Of the four remaining GOP candidates, Senator Rick Santorum was the only candidate to attend the Wisconsin GOP Presidential Primary Dinner in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on March 31st. Senator Santorum opened the evening applauding conservative Wisconsinites for their support of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch. He also commended Wisconsin for all its great “beer, brats and cheese curds.”
The conversation quickly adjusted, as Senator Santorum went on to discuss the founding principles that make our nation great, and how those principles are something to be proud of. “We’ve inspired greatness and liberty, all over the globe,” he said. Continuing to emphasize America as a “shining city on a hill,” Senator Santorum pointed out what most Americans have noticed in the Obama administration: “We have a President who goes around that globe and apologizes for America. Never under our administration – never will we apologize for this great nation.” Wisconsinites erupted in applause at Santorum’s distaste for President Obama’s apologetic demeanor.
Senator Santorum also touched on the historical healthcare debate in the Supreme Court. “I know we have a lot of folks that talk about the economy, the economy, the economy- and I do. The economy’s important. It’s obviously important what the growth rate, unemployment rate, the size and scale of the deficit; these are all huge issues. But they are driven by government’s huge expansion- huge dictatorial presence within our economy and within our lives. How heartening was it to see those Supreme Court Justices talk about limits of federal power, talk about how Obamacare would fundamentally change the relationship between the people and their government, because indeed, it would. But we are a great county; we are a unique country in the history of the world because we understand where our rights come from, and that the governments role is not to create new rights. When the government gives you rights, as we have seen with Obamacare, they can tell you how to exercise those rights or threaten to take them if you don’t do what you are told. That is a government that is no longer serving people. That is a government where now people become subjects to crown– to the new crown of the bureaucracy in Washington. Do you want to know what’s at stake in this election? That is what’s at stake.”
Senator Santorum strived to win over conservative Wisconsinites by adverting to Wisconsin’s conservative Governor Scott Walker and Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch. “You could have nominated a moderate for Governor, Lt. Governor, and Representatives. But you chose a conservative for Governor, Lt. Governor, and Senators to lead you.” He went on to praise Wisconsinites saying, “That is why Wisconsin is so important. Fighting the hard left, big government America. You have stood tall; you have fought and continue to fight.” Santorum suggested that in order to win this election, we are going to need bold contrast between the GOP candidate and incumbent Barack Obama, suggesting that he is the champion conservative among the GOP candidates and therefore the strongest contrast to Obama. “Americans are not looking for luke-warm right now. They’re looking for bold contrasting colors. They’re looking for someone, at a difficult time in American history, who isn’t going to manage Washington, but is going to transform it with a passion, with a zeal that can motivate and lift up the American people.”
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