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Romney Campaign Press Release - Now Batting for Team Specter: Rick Santorum

February 23, 2012

"In last night's debate, Senator Santorum showed his true colors as a Washington insider. From spending and earmarks to supporting liberal Arlen Specter, Senator Santorum described a record of putting aside principles in order to be a 'team player.' Americans are looking for a leader, not a career politician who played the same old insider games in Washington." —Andrea Saul, Romney Campaign Spokesperson

While Serving Sixteen Years In Congress, Senator Santorum Was In The Starting Lineup For Team Washington:

At Last Night's Debate, Santorum Was Booed When He Said You Sometimes Have To Set Principles Aside And "Take One For The Team." SANTORUM: "I supported No Child Left Behind. I supported it. It was the principal priority of President Bush to try to take on a failing education system ... I have to admit, I voted for that. It was against the principles I believed in, but, you know, when you're part of the team, sometimes you take one for the team, for the leader, and I made a mistake. ... [BOOING] ... You know, politics is a team sport, folks. And sometimes you've got to rally together and do something." (GOP Presidential Debate, Mesa, AZ, 2/22/12)

When Santorum Endorsed Liberal Senator Arlen Specter Over Conservative Challenger Pat Toomey In 2004, He Put "The Team" First:

Santorum On Specter, 2004: "You Have To Put Your Own Personal Issues Aside And Carry The Water For The Team." "Sen. Arlen Specter yesterday went before his toughest audience to date — all the Republican members of the U.S. Senate — and won fresh support from many of his colleagues in his quest to secure the chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee. ... Santorum described Specter as someone who recognized the responsibility of a chairman to support the team 'that put him there.' He noted that as chair of an Appropriations subcommittee, Specter voted against some things that he might have voted for had he not been chairman. 'You have to put your own personal issues aside and carry the water for the team,' Santorum said." (Steve Goldstein, "Specter Gains Support In Talks With Full Caucus," The Philadelphia Inquirer, 11/18/04)

Roll Call Headline, 2004: "For Santorum, 'Team' Is First." "Santorum said that once he made the decision to support his home-state colleague, there was only one way for him go about it — full throttle. 'I don't do anything with the intent of not winning,' he said last week. 'I don't do anything to lose.' ... Another GOP Senator, requesting anonymity, said Santorum's efforts demonstrated that he lived up to the 'team player' concept that the Republican Conference chairman himself speaks of so frequently — namely, looking out for the best interests of a conference that had long ago agreed that Specter was a better general-election candidate than Rep. Pat Toomey (R), who ran an aggressively conservative race." (Paul Kane, "For Santorum, 'Team' Is First," Roll Call, 5/11/04)

Senator Santorum Even Claimed That Specter Was A Team Player — Just Like Him:

Santorum: "There's No Question That Arlen's An Independent Guy, But He Also Understands The Concept Of Team." "Specter's Pennsylvania colleague Rick Santorum, a committed conservative, supports Specter over Pat Toomey. 'There's no question that Arlen's an independent guy, but he also understands the concept of team,' says Santorum. ... This party-line loyalty is remarkable, because Specter tried to complicate Santorum's first Senate primary by recruiting a pro-abortion woman to run against him." (Editorial, "The Awful Specter of Yet Another Term," National Review, 3/26/04)

Senator Santorum's Role On Team Specter Is Just Another Example Of Politics As Usual In Washington:

Senator Santorum Often Put His Position In Senate Leadership Above Ideology. "Having just staked his credibility on returning a moderate colleague to the Senate, conservative Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) is finding himself in a somewhat unfamiliar spot on the political spectrum, winning slaps on the back from establishment insiders and quizzical looks from some 'movement' conservatives. ... Specter's primary campaign offered the most obvious example of how Santorum has sought to put the work of the Republican Conference ahead of the ideological purity that his conservative supporters and his liberal detractors alike have come to expect. Santorum, the third highest ranking Republican in the Senate leadership, makes no apologies for his decision to back Specter." (Paul Kane, "For Santorum, 'Team' Is First," Roll Call, 5/11/04)

Club For Growth: By Endorsing Liberal Arlen Specter, "Santorum Was Willing To Jettison Conservative Principles When It Suited Him." "Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey has called the 2004 Republican U.S. Senate primary in Pennsylvania the start of the Tea Party movement. That race featured arch-RINO incumbent Senator Arlen Specter, who switched to the Democratic Party in 2009, being challenged by pro-growth conservative champion then-Congressman Pat Toomey. ... Santorum's active role on behalf of Specter might have been the difference maker. ... What is troubling is the aggressiveness with which Santorum backed the liberal Specter, and the lengths to which he would stoop to mislead Republican voters. ... The only explanation that is consistent is political expediency. Santorum was willing to jettison conservative principles when it suited him in 2004, and he wants to try to explain it away when it no longer suits him on the 2012 presidential campaign trail." ("2012 Presidential White Paper #4: Former Senator Rick Santorum," Club For Growth, 6/6/11)

National Catholic Reporter: "Santorum's Endorsement Served His Short-Term Political Interests." "With his enthusiastic endorsement of pro-choice stalwart Arlen Specter, R-Pa., pro-life champion Rick Santorum, R-Pa., has, arguably, done more for the cause of abortion rights than either Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., Tom Daschle, D-S.D., or John Kerry, D-Mass., will ever be able to achieve. ... What is clear, however, is that Santorum's endorsement served his short-term political interests. To party stalwarts, he proves that he is a team player, a highly valued virtue in the Bush administration. Plus, as a member of the Senate leadership, the ambitious Santorum had little choice, short of political suicide, but to endorse his pro-choice home state senior senator. Bottom line: Santorum's parochial political interests combined with the very real prospect of Republicans losing the Senate outweighed the theoretical prospect of furthering abortion rights. So, as often happens in politics, pragmatism trumped principle." (Editorial, "Endorsement Exposes Faulty Logic," National Catholic Reporter, 5/14/04)

Mitt Romney, Romney Campaign Press Release - Now Batting for Team Specter: Rick Santorum Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/300457

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