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Rick Santorum on Principles & Values
Republican Jr Senator (PA); 2012 presidential frontrunner
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Vote for leader of free world; not for who entertains you
This debate was called the "Undercard Debate". What Iowans deserve is to hear from every candidate. Had they applied the same rules four years ago, I would have been in the undercard debate. The guy who won the Iowa Caucuses would have been in
the undercard debate, not talked about. We would have been talking about an entertainer that may have been trying to run. Ladies and gentlemen, you have a chance to put the record straight about who you want, not who will entertain you.
Source: 2016 Fox News Republican Undercard debate in Iowa
, Jan 28, 2016
Obama is divisive & untrustworthy; I am respectful
This president has been the most divisive in my lifetime. He personally attacks people. He ascribes motives to them that aren't true and he tears them down. How are you going to work with someone if you don't treat them? I was a tough fighter in
Washington. We took a Congress that had been controlled by Democrats for 40 years, and brought in a Republican majority. But then, I was able to then work with those same people we fought with, not because I was mean, but because I was respectful.
Source: 2016 Fox News Republican Undercard debate in Iowa
, Jan 28, 2016
Trust Iowans to pick best leader rather than follow polls
I want to thank the people of Iowa. You're good people. You know good leaders. Lead. Pick the right person, not what the polls say.
Not who the money people support. Pick the leader you know is best for this country.
Source: 2016 Fox News Republican Undercard debate in Iowa
, Jan 28, 2016
I'm a real conservative who won in a blue state
Gov. Bobby JINDAL: If politicians say they're going to be conservative, they say they're going to cut spending but they don't do it, why should we send them to DC? Let's elect a conservative to the White House, not just any Republican.
Gov. Chris CHRISTIE: We need someone who knows how to beat Democrats in a Democratic area. I've done it twice as governor of New Jersey.
SANTORUM: This is a real legitimate debate between Chris and Bobby:
Chris says we need someone who can win in a blue state, and Bobby says we need a real principled conservative. [Holds out arms offering himself as meeting both criteria]. 92% conservative voting record. I was actually the author of welfare reform,
which is the only time we've ever seen a federal entitlement actually cut. We cut it. You want someone who can win Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, with a conservative message, I'm your guy.
Source: 2015 Fox Business/WSJ Second Tier GOP debate
, Nov 10, 2015
Pass a 1st Amendment Defense Act
16 years ago, this country was inspired by a young woman who faced a gunman in Columbine and was challenged about her faith and refused to deny God. Today, someone who defies a judge's unconstitutional verdict is chastised. That is a huge difference
in 16 years. People have a fundamental right in the First Amendment. I believe we have to pass the First Amendment Defense Act, which provides that room for people who do not want to be complicit in what they believe is against their faith.
Source: 2015 Republican two-tiered primary undercard debate on CNN
, Sep 16, 2015
Won 11 state primaries in 2012 presidential race
Rick Santorum was a candidate for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in 2012 and became known as a voice for conservatives who didn't feel their voice was being represented. His grassroots approach to campaigning--including
visiting every one of Iowa's 99 counties and his stunning victory in the Iowa caucuses--catapulted him to frontrunner status where he ultimately won 11 states and nearly 4 million votes during the Republican primary process.
Source: 2016 presidential campaign website RickSantorum.com, "About"
, May 27, 2015
Obama's worldview: secular socialistic culture like Europe
Santorum was calling Obama a socialist before it was cool. He launched what's now become a signature attack in an August 2008 speech to the Oxford Centre for Religion and Public Life: Calling President Obama a socialist. Santorum attacked the then
Senator Obama on numerous fronts, accusing Obama of wanting a "more secular, government-driven, top-down, elitist culture," similar to that of Western Europe. Noting Obama's speech in Berlin,
Santorum said this:"It was just such an affirmation of this belief to see Barack Obama in Germany. He is the party of Europe. They love him over there. Why? Because it is a very secular world. It's a very secular culture. It's a socialistic culture.
It is exactly what Barack Obama wants to see America. It's exactly what Howard Dean envisions for America. If you look at everything they do, they point to the journey of Western Europe as the journey they want to replicate here in America."
Source: Andrew Kaczynski on BuzzFeed,"Calling Obama A Socialist"
, Feb 22, 2012
Vital to put a conservative crusader into the White House
Facing Republicans who desperately want to replace President Barack Obama, Santorum said it's even more vital to put a conservative crusader into the White House. "We will no longer abandon and apologize for the policies and principles that made this
country great for a hollow victory in November," he said. If voters see that as a hint that it's more important to be ideologically pure than to oust Obama, Santorum may have to explain more fully.Without saying Mitt Romney's name, Santorum said the
former governor's health care record would make it impossible for him to draw needed contrasts with Obama. He said Romney had created "the stepchild of Obamacare."
