After His Tie with Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum Fails the Scrutiny Test

A Candidate So Ignorant He Supports ObamaCare and Doesn’t Even Realize It

The reason that the electoral hopes of anti-Mitt Romney candidates like Michele Bachmann, Donald Trump, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry (gosh, can there have really been that many?) flamed out is that once the candidates became relevant, voters starting looking and listening.  And after they looked and listened they didn’t like what they saw and what they heard.

This has not the case with the latest possible challenger to Mr. Inevitability.  Rick Santorum has not engendered opposition because until a few days ago his campaign was so irrelevant that his views, background and persona were irrelevant.  Now this is changing, so The Dismal Political Economist has taken a look at some of the statements Mr. Santorum made just a few days after his Iowa tie.

Mingling with voters at a jam-packed diner here, Rick Santorum said that if he were president, his top priorities will be cutting spending by $5 trillion over five years and overhauling entitlement programs.

Wow, that’s pretty powerful stuff.  Let’s see exactly what Mr. Santorum has in mind.

Mr. Santorum, who is clearly drawing far more voters to events than before his near win Tuesday in Iowa, did not specify which programs he would change or how, but said entitlement reform is “what it is going to take.”

“We have got to have an honest discussion with the American people,” he said at a lunchtime stop off Interstate 93 at the pink Tilt’n Diner

Ok, like every other Conservative who wants cuts in spending and have “entitlement reform” (whatever that is) Mr. Santorum refuses to say what he has in mind.  That’s understandable, once a candidate actually says which programs he will cut the public turns against him, so instead of specifics we get an “honest discussion”.  Of course an “honest discussion” would start with Mr. Santorum telling us exactly what he plans to do.  So no “honest discussion” from Mr. Santorum.

As far as earmarks, those Congressionally mandated expenditures that all members of Congress put in legislation to bring spending to their state or district, Mr. Santorum says this.

Asked by voters about criticism from Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.)–a Mitt Romney supporter–about earmarking of federal funds, the former Pennsylvania senator shot back: “I would put my record on entitlement reform against his, and more importantly, against Gov. Romney’s.”

Uh Rick, see Mr. Romney has never been in Congress and therefore he has absolutely no Federal earmarks in his history, none, zero, nada.  Really, you can look it up, and please do so before your ignorance makes you look even more foolish.

The really revolutionary ideas of Mr. Santorum though are on health care.

He said he also had a problem with the idea that insurance companies should have to cover “anybody, pre-existing condition or not.”

That, he said, does not give people incentive to buy insurance while in good health, he said. “What are people going to do? Wait to get sick to buy insurance.”

You are right Rick, see that is why you require everybody to buy insurance, so you avoid this problem of adverse selection where people game the system. But if what Mr. Santorum is saying is that he wants to eliminate the requirement to buy insurance and couple that with the fact that insurance companies do not have to cover pre-existing conditions, this results in only healthy people being able to buy or afford insurance.  Oops, another plug for the Obama health care plan.

 So Mr. Santorum, we are all sure Mr. Obama will be thanking you for providing rationale and support of his program, but we doubt if this type of position will carry you with Conservative voters.  And remember Mr. Santorum, now they are paying attention.