Former Senator Rick Santorum appeared on Newsmax TV’s “The Steve Malzberg Show” yesterday, where he discussed his own social conservative record versus the positions of fellow presidential candidate Ted Cruz. You can watch the appearance and read the transcript below:
RICK SANTORUM: …Right now the social conservative votes [in Iowa] are going to Cruz and Trump, neither of which are particularly strong social conservatives. I mean, Donald Trump has never been a social conservative up until the last few months, and Ted Cruz takes the position – very much 10th Amendment, states’ rights, which is sort of a Rand Paul / Ron Paul position –
STEVE MALZBERG: Then Senator, why are – why are the religious – the evangelical votes going there right now?
SANTORUM: I think they’re being sold that they do carry – you know, Ted Cruz says, ‘I’m this social conservative,’ but people haven’t had a chance – and again, this is what this last month, these few weeks heading up to the caucuses, this is when people do their homework, and they’re gonna see. There’s an article in The Iowa Republican today; he called, basically, Ted Cruz the Trojan horse of social conservatism. And these are the types of articles that you’re gonna start to see. People are gonna start to say, ‘Oh, wait a minute. He says he’s these things, but he’s not.’ And –
MALZBERG: Do you agree with that terminology? Is he a Trojan horse when it comes to social conservatism?
SANTORUM: That may not be the right term, but it’s basically that he’s not the social conservative that he’s portraying himself to be. And the answer is, he’s not. He clearly has taken a position – you saw this from the tape that was issued in Politico the other day, which is, this is not a high-priority issue for him; this is a 10thAmendment, states’ rights issue; this isn’t an issue where you have the natural law, the moral law, which all laws have to be subservient to. He doesn’t take that position. If people wanna do drugs in Colorado, it’s fine with him; if people want to have different kinds of marriages, fine with him; don’t necessarily agree with it, but you wanna have abortion [inaudible], fine with him; he doesn’t agree with it, but he’s not gonna fight it – that’s not what people are looking for. They’re looking for someone who has a very clear vision of what’s right and what’s wrong and will be able to lay that vision out for the American people.
Thomas Valentine is a researcher for the American Principles Project and a junior at the Franciscan University of Steubenville.