Santorum warned Republicans against a premature emphasis on moderate voters, who could
decide the presidential election in swing states. "We always talk about, 'Oh, how are we going to get the moderates?'" Santorum said. "Why would an undecided voter vote for a candidate of a party who the party is not excited about?"
Source: WJLA coverage: 2012 Conservative Political Action Conference
, Feb 10, 2012
We need command leadership; not business experience
Q: You have said we don't need a CEO, we don't need a manager as president. What did you mean by that? SANTORUM: Well, we need a leader, someone who has the experience to go out and be the commander-in-chief. I've experienced 8 years on the Armed
Services Committee. We need someone who can go out and paint a vision of what America's strength is about, let our allies know that they can trust us, let our enemies know that they have to respect us, and if they cross us, they should fear us.
Q: Were you talking about Gov. Romney with the manager part?
SANTORUM: The manager part? Yeah, well, of course I was talking about Gov. Romney. Business experience doesn't necessarily match up with being the commander-in-chief of this country.
The commander-in-chief of this country isn't a CEO. It's someone who has to lead. You can't direct members of Congress as to how you do things. You've got to lead and inspire. And I've been the one that's been able to do that.
Source: WMUR 2012 GOP New Hampshire debate
, Jan 7, 2012
I'm a conservative but not a libertarian; some government OK
Q: Congressman Paul, you've got a new ad up in which you call Santorum a corrupt corporate lobbyist, a Washington insider with a record of betrayal. Are you willing to stand by those charges?RON PAUL: In a survey, he came out as one of the top corrupt
individuals because he took so much money from the lobbyists. But what really counts is his record: he's a big government, big spending individual.
SANTORUM: The group that called me corrupt was a group called CREW.
If you haven't been sued by CREW, you're not a conservative. It's a ridiculous charge. I'm a conservative. I'm not a libertarian. I believe in some government. I do believe that as a senator from Pennsylvania that I had a responsibility to go out there
and represent the interests of my state. I am not a libertarian, Ron--you vote against everything. I don't vote against everything. I do vote for some spending. I do think government has a role to play.
Source: WMUR 2012 GOP New Hampshire debate
, Jan 7, 2012
I appeal to blue-collar voters, not Wall Street
ROMNEY: The people that have been hurt in the Obama economy are the middle-class. SANTORUM: The governor used a term that I shrink from. And it's one that I don't think we should be using as Republicans, "middle class." There are no classes in America
We are a country that doesn't put people in classes. There may be middle income people, but the idea that we're going to buy into the class warfare arguments of Barack Obama is something that should not be part of the Republican lexicon.
That's their job: divide, separate, put one group against another. That's not the language that I'll use as president. I'll use the language of bringing people together. So if you want someone that's a clear contrast, that has a strong record, has a
vision for this country that's going to get this country growing & appeal to blue collar workers & deliver that message, that we care about you, too, not just about Wall Street and bailing them out, then I'm the guy that you want to put in the nomination
Source: WMUR 2012 GOP New Hampshire debate
, Jan 7, 2012
I ran & won as a conservative in a swing state
No one in this field has won a swing state. Pennsylvania is a swing state. We win Pennsylvania, we win the election. I've won it twice. I defeated a Democratic incumbent, winning it the first time, and I won the state of Pennsylvania, the only senator to
win a state who was a conservative that George Bush lost. Bush lost it by 5, I won it by 6. So, you have someone who is defeated and been matched up against three Democratic incumbents. I'm 3-0. Nobody in this field has won a major race against a
Democratic incumbent except me.I ran in 1994, the same year Mitt Romney did in Massachusetts. He ran as a liberal, to the left of Kennedy, and lost. I ran as a conservative and I won. In 2002, he ran as a moderate in Massachusetts.
I ran for re-election as a moral conservative; I was a foreign policy conservative; I was a fiscal conservative, and I got elected in a state that hasn't elected a president since 1988 as a Republican.
