Thursday, January 26. 2006
Today the Allentown Morning Call and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette both have Rick denying any involvement in the K Street project. Rick now says his weekly meetings with lobbyists had nothing to do with the K Street project. Here's the Post-Gazette's description of just how similar those meetings and the project were:
The "K Street Project," which was led by conservative activist Grover Norquist and then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, was an effort to press Washington's lobbying firms and trade associations to hire Republicans who share their agenda.
...
Since he became the Senate's third-ranking Republican in 2001, Mr. Santorum has held weekly meetings with top Republican lobbyists at which he discusses, among other matters, job openings at Washington lobbying firms.
But, in interviews with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, he has said those discussions -- which he previously referred to as "the K Street meetings" -- are merely to ensure Republicans are putting forward good candidates for the jobs.
As if that weren't enough to make you question the veracity of Santorum's latest denials, here's what he told the Post-Gazette about the K Street project back in November:
"The K Street project is purely to make sure we have qualified applicants for positions that are in town," Mr. Santorum said. "From my perspective, it's a good government thing."
Santorum also told the Morning Call that he hadn't seen Grover Norquist "in years." When, in fact, Norquist spoke at a Santorum press conference last June. Hey Rick, I know you've had a rough time since June and it may have felt like years. But it's only been six months since you and Grover teamed up. Does anyone believe anything this guy says?
Tuesday, January 24. 2006
Last week Rick Santorum addressed the Centre County Republican Party and asked them to support him. During the course of his speech Rick actually had the gall to compare putting a Santorum bumper sticker on your car to serving your country in Iraq or Afghanistan.
That's right, he literally said that putting one of his bumper stickers on your vehicle was a way "to step up and serve your country." The video is below the following transcript:
Santorum: "And yet we have brave men and women who are willing to step forward because they know what's at stake. They're willing to sacrifice their lives for this great country. What I'm asking all of you tonight is not to put on a uniform. Put on a bumper sticker. Is it that much to ask? Is it that much to ask to step up and serve your country?" (emphasis ours)
And no, Rick was NOT talking about a "Support the Troops" bumper sticker, he was absolutely talking about a "Rick Santorum" bumper sticker.
Tuesday, January 17. 2006
The editorial board of the Beaver County Times believes that Rick Santorum is blaming the wrong people (liberals and the media) for the declining public support for the war in Iraq. This is a powerful piece that we recommend you read in its entirety. Here's part of it:
Santorum said public support for the war has been difficult to maintain because of "biased coverage of the war and the political left demagoguery of the war."
In other words, the nationalist/populist election-year line that has become standard for Bush and his supporters when it comes to those who challenge their divine right to rule: vilify, terrify and lie.
Let's start with the brutal truth: A first-class military organization is being ground up in Iraq because of this administration's combination of hubris and incompetence.
Our men and women in the military are being killed and wounded, often horribly, because they have inadequate or no personal armor to protect them.
They are being killed and wounded because they are denied armored vehicles by the Rumsfeld Pentagon, which has deemed tanks and other light and heavy armor as unnecessary for the occupation.
They face an almost impossible mission because the Bush White House refused to heed warnings that far more troops would be required to pacify Iraq than would be needed to successfully invade it.
They are being asked to carry out a nation-building mission for which they are not suited or trained.
For the record, we have opposed calls to withdraw troops from Iraq. However, we believe U.S. forces in Iraq need the personnel, materiel and training to carry out their mission.
We also believe that our nation's commitment in Iraq, by necessity, must be long-term if we are to bring democracy and stability to the Middle East.
But that does not require us or anyone else to march in lock step to the Bush administration.
If the United States is weaker today and Iraq has the potential to become a haven for terrorists, as Santorum maintains, the blame rests with the Bush administration.
Monday, January 16. 2006
Today two editorial boards from different ends of the state of Pennsylvania take aim at Rick Santorum for his recent comments accusing liberals and the media of undermining the war effort in Iraq. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette believes that Rick is way out of line in calling upon the media to downplay American casualties in Iraq. Here's part of the Post-Gazette editorial:
In a speech Thursday to students at Valley Forge Military Academy and College outside Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Republican really went off the deep end, attacking the media -- we assume modestly that he included us -- for drawing the public's attention to the deaths of American servicemen and -women in Iraq. To focus attention on the "tragic consequences" of the war, he said, was "helping Islamic fascism win the battle."
...
For Sen. Santorum to suggest that we and other American media should not report about the tragic loss of American lives -- a death toll that now stands above 2,200 -- is to sell our readers short and to suggest that they do not need to know, nor do they want to know, how many brave Americans are dying there.
