The Primary Is Over, But These Attacks Will Live On
Late this afternoon, Rick Santorum announced that he was suspending his campaign, effectively handing the Republican nomination over to Mitt Romney. A top aide to the former Pennsylvania senator told reporters that Santorum and Romney agreed to meet in the near future, and Romney sent out a press release praising his opponent as “an important voice in our party and in the nation.”
But as 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.
Here are Santorum’s top 10 hits on Romney:
1. 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]
2. “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]
3. 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]
4. 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]
5. 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]
6. “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]
7. “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]
8. “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]
9. BUSINESS EXPERIENCE DOESN’T MATTER: “Running a business is not the sameas being president of the United States.” [CNN]
10. BAILOUT HYPOCRISY: “Governor Romney supported the bailout of Wall Street and decided not to support the bailout of Detroit. [AP]
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