The Other McCain

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Santorum Praised by Sarah Palin on Fox; Endorsed by Key Iowa Evangelical Pastor

Posted on | December 2, 2011 | 38 Comments

Has the fight for the Republican 2012 presidential nomination already become a two-man race between Mitt Romney versus Newt Gingrich? Not according to Sarah Palin, who singled out former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum for praise during her appearance Thursday night on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show.

“There is still a lot of fluid dynamic going on in this race,” Palin said, adding that if Republican voters “start shifting gears and deciding they want ideological consistency, then they’re going to start paying attention to, say, Rick Santorum.”

The former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential candidate went on to praise Santorum for being consistent on issues including his support for Israel and his pro-life stance:

TRANSCRIPT:
Sean Hannity: All right. If, if – if you were to assess – first of all, two questions in one: Do you think this come down to Newt versus Romney? Do you think any of the other candidates can emerge? And two, because they’re leading in the polls right now, a quick synopsis of the strengths and weaknesses you see in Newt and Romney.
Sarah Palin: I don’t think it has come down solidly to Newt versus Romney – no, not yet, because there is still a lot of fluid dynamic going on in this race. And if voters kind of start shifting gears and deciding they want ideological consistency, then they’re going to start paying attention to, say, Rick Santorum, who has been consistent on being a hard-liner against Iran, to help protect Israel. He’s been consistent on wanting to protect the most vulnerable and the sanctity of life. He’s been consistent in saying, we need to slash the federal income tax – I say we need to do away with it, that’s the only way to re-industrialize America and create jobs. People will start paying attention to some of these other messages from some of these other messengers, like Rick Santorum – you’re going to see that happen, still, in the next 32 days.

Palin followed up her appearance on Hannity’s show with a message sent to her nearly 700,000 Twitter followers:

Glad Santorum wants to re-industrialize USA w/ eliminating the corp income tax on manufactures.

Palin’s boost for Santorum drew attention from such campaign observers as Danny Yadron of the Wall Street Journal and Kathryn Jean Lopez of National Review. Many of Palin’s supporters had hoped she would be a candidate for president this year and were disappointed by her Oct. 5 announcement that she would not run. Her praise for Santorum comes at a key point in the campaign, barely a month before Iowa Republicans cast the first actual votes for delegates in the Hawkeye State’s Jan. 3 caucuses. There may yet be an opportunity for Santorum, as blogger M. Joseph Sheppard said in highlighting Palin’s comments:

“If Gingrich, who is now starting to feel the blowtorch . . . falters then, who knows, Santorum might be in a position to be the next Non-Romney.
“Certainly Santorum is unencumbered by any personal baggage. If his social views come under attack whilst he is rising, should he rise, then there would be little effect on his rising support as everyone is well aware of his right to life beliefs.”

No candidate in the Republican race has campaigned as hard in Iowa as Santorum, who has visited all 99 counties in the state, and will return to the state Sunday as part of his “Faith, Family and Freedom Tour.” In an appearance Thursday on MSNBC, Santorum told Andrea Mitchell: “We will do well in Iowa — I have no doubt about that. . . We’re going to surprise a lot of people on [Iowa caucus] Election Day on January third.”

A Catholic father of seven, Santorum ranks low in polls but has strong support among social conservatives, including an Iowa evangelical minister whose endorsement was announced in a press release sent by the Santorum campaign Thursday night:

SANTORUM RECEIVES ENDORSEMENT
OF INFLUENTIAL IOWA EVANGELICAL LEADER
Influential Iowa Evangelical Leader, Pastor Cary Gordon
Stands With Santorum And Will Formally Announce
Via Text Message to 788,000 Registered Voters

Verona, PA – Tonight, Iowa evangelical leader, Pastor Cary Gordon announced his endorsement for Republican Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum for President of the United States.

Senator Santorum said: “I am truly honored to receive this endorsement tonight. Pastor Gordon is a leader for God’s truth in Iowa and the nation – and has stood tall against the forces that have pushed the redefinition of marriage. His work in Iowa has helped ensure that the traditional American family is defended and protected. I am humbled to have such a stalwart defender of traditional American values by our team’s side as we work to return our nation to the values that made our nation the greatest in the history of the world.”

