The first thought to cross many a conservative mind is "No way, Rick Santorum didn't really say that out loud, did he?????"
Close enough:
"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 you’re going to be a little different, we might as well stay with what we have instead of taking a risk with what may be the Etch A Sketch candidate of the future."--- Rick Santorum
Santorum is referring to major gaffe by Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom, in response to a question about whether Santorum is pushing Romney too far right to win over moderate voters in a general election. "Well, I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes," Fehrnstrom told CNN. "It’s almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and restart all over again."
The is reminiscent of when Hillary Clinton battled Barack Obama in 2008 and she stated, publicly, "I think you'll be able to imagine many things Senator McCain will be able to say," she said. "He's never been the president, but he will put forth his lifetime of experience. I will put forth my lifetime of experience. Senator Obama will put forth a speech he made in 2002."
Democrats skewered Clinton for saying that. For implying that voting for her or the Republican candidate was better than voting for Obama.
It is one thing to point out that there is a segment of the conservative base that wonders if four more years of Obama is preferable to a possibility of eight years with an Obama-like Romney, it is chatter heard around the web.
It is quite another thing for a Republican presidential candidate to say out loud and imply that it is his position.
I am not a Romney supporter but given the choice between Romney and Obama after three years of watching Barack Obama systematically divide the country deliberately, creating an atmosphere that encourages total class warfare, passing policies that destabilize our economy instead of solutions to fix it, out-of-control spending when our deficits are the highest ever seen and creating more national debt in three years than George Bush did in eight, Romney wins hands down against Obama.
[Update] Atlanta, GA - Newt 2012 Campaign Chairman Rep. Bob Walker released the following statement today criticizing Sen. Santorum's comments about the possibility of an Obama reelection:
"As a former Pennsylvania colleague of Rick Santorum in the Congress, I am stunned by his statement that if he is not the Republican nominee, we might be better off with the reelection of President Obama. An Obama reelection would assure full implementation of Obamacare, a continuation of the assault on American energy production, more economic policies that destroy American jobs and the appointment of more radically leftist judges including perhaps to the Supreme Court. Whatever our differences inside the Republican primaries, no candidate should be suggesting that Barack Obama is a reasonable alternative."
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