Paul on Santorum: 'He's a Fake'
Forget the polls. You don't need to monitor the public opinion polls to track which Republican presidential candidate is surging. All you need to do is see which rival Texas Rep. Ron Paul is attacking - and how sarcastically he gets doing it. In the earlier debates, Paul went after Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. Wednesday night, in Mesa, it was Rick Santorum's turn in Paul's sights.
The first question from CNN moderator John King was why Paul is calling Santorum a fake in his television commercials. With the bluntness that has gained him a cult-like following, the veteran congressman man responded, "Because he's a fake."
With a pained look on his face, Santorum plaintively responded, "I'm real; I'm real." But Paul was at his cranky best and was unswayed by the pleas. Noting a few of the programs Santorum voted for when he was in the Senate, Paul lumped him in with all other officeholders he blames for the current fiscal mess in Washington. "I think the record is so bad, you know, with the politicians," he said, contrasting this with his own record of voting against almost all spending bills. "So this idea of being fiscally conservative now that we're running for office and we're going to repeal something that we did before, I mean, it loses credibility."
He particularly hammered Santorum for voting for foreign aid. "You vote for foreign aid because for some weird reason it's supposed to be good for America, but then it goes and helps all our enemies."
Santorum's response suffered in
comparison with Paul's bluntness and simple rhetoric. Instead, Santorum talking
about "hero awards" and praise from magazines, as if more than a handful of
viewers had any idea what he was talking about. And Paul, after listening to
the spiel on ratings, airily dismissed the former senator. "That's always a
cop-out when you compare yourself to the other members of Congress," he said. "People
are sick and tired of the members of Congress."
Paul kept up the attack on Santorum -- and the sarcasm -- later in the debate. After a long and tortured Santorum explanation of the legislative maneuvers that led him to vote for funding for Planned Parenthood, Paul drew applause with the simple rejoinder, "There's always an excuse."
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