Mitt Romney’s Errand Boy, Ron Paul Calls Rick Santorum a ‘Liberal’

Liberal!  It is without a doubt the most offensive term a conservative can visit upon a fellow conservative. But, dad gum, that’s exactly what Republican presidential primary candidate, Ron Paul, up and done to God-fearin’ Mr. Santorum. Called him a ‘liberal’ he did. And it ain’t the first time.

It all started back in the first week of January, maybe even earlier. I do know that on January 2nd, Paul told a CNN interviewer that Santorum was “Very liberal†and he’s been repeating that mantra ever since. Apparently Santorum missed most of the insults. Must have been busy chasing homosexuals out of his yard. Paul accuses ‘liberal’ Santorum of once voting for free drugs for senior citizens. You know; those seniors who aren’t multi-millionaire doctors. I’m not aware where that vote came from.

My thanks to the folks at a website called “On the Issues†for compiling a database on all the politicians and their stands on issues. I borrowed liberally from their excellent research.

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While in congress, Santorum’s voting record on Medicare and other health issues bordered on third-world: No on expanding the enrollment period for Medicare Part D. No to increasing the Medicaid rebate for producing generics. No to negotiating bulk purchases for Medicare prescriptions drugs. No to $40 billion per year for a limited Medicare prescription drug benefit and No to allowing patients to sue HMOs and collect punitive damages. There were also a couple of yes votes. It was Yes to limiting medical liability lawsuits to $250,000 (10-day hospital stay and surgery?). Yes to a 2001 republican version of Medicare prescription drug benefits. A similar program was a total failure in Connecticut largely due to dust-ups with insurance companies.

The American Public Health Association gives Santorum a zero for his votes against public health initiatives. Liberal?

Paul also accuses Santorum of apparently voting to double the size of the Department of Education. If so, it must have been back when Santorum was a junior in high school. This is where Santorum’s education heart has truly been for the last few decades. He’s been pretty much a straight No voter when it comes to additional education funding. He calls ‘mass’ education by ‘government’ schools an aberration and insists on continuing to home school his children even if the home turns out to be the White House.

I’m not sure Paul considers a Santorum vote to give federal aid only to those ‘government’ schools that allow voluntary prayers to be liberal or not. Rick wanted $75 million more federal dollars to teach abstinence in ‘government’ school classrooms. Ever notice that the folks always preaching government austerity conveniently ignore criticizing expenditures that go to their favorite projects? St Rick has also pushed for Intelligent Design to be taught in the nation’s classrooms. We don’t need to review the Santorum amendment that he stuck in the No Child Left Behind Act that would have given right-wing teachers wide latitude to teach theories, including intelligent design, that question evolution. Wiser heads prevailed and the amendment didn’t make the final cut.

The Paul agenda in ripping Santorum (not that I mind) is kissing Mitt’s tail feathers. He knows he has no chance of winning the nomination, so he’s positioning himself for some role in a Romney administration should Mitt get elected. Given that the Republican nominees want to eliminate all government departments save the one that itches for perpetual war,   the best Paul can hope for is becoming the Pentagon Assistant to the Under-Secretary of State for the Department of Marine Socks and T-shirt Acquisitions. So that’s why he’s on Santorum’s ass.

As an aside, pundits have long identified Santorum as the ‘poorest’ or least rich of the candidates. Maybe, but he’s not hurting by any means. Little attention was paid to the recent release of Santorum’s tax returns, given the Indiana Jones quality of Mitt’s globetrotting tax avoidance and the questionable sources of some of Newt’s dough.

But Santorum’s stash is every bit as intriguing as Mitt/Newt’s hoards. In case you missed the numbers of the four tax returns Santorum released, post congress – The last three averaged out to almost a million a year. In 2009, Santorum eclipsed that magic number with $1.1 million in earnings. About 100,000 individuals make a million a year. That’s out of a working population of around 150 million. Santorum is snuggled well within the top 1% of U.S. wage earners.  That dude is RICH!

We all remember the snit about Newt’s possible lobbying for the likes of Freddie Mac. Santorum makes him look like a rank amateur. St. Rick rakes in wads of cash from numerous sources – all in their own way special interests. It’s like he’s inside one of those booths that blows bills around and he grabs for every one he can get – a capitalist ideologue devoted to $$$ first and foremost. Consider: he makes hundreds of thousands yearly from right-wing think tank, ‘Ethics and Public Policy Center’. He’s their Director of something called the America’s Enemies Program with special emphasis on Islamic Fascism (great cred for an American President), Venezuela, North Korea and Russia; yeah, why not re-ignite the cold war. Somebody is bound to make major bucks off the move.

It could be Rick. He already makes hundreds of thousands as consultant for Consol Energy and American Continental Group. He makes additional hundreds of thousands as a corporate board hopper and has taken in hundreds of thousands more over the years through speeches and public appearances. He’s always got money blowing around him.

But he still has that pesky old man nipping at his heels what with that ‘liberal’ thing and all. And the Mesa debate is rapidly approaching. Since the pre-super-Tuesday debate is no more, Mesa might be the last chance to pump up the faithful and seduce more extremists to board the Santorum express.

Better get his team to knock out a few quick sound bites  in defense of that ‘liberal’ thing.



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