It is to say that they are either immature -- fragile souls who need to be protected from such information -- or that they don't care, which everyone knows is not the case. For Sen. Santorum to cite national security and the claim that knowledge of U.S. losses might encourage America's enemies, as reasons for not telling the public the truth, is insulting to the American people.
The Chester County Daily Local News wants to know why Rick seems to believe that his questions about Iraq are the only questions that are appropriate to ask. Here's some of that editorial:
We’re confused. On one hand, Santorum wants a panel to take a "fresh look" at Iraq, an acknowledgement that there are open questions about the war. On the other hand, he turns around and lambastes those who have questions of their own. That’s hypocritical.
...
Santorum wants all Americans to rally around the Bush administration and this war. That’s fine. But he also expects them to do so blindly at the same time he has questions of his own. That’s not fine.
Hey Rick, it looks like people might be paying a little more attention to your hypocrisy these days. You may want to consider speaking less, that way you won't provide them with as many examples to use.
Sunday, January 15. 2006
Friday, Pittsburgh's two major newspapers each contained stories about Rick Santorum, George Bush and Iraq. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's article was headlined " Santorum backs Bush on Iraq", while the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's column was titled " Is Santorum undermining Bush?" Just in case the headlines don't make you suspect that Rick might be playing both sides of the fence on this issue, take a look at the opening paragraphs of the articles. First, from the Post-Gazette:
Sen. Rick Santorum yesterday answered questions about his view of the Bush administration's policies in Iraq with a fierce defense of President Bush's course and argued that Americans who are not committed to it don't understand that national security and Western democracy are at risk if the United States fails.
And from the Tribune-Review:
President George W. Bush says we're winning in Iraq, but he is losing Sen. Rick Santorum.
Mr. Bush's objective and unbiased assessments about the ongoing military and civil operations no longer suffice for the Penn Hills Republican.
Is your head spinning yet? Do you feel nauseous?
A Lebanon Daily News article asks whether the "Abramoff scandal leads to Santorum?" The piece provides some good background on the K Street project, Rick's role in it and how that relates to the Abramoff scandal. Here are some excerpts:
DeLay and Norquist initiated K Street after the GOP gained control of Congress in 1994. Defenders of the strategy have likened it to the methods used by Democrats when they ruled in Washington.
But others, like Elizabeth Drew, an author and contributor to the New York Book Review who has investigated the K Street Project, see it as something fundamentally different: a grab for total control.
“The Republican purge of K Street is a more thorough, ruthless, vindictive, and effective attack on Democratic lobbyists and other Democrats who represent businesses and other organizations than anything Washington has seen before,” she wrote in the Review, shortly after the Abramoff investigation became public. “... The K Street Project has become critical to the Republicans’ efforts to control all the power centers in Washington: the White House, Congress, the court — and now, at least, an influential part of the corporate world, the one that raises most of the political money. ... DeLay, Santorum, and their associates organized a systematic campaign, closely monitored by Republicans on Capitol Hill and by Grover Norquist and the Republican National Committee, to put pressure on firms not just to hire Republicans but also to fire Democrats.”
It wasn’t until the GOP obtained the White House in 2000 that the project’s goals took root under Santorum’s leadership, Confessore wrote. Without a balance of power between the two parties, lobbying firms no longer had to court Democrats and were pressured by DeLay and other Republicans to put all their efforts into the GOP.
...
As Republican Conference chairman, Santorum was in position to orchestrate the GOP’s domination of K Street. At his side from the start, at least two reports state, was Abramoff, who attended the first meeting Santorum hosted.
Both The National Journal, in May 2001, and Roll Call, in March 2001, reported Abramoff was among a group of K Street power brokers invited to meet with Santorum and other lawmakers that March.
Both reports described it, and subsequent meetings, as an informational dialogue about policy and legislative initiatives that included talk about job placement for Republican loyalists.
The National Journal report quotes one Santorum aide as saying the meetings are meant “to develop relationships with folks downtown who generally share our objectives legislatively and who can help us communicate our issues.”
Saturday, January 14. 2006
Gil Spencer of the Delaware County Times has an interesting take on Rick Santorum's speech to the cadets at Valley Forge Military Academy. We especially enjoyed the question that Spencer didn't get to ask Rick:
A reporter put up his hand, but Santorum begged off, saying he’d make himself available to the media later. He wanted the cadets to get the chance to ask a few questions.
The young men asked about Syria, Ariel Sharon and Iran. Their questions were good enough that I didn’t feel too bad that I didn’t get a chance to ask mine.
Santorum lit out so quickly after his speech that the biased media barely had a chance to ask one question. He was late for another appointment, we were told, and this is an election year.
