillion in deficits and increased the average number of earmarks by almost 500%. The Senator even voted for the Bridge to Nowhere.

The Rick Santorum Republicans increased the national debt by 12% and voted to raise the debt ceiling five times to accommodate
it--even while dealing with a president of their own party.

The Senator voted with Democrats and Big Labor to defeat the
National Right to Work Act of 1995. He justifies this vote saying he was representing Pennsylvania where forced unionization is the law but today, PA Senator Toomey is cosponsoring nearly identical legislation.

The Senator voted with Democrats and Big Labor -- repeatedly -- to protect Davis-Bacon legislation, an old law on the books that requires the federal government to pay more to its contractors. He was so wedded to big labor that he even voted against waiving Davis-Bacon in times of emergency. By voting to protect Davis-Bacon, the Senator cost taxpayers many millions in higher taxes, deficits, and national debt.

The Senator sponsored the "Santorum Amendment" to raise the Minimum Wage 21.4%. He supported Ted Kennedy's proposed hike in the Minimum Wage. And, in a 2006 campaign commercial, he bragged about his support for a higher Minimum Wage.

The Rick Santorum Republicans abandoned their principles, resulting in the worst electoral defeat for Republicans since Watergate and the loss of GOP Congressional majorities in both the House and Senate. This left Congress in the hands of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. And in destroying the Republican brand of balanced budgets and spending control, the Rick Santorum Republican failure gave us Barack Obama in 2008.

This is not a record of leadership to be proud of, and in 2006 it
resulted in a catastrophic 18-point defeat. I fear it would do so again
in the fall of 2012 if he were the nominee.

One thing you can say for Newt - he's not a man for subtlety or euphemism. It's another of his "pot...kettle...black" moments, but it's a useful reminder that Santorum is every bit the flawed, fallen "sinner", for all his anti-Mitt halo-polishing, that Romney (and Gingrich) are.

And, as I said the other day, when it suits him, a bootlicking party hack:

Yes, without Cap'n SweaterVest ObamaCare wouldn't have gotten the sixtieth Senate vote it needed to escape a filibuster. Thanks a heapin' helping, Mr. "True Conservative"!

And this just in: Didja know that RS has hatched a secret deal with Mitt and Newt regarding that brokered convention he just can't stop raving about?:

On Saturday, March 3, Romney stood with Santorum and Gingrich on the floor of a shuttered DHL warehouse in Wilmington, Ohio, next to a makeshift set constructed for a presidential forum hosted by Mike Huckabee. Each man had filmed individual question-and-answer sessions with Huckabee and panels of economic experts and local Ohio business owners. With a brief break before they gave their closing statements, Romney approached Santorum and Gingrich (Ron Paul was busy campaigning in Washington).

The three candidates discussed the nominating process. Romney
raised the possibility of an unvetted candidate getting into the race and spoke of the perils such a scenario presented for the party. Not surprisingly, the other two assented and each agreed that he would reserve his support for someone now in the race. R.C. Hammond, a spokesman for Gingrich, said the consensus that emerged from the conversation was that the Republican nominee was among "the four of us" and not an outsider. Eric Fehrnstrom, a senior Romney adviser, agreed with that characterization.

So all Santorum's brokered convention bloviating isn't about ensuring that a "true conservative" usurps the GOP nomination; it's about ensuring that HE usurps the GOP nomination. Which is a big, fat, extended middle finger to both Republican voters and the Tea Party "insurgents" who are myopically spoiling for a fratricidal, anti-democratic meltdown in Tampa. Hard not to be inspired by such sterling dedication to lofty, principled idealism, huh?

Oh, by the way, guess who else says a brokered convention would be a clusterbleep for the ages?

Either Mary Tyler Less has finally begun to emerge from the mania that propelled her quixotically into the nomination race a year ago, or she's still angling to get on Romney's ticket. Either way it's an ominous omen for Rick Santorum.

PS: Romney stomped Cap'n SweaterVest in Illinois tonight by twelve percentage points and thirty-two delegates, expanding his overall delegate lead to an even three hundred. Mitt is just short of halfway to clinching the nomination, and most of the remaining contests both favor him and are winner-take-all.

Not that the two ankle-biters will take the hint and quit. But with each passing day it becomes ever clearer that the one and only purpose their bitter, stubborn persistence will serve is to guarantee the Obamidency another four years, and seal America's fate.

If that's now the measure of a "true conservative," suddenly RINO-dom isn't looking so bad.

[cross-posted @ Hard Starboard]