http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71435.html
GAFFNEY, S.C.—Ron Paul’s record on abortion is “one of the worst in the United States Congress,” Rick Santorum charged Friday.
And that’s not all: Campaigning here in this state where social conservatives hold sway, Santorum leveled a broad argument against Paul for not doing enough to oppose gay marriage, the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” and a host of other issues.
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Sparked by a question from a Paul supporter about votes he cast in the Senate that included Planned Parenthood funding, the former Pennsylvania senator — and proponent of complete abortion restrictions — blasted his rival for putting his libertarian views over “Judeo-Christian values.”
“He doesn’t vote for anything restricting abortion on a federal level because he doesn’t think the federal government should be involved in restricting abortion,” Santorum said. “Well, that’s just wrong! The bottom line is that we need to have restrictions on abortion.”
The encounter at a town hall here started Santorum on an extended tear punctuated only by a whispered comment from his wife Karen.
“Well, he’s opposed a lot of pro-life bills,” Santorum said in response.
“The bottom line is, I am for defunding Planned Parenthood,” he told the crowd here. “I am for a federal marriage amendment, which Ron Paul is not. I am for reinstating ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ — which Ron Paul is not. I’m just telling you there are clear differences on someone who is going to go out and speak about the Judeo-Christian values that this country holds, and Ron Paul will not.”
Santorum defended his own voting record, then accused Paul of earmarking.
“The program that he’s talking about is a program called Title X, and it’s a program that is in appropriation bills that allows for funding of birth control,” Santorum said. “I am not for federal funding of that, but it’s in a big bill that provides a lot of things. Did I vote for that overall bill? Yes, I did. Ron Paul doesn’t vote for any spending. That’s fine. But he also earmarks more than anybody else in the Congress, and then doesn’t vote for the spending that the earmarks are in.”
He received the biggest applause and cheers of the day when he declared: “There is nobody that’s been a stronger pro-life leader in the United States Congress than I was.”
Minutes after Santorum left the restaurant where the event was held, his campaign blasted a press release, announcing the endorsement of former chairman of the National Organization for Marriage Maggie Gallagher.
Paul spent lots of money airing an advertisement in Iowa that highlighted his personal opposition to abortion. It features the former OB-GYN recalling a late-term abortion that he witnessed.
But Santorum wasn’t only focused on Paul’s views on social issues — he also took issue with Paul’s foreign policy views — saying Paul “appeals to the Dennis Kucinich wing of the Democratic Party on national security” — and wrote off Paul’s second-place finish as irrelevant.
“Ron Paul’s been running in New Hampshire since 1937,” he joked.
Santorum’s looking to consolidate conservative support ahead of the Jan. 21 primary to give him the same kind of surge that propelled him to a virtual tie in the Iowa caucuses Jan. 3. At a lunchtime event at a diner in York during part of his swing through the conservative upstate of South Carolina, he expressed confidence that would happen.
“We know the values of this state,” Santorum said. “We know, particularly here in the upstate, those rock-ribbed, traditional values.”
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