As detailed by Jennifer Jacobs of the Des Moines Register, influential Sioux City Pastor Cary Gordon endorsed former Senator Rick Santorum for President of the United States:

Sioux City Evangelical Minister
to Endorse Rick Santorum
By: Jennifer Jacobs, The Des Moines Register

Sioux City evangelical leader Cary Gordon, who played a role in the defeat of three Iowa Supreme Court justices in last year’s elections, will endorse Rick Santorum for president on Friday.Gordon will make his endorsement via a text message Friday morning to 788,000 cell phones owned by registered Iowa voters or by residents of Iowa’s 5th Congressional District.He is pastor of Sioux City’s Cornerstone Church and president of PeaceMakers Institute. He is steadfastly opposed to same-sex marriage and abortion.Gordon told The Des Moines Register today that he also will spell out reasons why he favors Santorum – and rejects Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney – in a 20-minute video.

UPDATE: The text above has been edited to reflect a change in the video selection, substituting the YouTube clip for this video from the Media Research Center of the entire Palin/Hannity interview. The exchange in which Palin brought up Santorum’s name occurs at the 8:37 mark of this video:

In a statement on his campaign Web site, Santorum said: “I am grateful to hear these kind words from a strong, conviction conservative like Governor Palin.”

RECENTLY:


Category: Election 2012, Fox News, Iowa, Rick Santorum, Sarah Palin

Comments

38 Responses to “Santorum Praised by Sarah Palin on Fox; Endorsed by Key Iowa Evangelical Pastor”

  1. Zilla of the Resistance
    December 2nd, 2011 @ 8:54 am

    Another reason to support Rick Santorum: He knows who RS McCain is and doesn’t diss him (unlike  certain other candidate whose current circling of the drain is a direct karmic consequence of jerking Stacy around).

  2. Anonymous
    December 2nd, 2011 @ 9:47 am

    Let me be clear: Herman Cain has been very good to me, and I do not abandon friends in a time of need. Nor do I give a damn about polls and bandwagons. However:

    1. Cain’s communications team DID exclude me from that crucial conference call Tuesday; and
    2. The “re-assessment” creates the possibility that, by this time next week, there won’t be a “Cain communication team” any more, and I will thus be left without a horse in the race.

    Newt? “You have to answer for Santino, Carlo.”

    So by a process of elimination, due to circumstances beyond my control, it seems I may return to a familiar intersection.

  3. Charles
    December 2nd, 2011 @ 9:52 am

    The Romney playbook is to sit still in second and find someone else to draw the support off the latest frontrunner.

    Palin can’t actually endorse her old nemesis Mitt Romney without looking silly. But drawing votes off Newt Gingrich towards Rick Santorum does the same thing.

  4. Bob Belvedere
    December 2nd, 2011 @ 9:52 am

    Zilla is your sister Connie, Michael.

  5. Zilla of the Resistance
    December 2nd, 2011 @ 9:53 am

    Rick Santorum has actually been better to you than Herman Cain. Go through your own archives; how many times have you personally spoken with Rick Santorum himself versus how many times Herman Cain has actually spoken to you personally and let you videotape an interview with him for your blog? Who says “Hi Stacy” when he sees you and whose campaign repeatedly failed to get back to you over these past months?
    Would Herman Cain make a personal phone call to one of your fellow blogger friends simply because you asked him to? Rick Santorum did. Just sayin’…

  6. Mortimer Snerd
    December 2nd, 2011 @ 9:53 am

    OK, but what’s his position on the Vanuatu Free Trade Agreement?  Is he pro-cocoanut?

  7. Anonymous
    December 2nd, 2011 @ 10:06 am

    Glad you asked, Mortimer. As a matter of fact, this morning I spoke to the Senator’s spokesman, Matt Benyon, and raised the question of Santorum’s Vanuatu policy. While our conversation was off the record, I do seem to recall Benyon saying: “What do you want his policy to be, Stacy?”

    Which is, of course, the right answer.

  8. Anonymous
    December 2nd, 2011 @ 10:08 am

    Rick Perry = Fredo?

    Mitt Romney = Moe Green?