Too bad. I loved my question. It was: "Have you seen ‘Brokeback Mountain’ yet, senator?"
Friday, January 13. 2006
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Rick Santorum, who Bill Frist has put in charge of reforming congressional lobbying rules, has received more money from lobbyists than any other congressional candidate. From the Post-Gazette story:
Sen. Rick Santorum, who has been tapped by fellow Senate Republican leaders to draft legislation tightening restrictions on lobbyists, has received more money from lobbyists than any other congressional candidate so far in the 2006 election cycle.
Mr. Santorum, R-Pa., received $145,946 from lobbyists in the period from the start of the 2006 election cycle through Oct. 31, 2005, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics based on the most recent data the Federal Election Commission has published.
Does anyone else think that Rick may not be the best choice when it comes to ethics/lobbying reform? Anybody? Hello? Senator Frist, we're looking at you.
Thursday, January 12. 2006
Rep. John Boehner, who would like Tom Delay's old job of Majority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, wants us to believe that as Majority Leader he would end the corruption that has led to the current scandals involving lobbyists and members of Congress. To that end, today his office issued the following statement from Boehner:
“If I am elected Majority Leader, there will no longer be a ‘K Street project,’ or anything else like it.”
Does this mean that Boehner believes that Tom Delay and Rick Santorum's pet "K Street project" encouraged the so-called "culture of corruption" in Washington D.C.? And if so, does that mean that he disagrees with Sen. Bill Frist's choice of Rick "K Street project" Santorum to lead the charge on ethics/lobbying reform?
Someone in the press might want to call Boehner's office and ask him if thinks Santorum is the right person for the ethics reform job. Then perhaps they should call Rick and find out whether he thinks the K Street project, which he recently called "a good government thing", should be ended.
Somehow we don't believe Boehner's going to have an easy time ending the K Street project. But if he really tries to, we can't wait to watch the fireworks.
Sunday, January 8. 2006
Rick Santorum addressed Justice Sunday III at the Greater Exodus Baptist Church in Philadelphia tonight. The latest installment of Justice Sunday was held in support of Samuel Alito's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court on the eve of his senate confirmation hearing.
Santorum was his usual bi-partisan, love thy neighbor self, especially when it came to his descriptions of Democrats and judges who he happens to disagree with. We'll try to post the audio/video as soon as we can, in the mean time here's an excerpt from the Associated Press story about the event:
Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, the No. 3 Senate Republican, told the gathering that liberal judges are "destroying traditional morality, creating a new moral code and prohibiting any dissent."
"The only way to restore this republic our founders envisioned is to elevate honorable jurists like Samuel Alito," Santorum said. "Unfortunately, the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee seem poised to drag these hearings into the gutter, so they can continue their far left judicial activism on the Supreme Court."
Destroying traditional morality? Dragging hearings into the gutter? Creating a new moral code? We guess he's holding off on the Hitler material until later in the week.
Wednesday, January 4. 2006
Now that Jack Abramoff has plead guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in the federal corruption probe, which may involve as many as two dozen members of Congress and congressional staffers, the National Review Online reports that Republicans have decided to "get ahead of" the Abramoff story by proposing lobbying reform. And who has Bill Frist put in charge of lobbying reform? Mr. "K Street Project" himself, Rick Santorum.
If you're still not familiar with the K Street Project, it was conceived of by Tom Delay and is run by Rick Santorum with the help of people like Grover Norquist and lobbyists like, drum roll please... JACK ABRAMOFF. The main goal of the K Street Project is to use the power of Republican control of Congress and the White House to convince lobbying firms to hire Republicans, often former congressional staff members, for positions of power. The K Street Project has been extremely successful in accomplishing that goal.
Once those Republicans took over control of the lobbying firms, where do you think their clients' political donations went? Recently, Santorum told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that he considered the K Street Project "a good government thing."
So now the GOP wants to put the man who has spent years building the Republican lobbying machine, in conjunction with Tom Delay and Jack Abramoff, in charge of cleaning up the lobbying industry. We'd call it ironic, but it seems to be just plain moronic.
Here's an excerpt from the NRO:
Republican leaders in the Senate have had a plan in place for the last two months to "get ahead of" the Jack Abramoff scandal by coming up with a new proposal for lobbying reform. The leadership "decided in November that lobby reform for the Senate was a priority for this session," and Majority Leader Bill Frist placed Pennsylvania Republican Senator Rick Santorum in charge of it, Senate sources tell National Review Online.
Santorum's efforts will be apart from the work of Senator John McCain, who has already introduced a proposal for lobbying reform.
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