BATON ROUGE, Louisiana
Rick Santorum says it is “absurd” for anyone to suggest he would not support the Republican Party’s nominee against President Obama.
“This is the hatchet-job of all time,” the former Pennsylvania senator told Neil Cavuto during an often-contentious Friday afternoon interview on Fox News about Santorum’s comments at a Thursday event in Texas. “I’ve said repeatedly the number-one priority is beating Barack Obama. I’d support anybody. They said, ‘Would you support Ron Paul?’ Of course, I’d support anybody on the Republican ticket and I’ve said it throughout the course of this campaign.”
Santorum blasted the controversy over his remarks during an appearance Thursday in San Antonio as “a made-up story.” During that Texas speech, Santorum reiterated his argument for offering a conservative alternative to Obama by saying that if Republicans nominate Mitt Romney, “we might as well stay with what we have instead of taking a risk with what may be the Etch A Sketch candidate of the future.” (Click here to see full quote and video of Santorum’s San Antonio comments.)
In his Friday interview with Cavuto, Santorum clarified that remark, saying said he has been “traveling around this country saying that the highest priority is to defeat Barack Obama, and what I was saying there is that, if we don’t have a choice, then the American public, y’know, may decide to keep Barack Obama. That’s all I said. I’ve said it in every speech.”
The latest polls show Santorum with a double-digit lead among Louisiana Republicans on the eve of Saturday’s primary here.
I will have more quotes from Santorum’s interview with Cavuto, and will add reaction to his interview and video as they become available.
UPDATE: Alex Alvarez at the liberal Mediaite blog headlines this, “Neil Cavuto Hammers Rick Santorum Over Obama/Romney Comparison,” and calls the interview “a shouting match.” Cavuto was (a) at the very least playing devil’s advocate or (b) possibly even pushing Romney talking points. But I repeat myself.
Anyway, here’s the video:
UPDATE II: Fox News calls this a “fiery interview” and, indeed, Cavuto’s viewers saw the fiery side of Rick Santorum. Clearly, he has gotten sick and tired of what’s been happening the past few weeks: Reporters playing journalistic “gotcha” games, knowing that if they can be the first to find two “controversial” sentences in an hour-long Santorum speech and turn it into a catchy headline, they’re guaranteed a Drudge link.
Let those of you who are not Santorum fans ask yourself this important question: What if you were in Rick Santorum’s shoes?
What if you had spent all those months criss-crossing Iowa in a pickup truck, speaking to small groups of Republican voters. Sometimes less than a half-dozen would show up, but Rick would give them the full treatment, as if they were the most powerful and influential Republicans in Iowa — and, as it turned out, they were: When push came to shove, after the Perry bandwagon ran into the ditch, after the Cain Train ran off the rails, after Newt imploded, all those voters Santorum had been shaking hands with said to themselves, “You know something? We ought to vote for Rick. He’s earned it.”
And he earned it when nobody believed he could do it, when all he had was determination in the face of relentless discouragement.
Santorum didn’t have big money. He didn’t have praise from big-name pundits. He didn’t have the GOP Establishment on his side, and the major media gave him quite nearly zero coverage. But he kept plugging away — “Steady Eddie,” as he said — until he finally broke through.
So he did all that, campaigning for nearly a year, and now that he’s the leading rival to Mr. Inevitable, what kind of coverage does he get? “Gotcha”!
And too many conservatives, who should be defending Santorum against these attacks, are instead playing along with the media “gotcha” game, ready to throw Santorum under the Romney bus.
Let me tell you something: I remember when Charles Johnson tried to throw Pamela Geller under the wheels of his Little Green Bus, and I stood up and said not just no, but hell, no.
Maybe Rick Santorum’s not your favorite candidate. Maybe Pamela Geller’s not your favorite blogger. Maybe Rush Limbaugh’s not your favorite talk-radio host, but conservatives can’t let liberals tell us who our friends are.
Don’t let liberals tell you what to think. Don’t play along with the “gotcha” game. Don’t help them defame people’s reputations.
By God, REMEMBER BREITBART!
Update III (Smitty): thank you, Instapundit! I think Stacy may be in need of encouragement down in the Big Easy.
Update IV (Smitty): linked by CrackMC in a long meditation with quite a few interesting images and thoughts. Have to re-read that one.
