The Other McCain

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SANTORUM VOWS: ‘NO SURRENDER!’

Posted on | December 5, 2011 | 25 Comments

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum has published a full-page ad in Iowa newspapers in which the former Pennsylvania senator vows to “protect America’s moral foundation.”

The new ad, clearly aimed at social conservatives who are a key GOP constituency in the Hawkeye State, is timed to coincide with Santorum’s three-day “Faith, Family and Freedom” tour of Iowa, which began Sunday in Sioux City.

“I believe what makes America exceptional is not just our economic potential or our remarkable innovation, but the fact that we are a moral enterprise,” Santorum says in the ad (click here to view in PDF format). “As President, I will protect America’s moral foundation, empower American families and build America’s economic freedom. And I won’t compromise on my values to do so.”

In a press release, the Santorum campaign said the new ad will appear “in several major Iowa papers” including the Des Moines Register.

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Category: Election 2012, Iowa, Republicans, Rick Santorum, Rick Santorum

Comments

25 Responses to “SANTORUM VOWS: ‘NO SURRENDER!’”

  1. Adjoran
    December 5th, 2011 @ 5:33 pm

    I suppose he is aiming for the over 50 set, because nobody else reads newspapers anymore.

  2. Anonymous
    December 5th, 2011 @ 5:42 pm

    None of them are smoking !?!

    I can’t get too excited about that.

  3. Professor Why
    December 5th, 2011 @ 5:44 pm

    Good for Santorum to not surrender… Always nice to see someone fail to completely wilt in the face of enormous, impossible odds… Hope he has his lance ready for when he wants to continue his tilting at windmills… 😉

  4. ThePaganTemple
    December 5th, 2011 @ 6:01 pm

    Yep and this is why he hasn’t gotten any traction up until now and is unlikely to. There’s nothing wrong with being a “values and morals” candidate, but when you make it the centerpiece of your campaign that’s the main thing people think of. And half, at the very least, of the questions he gets in interviews is about that. It’s a shame because there’s so much more to him than that, but ask the average person on the street what they think of when they think of Rick Santorum, and they’ll say something like, “oh that’s the anti-gay guy” or, “oh yeah the guy that’s afraid I might marry my dog”.

    Sorry, still Bachmann, all the way. Every bit as much of a “moral” candidate as Santorum, but with the right focus for the times.

  5. Zilla of the Resistance
    December 5th, 2011 @ 6:16 pm

    When I saw this in my inbox from the Santorum campaign, I had really hoped it would be about his strong stand against islamic supremacism, which puts him head and shoulders above the rest in my eyes, it would have been great to highlight his views on islamic supremacism and foreign policy issues versus Obama’s “islam first” policies of kowtowing to America’s enemies while throwing our allies under the bus.  Unfortunately, this ad does little to dispel the incorrect myth that Rick Santorum is a one trick pony who is only about social issues (even though there is a single line in the ad about islamic supremacists, it is not enough).
    I think he’d have broader appeal if his campaign did more to highlight things besides just the social issues stuff. It doesn’t mean abandon social issues, but it does mean remind people that there is more to him than just that.

  6. Anonymous
    December 5th, 2011 @ 6:19 pm

    Santorum isn’t my guy, but I’d sure like to see him hammer the Obama Administration over the Bible-banning/Unbanning at Walter Reed [see http://www.theblaze.com/stories/walter-reed-military-medical-center-bans-bibles-religious-materials-then-overturns-bizarre-policy/%5D. He could well use it to defend religious liberty (or more specifically, Christians) against an administration with anti-Christian tendencies. Plus, even if he didn’t garner significant numbers of votes for the presidency, he’d at least advance a righteous cause.

    “Not on my watch!” would be a pretty good rallying cry.

  7. Anonymous
    December 5th, 2011 @ 6:29 pm

    I agree.  Everyone knows his social issue perspective.  He needs to expand his message to get the small gov’t conservatives.  I think that’s the reason for his low polling.  As you said, “one trick pony.”

    I’ve seen few posters say that if Rick gains in the polls they would consider voting/supporting him.  So, there’s sympathy out there for him.