Source: GOP 2011 primary debate in Las Vegas
, Oct 18, 2011
Obama is the new King George III, dictating from on high
Q: With regards to jobs, how are you going to turn this country around?A: The last words Ronald Reagan said as president, in his farewell address, he was concerned about the future of our country because we were forgetting who we were, didn't remember
what America was really all about. I think that's what's the problem right now, is we have a president who doesn't understand what America is all about. America is a great country because we are a country that believes in God-given rights to every single
man, woman and child in America, and that we built this country from the bottom up, believing in free people, to have that responsibility to live their lives in service to themselves, their family, their community, and their god, and in so doing, we
transformed the world. We had a leader in Reagan who believed in you. Pres. Obama is the new King George III, who believes in things being dictated from on high. We need to replace him with someone who believes in the American people again.
Source: 2011 GOP Google debate in Orlando FL
, Sep 22, 2011
The soul of America is God-given liberty
I am running for pres because Obamacare threatens the soul of America: God-given liberty.
In 2008 Americans voted for a president they thought they could believe in; I will be a president who believes in you, the people. And i have a record in DC to back it up.
Source: 2011 Republican primary debate on Twitter.com
, Jul 21, 2011
Tea Party is now the backbone of the conservative movement
Q: What role do you think the Tea Party will play in the 2012 elections? A: Hopefully as great as they did on the last election. Defending the constitution and limited govt. Thank you!! The Tea Party is now the backbone of the conservative movement.
It will help elect a principled conservative leader for 2012.
Source: 2011 Republican primary debate on Twitter.com
, Jul 21, 2011
Govern via both faith & reason
Q: I'm wondering what your definition of the separation of church and state is?PAWLENTY: Well, the protections between the separation of church and state were designed to protect people of faith from government, not government from people of faith.
Q: How will that affect your decision-making?
SANTORUM: I'm someone who believes that you approach issues using faith and reason. And if your faith is pure and your reason is right, they'll end up in the same place. I think the key to the success of
this country, how we all live together, is because we are a very diverse country. We allow everybody, people of faith and no faith, to come in and make their claims in the public square, to be heard, have those arguments, and not to say because you're no
a person of faith, you need to stay out, because you have strong faith convictions, your opinion is invalid. Just the opposite--we get along because we know that we--all of our ideas are allowed in and tolerated. That's what makes America work.
Source: 2011 GOP primary debate in Manchester NH
, Jun 13, 2011
I agree with Bush 98% of the time, but I say when I don’t
Q: If you review your voting record in support of the president, here it is: In 2005 you were with him 95% of the time, 100% of the time in ‘04, 99% in ‘03, 96% in ‘02, 97% in ‘01. George Bush and Rick Santorum have governed very much in lock-step.
SANTORUM: Absolutely. I agree with the president a vast majority of the time. When I agree with him, I say it. And when I don’t agree with him, I say it, too.
CASEY: I think what the people of Pennsylvania expect and deserve is someone who’s going to
be truly independent. Being a rubber stamp for the president is not in the best interest of the people of America.
Q: But have the Democrats sometimes been obstructionist, & opposed everything that Bush proposed?
CASEY: I’m sure they have. But when
you have two politicians that agree 98% of the time, one of them’s really not necessary. We need someone who’s going to be truly independent, who has the character and the integrity to stand up to his party and his president, especially at a time of war
Source: Meet the Press: PA 2006 Senate Debate, Tim Russert moderator
, Sep 3, 2006
Accused of taking home-school money while residing out of PA
Q: The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette had this editorial: “Five Santorum children have been home-schooled, paid for by the Penn Hills district to the tune of $38,000 a year, until it became apparent that they don’t live in Penn Hills. [The newspaper] sent a
letter to Santorum at his home address, at least the one that he claims. Back came the letter with a sticker from the US Postal Service [as undeliverable].” In 1990 you ran this commercial repeatedly:There’s something strange about this house
It belongs to our congressman, Doug Walgren. What’s so strange? Instead of living in his own congressional district, Congressman Walgren lives in this house, located in the wealthiest area of Virginia.
Q: Isn’t that rather hypocritical of
you?SANTORUM: No, not at all. My opponent never owned a home in the district, ever, in 14 years. I own a home and always owned a home.
Q: How many nights have you personally spent there?
SANTORUM: I probably spend maybe a month a year.
Source: PA 2006 Senate Debate, Tim Russert moderator
, Sep 3, 2006
Liberalism is an ideology; conservatism is common sense
The liberal news media, Hollywood, and the educational elite in America tend to portray political liberals as the courageous champions of the average guy--and the poor. Conservatives, on the other hand, are portrayed as fundamentally selfish,
self-interested individuals. Both conservative economic policy and conservative efforts to help the poor help themselves are more genuinely compassionate--and effective--than the liberal alternative. These policies are already beginning to work, for all
Americans.The media echo chamber promotes that liberal social policies are rational, tolerant, progressive, and caring. Social conservatives, on the other hand, are portrayed as irrational, ignorant, rigid Bible-thumpers obsessed with prophesying woe.
