Rick Santorum

**American Patriot** · June 6th, 2011, 15:11

Just announced.

**American Patriot** · June 6th, 2011, 15:12

I like him too...

**Backstop** · June 6th, 2011, 16:14

Will have to research his positions.

I've heard him quite a few time on Bill Bennett, and Santorum sure likes the sound of his own voice.

That means he talks too much.

Stuff he could say in 20 words, he uses 35 or 40.

**American Patriot** · June 6th, 2011, 16:19

That's true. When he takes the time to say it correctly though, it makes sense. I've not really liked him as a talk show host at all.

**Ryan Ruck** · June 6th, 2011, 16:45

Never heard him on radio before.

From what I've seen of him so far though, I award him a solid

**Backstop** · June 6th, 2011, 17:03

FYI: http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/rick_santorum.htm

I'm still working through all this.

**American Patriot** · June 6th, 2011, 17:21

LMAO

Meh

**American Patriot** · June 6th, 2011, 18:02

Santorum makes it official

Former U.S. senator launches Oval Office run from Western Pennsylvania.

By Colby Itkowitz, CALL WASHINGTON BUREAU 12:38 p.m. CDT, June 6, 2011

SOMERSET, Somerset County — After a brass-band instrumental fit for a summer blockbuster battle scene, Rick Santorum launched his White House bid from ancestral turf here today, imploring an enthusiastic crowd of several hundred to join his fight.

"I'm ready to lead. I'm ready to do what has to be done for the next generation, with the courage to fight for freedom, with the courage to fight for America," Pennsylvania's former U.S. senator said from the sun-splashed steps of the county courthouse.

Santorum's announcement in a small town with red, white and blue balloons floating and a band playing older music like "Hello Dolly," harkened back to a time in politics before the Internet and social media. The setting was meant to evoke feelings of tradition and patriotism.

A blunt-talking favorite among Republican social conservatives, Santorum, 53, reiterated a stump speech he's been making for nine months or so as he's toured the early primary states weighing a run for president. The central theme of his campaign is that God grants people their rights, not government.

He said President Obama has worked to undermine Americans' freedoms.

"The principal purpose of America was to make sure each and every person was free. Ladies and gentlemen, that is at stake now," Santorum said, pointing to a Democratic-pushed health care law that conservatives loathe. "Every single American will be hooked to the government with an IV."

The crowd that gathered by the steps Monday afternoon, in an area that voted Santorum out of office in 2006, was fired up about Santorum's candidacy.

Only one lone man stood with a makeshift sign that said, "No hate in the White House." The protestor called the surrounding supporters "bigots" by association.

Santorum is deplored by liberals for his strict pro-life and anti-gay marriage stances.

The announcement was not short of mini-dramas. The balloons popped sporadically during his speech, and Santorum joked that they weren't shots, although he'd taken plenty of them in his political career. Then an elderly woman fainted from the heat, and Santorum stopped speaking, handed off his own water bottle and waited by her side until medics carried her away. He asked the crowd to pray for her.

Earlier, as band played, Santorum supporters filled the courthouse steps. Many supporters held up signs with his new campaign slogan, "The Courage to Fight for America," which is consistent with the theme of Santorum's speeches.

Randy Brandt of Beaver County, who worked on Santorum's congressional staff, brought his two sons, Caleb, 6, and Timothy, 4, to see his former boss. Brandt said Santorum is "a real leader and we need a real leader."

"He's great," Caleb echoed.

Santorum chose the courthouse because of its proximity to the coal mines where his grandfather worked after immigrating to America from Italy. Santorum said his grandfather came to Somerset County to escape fascist Italy, to "give his children, my dad, who seven years old when he came in 1930, the opportunity for freedom, to live your dreams, because he knew American believed in him, believed in people, gave people a shot, if they worked hard, they could succeed."

Santorum has already been campaigning in early voting states, including New Hampshire and South Carolina, where he won two informal Republican straw polls. But short of that he is barely registering on national polls, sometimes coming in at one or two percent and other times not showing up at all.

As he weaved through the crowd, signing autographs and shaking hands, a reporter asked how he'll compete with heavyweights like Sarah Palin or Mitt Romney.

"We had a great reception," he said as his aides guided him away, "and we're going to keep going."

Colby.itkowitz@mcall.com

**Ryan Ruck** · February 15th, 2012, 19:41

Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine Endorses Rick Santorum For President

Heavy metal star says he hopes a Republican is in the White House next year

February 15, 2012

Megadeth front man Dave Mustaine is singing a different tune.

The heavy metal legend reported from the Democratic National Convention for MTV News at Madison Square Garden during the 1992 election, but is now slinging his ax for the Republican Party and endorsing former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.

“I’m just hoping that whatever is in the White House next year is a Republican,” Mustaine told MusicRadar.com. “I can’t bear to watch what’s happened to our great country. Everybody's got their head in the sand. Everybody in the industry is like, ‘Oh, Obama’s doing such a great job...’ I don't think so. Not from what I see.”

Blasting Republican front-runner Mitt Romney for his five sons' multimillion-dollar trust fund and Newt Gingrich for being “that angry little man,” he says he settled on Santorum.

“Earlier in the election, I was completely oblivious as to who Rick Santorum was, but when the dude went home to be with his daughter when she was sick, that was very commendable,” Mustaine told the music site.

The original member of Metallica said Santorum displays “some presidential qualities.”

A lot has apparently changed since those days during the George H.W. Bush administration, before Bill Clinton was elected, when the rocker who penned the lyrics to “Foreclosure of a Dream” was notoriously left of center.

Now 50, however, Mustaine has said in recent years that he's a born-again Christian and has condemned metal bands who sing satanic lyrics — the type of groups he used to share concert bills with during Megadeth's heyday.