  8. Mike Rogers
    December 5th, 2011 @ 6:43 pm

    I’d forgotten his tagline. It is my humble submission that Santorum is auditioning for captain of the starship “Moral Enterprise”. And he’s just the clean-cut type to look good in Kirk’s uniform, too!
    Just sayin’

  9. Anonymous
    December 5th, 2011 @ 6:46 pm

    You’ve obviously taken a wrong turn somewhere. In this universe Spock doesn’t have a beard.

  10. t-dahlgren
    December 5th, 2011 @ 6:51 pm

    There is nothing wrong with Santorum, unfortunately this approach says nothing right about the critical issues of an oppressively gargantuan government.

    He’s not so much hitting a wrong note, as playing one drastically out of time.

    And he’s not playing to a jazz kinda crowd.

  11. Anonymous
    December 5th, 2011 @ 7:39 pm

    This is cool and all, Santorum.

    But the big issue is the economy.

    Come on buddy, you are the only legitimate Tea Party candidate left!  Give us something…

  12. t-dahlgren
    December 5th, 2011 @ 7:51 pm

    Of course this latest effort by Santorum could also be spun as a rather sad and suspect gambit to get the VP slot.  Offering himself as the conservative-family-values-issues man in order to balance out a RINO Romney (or Gingrich) ticket and make sure those Bible-thumpers don’t stay at home on election day. 

    But that’s just me being cynical.

  13. ThePaganTemple
    December 5th, 2011 @ 8:04 pm

    No that actually makes a lot of sense. And since most of his official time would be in the Senate he’d be right at home. But if he doesn’t do that great in any of his primaries it wouldn’t be much of an incentive to pick him either.

  14. ThePaganTemple
    December 5th, 2011 @ 10:23 pm

    Who’s to say our universe isn’t actually the Spock-with-beard one? Never thought of that, did you?

  15. ThePaganTemple
    December 5th, 2011 @ 10:24 pm

    Just whatever you do, don’t call him Mr. Sulu.

  16. Anonymous
    December 5th, 2011 @ 10:26 pm

    I ran into Spock at B&N just the other day. Face shaved smooth as baby’s ass.

  17. Rick Santorum “Will Not Surrender America on Social Issues” « Catholic Bandita
    December 5th, 2011 @ 11:21 pm

    […] Iowa newspapers that drives home the importance of social issues in America.  Stacy McCain has a copy of the ad which states in bold letters “America Surrenders: Not on my watch!” You can view the […]

  18. ThePaganTemple
    December 5th, 2011 @ 11:46 pm

    I have this strange idea you’re not really getting my point Knappster.

  19. Anonymous
    December 6th, 2011 @ 12:08 am

    You have many strange ideas, TPT. What’s one more?  😉

  20. ThePaganTemple
    December 6th, 2011 @ 12:29 am

    @knappster-

    The Trek Universe is a couple hundred years into the future. By the time that much time has passed who’s to say which universe ours will most resemble?

  21. Santorum Iowa Ad: ‘No Surrender’ « The Greenroom
    December 6th, 2011 @ 9:47 am

    […] (Cross-posted at The Other McCain.) document.write(''); […]

  22. richard mcenroe
    December 6th, 2011 @ 10:29 am

    Santorum addresses the economy and global issues in his appearances.  Quite well, when I saw him.  But the socons have a right to be heard as well even if they and I part company in some areas.

    I would rather have a socon who’s actually CUT government waste like Santorum than a “conservative” with a $500k tab at a freaking jewelry store.

  23. Anonymous
    December 7th, 2011 @ 2:15 pm

    Turn out the lights, the party is over.

  24. Evangelical and Mormon Endorsements For Catholic Rick Santorum? What’s Up With That? « Catholic Bandita
    December 10th, 2011 @ 11:25 am

    […] is retreat in the form of libertarianism. This is why when Rick Santorum says things like “AMERICA SURRENDERS: Not On My Watch!“, the “conservative” blogosphere has generally cringed in fear. Rick Santorum […]

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