Liberals' fundamentally different vision for America is completely at odds with that of our nation's founders, and with the views of most Americans today. Liberalism is an ideology; conservatism is common sense.
Source: It Takes A Family, by Sen. Rick Santorum, p. 3-4
, Apr 30, 2006
Church-state "neutrality" is not in US Constitution
In 1947 the Supreme Court's majority declared that the "wall between Church and State must be kept high and impregnable." In the Court's eyes, the Constitution's position on religion is one of a "strict and lofty neutrality."In most cases since then,
the question before the Court concerned either prayer in public schools, or public assistance for sectarian (usually Catholic) schools. Just last year, the Supreme Court dodged on a technicality a case that would have removed "under God" from the Pledge
of Allegiance: ruling "under God" unconstitutional would have been deeply unpopular, but by the Court's own logic, there is no way to escape the conclusion it must go. The overarching impulse of the Court's position has been to drive religion from the
public square, in the name of the constitutional principle "neutrality"--both among religions and between religion and irreligion.
Of course, the term "neutrality" does not appear in the US Constitution. This doctrine is a pure invention of the Court.
Source: It Takes A Family, by Sen. Rick Santorum, p.230-231
, Apr 30, 2006
We're plagued by tragedies when we turn our back on God
God has given us commands to follow so that we might be able to fully enjoy His creation and receive the benefit of His blessing. When our nation has turned our back on
God's commands, we have been plagued by such tragedies as slavery, crime, drug abuse, and abortion. If our nation is to continue to be blessed by God, we must renew our commitment to
God daily through prayer. Today, we celebrate the National Day of Prayer, set aside as a day to humbly come before God, seeking His guidance for our leaders and His grace upon us as a people.
I would like to take this occasion to implore my fellow Americans to remember why it is that prayer is so important for our nation.
Source: Santorum speech in "A Senator Speaks Out", p.190-191
, May 4, 2000
Voted YES on confirming Samuel Alito as Supreme Court Justice.
Vote on the Nomination -- a YES vote would to confirm Samuel A. Alito, Jr., of New Jersey, to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Reference: Alito Nomination;
Bill PN 1059
; vote number 2006-002
on Jan 31, 2006
Voted YES on confirming John Roberts for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
Vote on the Nomination (Confirmation John G. Roberts, Jr., of Maryland, to be Chief Justice of the United States )
Reference: Supreme Court Nomination of John Roberts;
Bill PN 801
; vote number 2005-245
on Sep 27, 2005
Religious affiliation: Catholic.
Santorum : religious affiliation:
The Adherents.com website is an independent project and is not supported by or affiliated with any organization (academic, religious, or otherwise).
What’s an adherent?
The most common definition used in broad compilations of statistical data is somebody who claims to belong to or worship in a religion. This is the self-identification method of determining who is an adherent of what religion, and it is the method used in most national surveys and polls.
Such factors as religious service attendance, belief, practice, familiarity with doctrine, belief in certain creeds, etc., may be important to sociologists, religious leaders, and others. But these are measures of religiosity and are usually not used academically to define a person’s membership in a particular religion. It is important to recognize there are various levels of adherence, or membership within religious traditions or religious bodies. There’s no single definition, and sources of adherent statistics do not always make it clear what definition they are using.
Source: Adherents.com web site 00-ADH11 on Nov 7, 2000
Fund the 50 States Commemorative Coin Program.
Santorum co-sponsored the 50 States Commemorative Coin Program Act
- Mandates redesign of quarter-dollar coins issued during the ten-year period beginning 1999, with the reverse side emblematic of five of the 50 States each year during such period, selected in the order of their ratification of the U.S. Constitution or their admission to the Union.
- Mandates that the dollar coin shall be golden in color, have a distinctive edge, with tactile and visual features making it readily discernible.
- Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to place into circulation $1 coins that comply with such mandate upon depletion of the Government's supply of $1 coins bearing the likeness of Susan B. Anthony.
Corresponding House bill is H.R.2414. Became Public Law No: 105-124.
Source: Bill sponsored by 28 Senators and 1 Rep 97-S1228 on Sep 26, 1997
Page last updated: Mar 24, 2016