     

  9. Zilla of the Resistance
    December 2nd, 2011 @ 10:24 am

    So Rick Santorum’s people are accessible to you, whereas Cain’s people…

  10. Susan
    December 2nd, 2011 @ 10:44 am

    Well the Smart people will say that it is more important to go after the 23% social liberal vote in the Republican Party rather than the 53% social conservative vote in the Republican Party  because it turns-on the moderate independent voter to vote Republican.

    In other words, the Smart people will say that Rick Santorum is Unelectable because his 53% social conservative base is greater than Mitt or Gingrich’s 23% social liberal voting base and the Smart people can’t have social conservative voters showing up to the polls.  Social conservative voters (53%) showing up to vote would make the Smart people look stupid and this can’t happen.

    http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/more-data-on-fiscally-conservative-socially-liberal-voters/

     

  11. Andrew Patrick
    December 2nd, 2011 @ 10:50 am

    I was wondering who was going to be the Huckabee this year. It seems we’ve chosen a Catholic. How quaint.

  12. Bob Belvedere
    December 2nd, 2011 @ 10:59 am

    Well, in this instance, Newt is definitely Barzini.

    Mitt, I think, is Tattaglia [‘Tattaglia is a pimp’].

    Perry as Fredo is dead-on-balls-accurate.

    Sadly, Herman Cain may be Tessio.

    Smitty is Al Neri.

    Pete Ingimi is, of course, Clemenza.

    Tucker Carlson as Hyman Roth?

  13. Susan
    December 2nd, 2011 @ 11:13 am

    If  you are to reasonably compare then Newt is the Huckabee this year.

  14. chuck coffer
    December 2nd, 2011 @ 11:33 am

    Well stated, Susan. I find the “conventional wisdom” on Santorum’s social positions to be anything but wise.  He’s just a mainstream conservative. The American people in general and republicans specifically support every policy position he has. Meanwhile he’s characterized as being out on a limb somehow. It’s stupid.

  15. Anonymous
    December 2nd, 2011 @ 11:39 am

    No: Krauthammer is Hyman Roth: “Your father respected Hyman Roth, but your father never trusted Hyman Roth.”

  16. ThePaganTemple
    December 2nd, 2011 @ 11:49 am

    The economy is improving, surprise surprise, so that is going to make a moderate like Romney even less electable. If it keeps getting better it will be even more unlikely than any Republican can win. The real focus should always be on returning America to small government constitutional principles, in all matters, not just economic policy. Across the board. Perry, Santorum or Bachmann either one can do that, the others, not so much. Perry is horrible at articulating a coherent view, and Santorum is in many ways as much of a big government conservative as Newt. Sorry Sarah, I’m sticking with Bachmann.

  17. Tennwriter
    December 2nd, 2011 @ 12:26 pm

    Right…..because its impossible for Rick to win…oh, wait, its not. 

    You’re actually saying that Palin is endorsing Romney in a Reverse English sort of way. Hunh. That is truly imaginative.  And I’m fairly sure its complete hokum, but I can see Romneyites seeking any port in a Hurricane named Sarah.

    Perhaps the Establishment should have played fair with her, instead of stabbing her in the back on any day ending in ‘y’.

  18. Tennwriter
    December 2nd, 2011 @ 12:29 pm

    Very nice, Susan.  Don’t worry too much about the chihuahuas.

  19. Jack Okie
    December 2nd, 2011 @ 1:15 pm

    It would be nice to elect a LEADER as well as someone who talks the talk.  From that standpoint, Newt looks pretty good.  If all he does is help loosen the grip the Left has on this country, it would be enough.

    It’s going to be a long, tough slog over several elections to purge the left.  Talk is cheap.  I want someone who has demonstrated commitment AND the ability to get things done.

  20. Andrew Patrick
    December 2nd, 2011 @ 1:25 pm

    Newt’s primary appeal is to social conservatives?

    The things you learn…

  21. serfer62
    December 2nd, 2011 @ 1:40 pm

    I remember The lizard as Speaker. I will never vote for him

  22. Zilla of the Resistance
    December 2nd, 2011 @ 2:03 pm

    The economy won’t mean a damned thing one way or another if our ‘leaders’ keep ignoring the singe greatest threat to our national security and our freedom: islam. Rick Santorum understands it better than anyone else in the running, Newt comes in a close second. Bachmann is good in this area as well.  Perry is an islamoblow.

