[A]s Romney pivots to the general election with Santorum’s help, it’s important to remember that the former rival leveled some serious charges against the presumed nominee that should not be forgotten.
Rick Santorum’s exit from the race for the GOP Presidential nomination is hardly surprising, since every pundit from Bangor to Bakersfield had crowned Mitt Romney as the presumptive nominee. My theory is that Dan Savage had video of Santorum being serviced by a gay hooker and threatened to go public unless Santorum bowed out…but it’s only a theory at this point.
Seriously, though, Santorum’s exit doesn’t negate the fact that he leveled some pretty serious charges against Romney, not all of them hyperbolic. Some of them are spot on, and Romney will emerge from the GOP Convention as perhaps the weakest Republican candidate in generations. It might be helpful to revisit some of Santorum’s hits on Romney, for both entertainment value and a hint as to what Democrats might use against Romney this fall:
LIAR: “If [Romney’s health care] policy is bad, the policy is bad. And a bad policy is one thing. But lying to the American people is something else.” [National Journal]
“ULTIMATE FLIP-FLOPPER”: “He glosses over and doesn’t even tell the truth. … Here is a guy who is the ultimate flip-flopper running for president, and he’s attacking me for not being principled? That doesn’t wash.” [Examiner]
ETCH A SKETCH CANDIDATE: “One of Governor Romney’s aides today on television said that Governor Romney, after he wins the primaries, will be like an [Etch A Sketch] — you take whatever he said and you can shake it up and it will be gone, and he’s going to draw a whole new picture for the general election.” [Washington Post]
MIGHT AS WELL RE-ELECT OBAMA: “You win by giving people the opportunity to see a different vision for our country, not someone who’s just going to be a little different than the person in there. If they’re going to be a little different, we might as well stay with what we have instead of taking a risk of what may be the Etch A Sketch candidate for the future.” [AP]
OBAMACARE: “He created the blueprint for Obamacare and advocated for exactly what Obamacare is, which is a mandated health insurance program…it is exactly the Massachusetts health care plan. …He is uniquely disqualified.” [MSNBC]
“WORST REPUBLICAN IN THE COUNTRY”: “Pick any other Republican in the country. He is the worst Republican in the country to put up against Barack Obama.” [NBC]
“WEAK CANDIDATE”: “We can’t nominate such a weak candidate. I’d love to be able to get one-on-one with Gov. Romney and expose the record that would be the weakest record we could possibly put up against Barack Obama.” [Huffington Post]
“WALL STREET FINANCIER”: “I heard Governor Romney here called me an economic lightweight because I wasn’t a Wall Street financier like he was. Do you really believe this country wants to elect a Wall Street financier as the president of the United States? Do you think that’s the experience that we need? Someone who’s going to take and look after as he did his friends on Wall Street and bail them out at the expense of Main Street America.” [ABC]
BUSINESS EXPERIENCE DOESN’T MATTER: “Running a business is not the same as being president of the United States.” [CNN]
BAILOUT HYPOCRISY: “Governor Romney supported the bailout of Wall Street and decided not to support the bailout of Detroit.” [AP]