  23. Joseph Fein
    December 2nd, 2011 @ 4:31 pm

    the Speaker is a good ideas guy — but not POTUS material (neither is Romney)…..but when you said The Lizard, I thought of meat Loaf in this role: 

    http://youtu.be/q61SgWDMZ70

  24. Daily scoreboard « Don Surber
    December 2nd, 2011 @ 5:02 pm

    […] From Robert Stacy McCain: “Has the fight for the Republican 2012 presidential nomination already become a two-man race […]

  25. Bob Belvedere
    December 2nd, 2011 @ 5:17 pm

    Disqus generic email templateTucker as Johnny Ola, then?
    —– Original Message —–
    From: Disqus
    To: [email protected]
    Sent: Friday, December 02, 2011 11:39 AM
    Subject: [theothermccain] Re: Santorum Praised by Sarah Palin on Fox; Endorsed by Key Iowa Evangelical Pastor

    robertstacymccain wrote, in response to Bob Belvedere:

    No: Krauthammer is Hyman Roth: “Your father respected Hyman Roth, but your father never trusted Hyman Roth.”
    Link to comment

  26. Shawn Gillogly
    December 2nd, 2011 @ 6:41 pm

    I’d believe that a whole lot more if Santorum wasn’t glued to the NeoCon playbook of Foreign Policy, without any clue how to deal with the threat that doesn’t involve occupying and ‘nation-building’ every Mid-Eastern state in perpetuity.

  27. Anonymous
    December 2nd, 2011 @ 6:45 pm

    Santorum lost it with me when he said (to Greta VanSusteren I believe it was a couple of days ago) we should provide legal citizenship (amnesty) for students who want to stay after their education completes. It’s like a double kick in the head to legal Americans. First, the foreign student eats up a slot for would-be American students, and then that student leapfrogs  others as he has an inside edge to claiming a “high-paying” American job. This is the very compassionate conservatism that has been gnawing away at this country’s makeup. Bollocks to that.

    Military service would be the only avenue of expedited citizenship I’d accept, and even then it would need to be judiciously reviewed so as to neither minimize fraud nor weaken Constitutional bindings.

    Values are nice, but I’m not about to acquiesce to socialism from the Right, either. My standard? Will you or won’t you defer to the limited powers of the Constitution? I’m not interested in Compassionate Conservatism ver 2.0 because something is “the right thing to do.”

    Furthermore, my gut tells me that Santorum has a streak of zealotry in him and I’m not sure I can overcome my bias.

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  30. Tennwriter
    December 2nd, 2011 @ 10:00 pm

    At this point, a streak of zealotry about restoring the Constitution might not be a wholly bad thing.  Frankly, we need people in office who make Santorum look like a fluffy teddy bear.

  31. ThePaganTemple
    December 2nd, 2011 @ 11:05 pm

    Zilla, if I was you I wouldn’t count on Newt being much better, if at all, than your average politician when it comes to denouncing Islam, and by that I mean the innate, systemic problems embedded in the cult. Anybody can talk tough against the Iranians, but there’s a line most won’t cross. Perry is not significantly better or worse in that regard than anyone else, and I would suggest the same could be said for Newt. Look at it this way. As Speaker of The House for four years, Newt had access to some of the most vital intelligence the same as Clinton relating to Osama, the Taliban, and Al-Queda, and all of the other Islamic related problems. Why didn’t he do something about it?  He could have spoken out without revealing classified data, but he didn’t, at least not that I’m aware of.

  32. Jacob
    December 2nd, 2011 @ 11:49 pm

    Palin’s endorsement would blow this race wide open.

    I’m not a “Santorum” conservative (I’m more of a libertarian) but I would MUCH rather take my chances with Santorum than Gingrich any day. 

    Newt is fatally flawed candidate, he will never overcome his skeletons, and I have a very sick feeling it’s only the tip of the iceberg.  It’s also abundantly clear to me that he’s something of a con artist that has consistently talked out of both sides of his mouth.

    Santorum is a man of principle and well versed on the issues, I hope Palin endorses him.  We simply can’t let Gingrich get the nomination, it makes me sick to think about him representing the GOP.

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