Rick Santorum – “Profile in Courage”

Voices Empower is excited to share with you Foster Friess’ endorsement of Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum.  Click highlighted text to read more of Foster Friess’ amazing story.  ”Renowned investor Foster Friess works to encourage private sector solutions to improve the lives of others.”

TO: Iowa and national conservative leaders

One of the foremost reasons I support Rick Santorum is the same position causing others to dismiss him–his support of Specter over Toomey in 2004. He knew conservatives would revile this decision and perhaps never forgive him, but yet he assessed that Toomey would have a hard time winning and if Spector were removed as the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, the opportunity to confirm Alito and Roberts would be gone.

Rick got Specter’s assurances that he would support W’s Supreme Court nominees, and Rick was willing to put country ahead of his own political aspirations, knowing that having one or more Supreme Court justices (like Roberts, Alito) for the next 30-40 years was better than having a Democrat defeat Toomey.

Most of the pundits agreed with the assessment that Toomey would be vulnerable, and this was borne out by the fact that George W. Bush only won Pennsylvania by one percentage point in one of the best turnout efforts in Pennsylvania history; his candidacy would be more appealing than a more conservative Toomey candidacy in that particularly bluish state.

Again, this assessment was borne out by Toomey’s eventual victory where he won by only one percentage point when the Republican gubernatorial candidate, Corbett, won by 10 percentage points.

Recall that when Rick Santorum had to make his decision re Specter vs. Toomey, the Senate was narrowly balanced 49-51 toward the GOP. While we should all applaud Jim DeMint’s refreshing approach of favoring principled conservative Republican challengers over RINO incumbents or quasi-incumbents in general — eg. Rubio vs. Crist — we must admit that there are times, when the balance of the U.S. Senate or Supreme Court is on the line, that tough decisions must be made.

Rather than a sellout, in my opinion, Rick Santorum’s tough choice in that moment was a “profile in courage” — and a sneak preview of the kind of President he would be.

That said, I would fully hope and expect Rick Santorum to, in general, embrace the DeMint approach of favoring true conservatives over RINOs (yes, even RINO incumbents) from the GOP bully pulpit of the Presidency. In other words, had Senate and Supreme Court control not been so very clearly on the line that year, Santorum should indeed have endorsed Toomey over Specter.

Trust me: I have talked to Rick about these things, and if Iowans send Santorum on to the GOP nomination and the Presidency… I will be dogging his heels to embrace Jim DeMint’s general lean toward principled Republicans, rather than RINO incumbents.

Our debt and fiscal crisis has gotten as bad as it has, to a great extent, due to RINO cooperation with Democrat big spenders on Capitol Hill. Sadly, House Republicans only cut about $20 billion from last year’s $1.5 trillion deficit; often, it takes two to tango.

Pre-crash, moreover, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were busy corrupting Republicans as well as Democrats. This kind of thing — and so much of what we used to call “Big Gov Conservatism” — must come to a swift end. As a matter of survival, if not conservative principle, the USA needs limited government.

Rick Santorum is willing to put country ahead of himself and bear the political consequences. In addition to the episode described above — in which he blew a hole in his own base to get Roberts and Alito onto the Supreme Court — he has taken principled stands on reinstating “Don’t Ask;Don’t Tell”.

He signed the wonderful Iowa Marriage Vow (against redefining marriage into same sex marriage, polygamy, etc.) along with Michele Bachmann on day one; and he has never wavered on the Sanctity of Human Life.

In an era of politicians with constant fingers to the wind, the American public craves authenticity and a leader with convictions. A politician takes people where they want to go, a leader has the capacity to take people where they might not want to go, but need to go. In terms of that definition, Rick is a leader.

Similarly, where some might consider his defeat as a negative, again it demonstrates his willingness to stay committed to George Bush’s Iraq policy and the core principals for which the Republicans stood. A stance at a time when Republican ideas were not embraced by the American public. He was not the only Republican who lost in that same election cycle.

Rick stuck to his core convictions. People may disagree on the efficacy of his position on the Iraq war, but the point is we know what we’re getting as opposed to a more traditional approach by politicians which ask us “what do you want to hear?”

By engaging in the business world since leaving office, Rick clearly learned much as to the obstacles businesses have to face, and I believe would be committed to “Re-Regulating America’” . No, this is not a typo from DE-Regulating America. This is a term I champion as a way of going back to the drawing board to trash all existing regulations and start over; also Bush and McCain were right in calling for tougher regulation of Freddie and Fannie which Dodd/Frank/Maxine Waters dissed.

In addition he would work hard to drive down healthcare costs, and create favorable tax incentives to allow businesses to prosper. Like Governor Pawlenty used to say, ‘Why are people for jobs but against business?’ It’s like being for eggs but against chickens”. Rick’s experience in the business world equips him to be a better champion of those who want to create jobs and because of his own personal experience he understands how that can be done.

Also, Rick Santorum has proven his ability to be accepted by a wide range of the political spectrum by the fact that he defeated two Democratic incumbents when the registrations were stacked against him and perhaps caused a third Democratic incumbent not to run. The fact that as a very young Senator his peers selected him to the third most important position in the Senate speaks volumes about his leadership capability.

Rick will position himself well with many constituencies, against Obama. His strong advocacy of the state of Israel versus Obama’s actions which polls now show only 6% of Israeli’s believe Obama has their best interest at heart ought to chew significantly into the 68% Obama achieved of the Jewish vote.

Defenders of Israel love Rick, for example, because of his record and because of his pledge, finally, to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the Israeli capital. (For decades, US presidents and State Departments — blowing the uncertain trumpet of moral equivalence and signaling wobbliness in US- Israeli relations — have denied Israel the international dignity of a US Embassy where these go in all other nations, in the capital city).

While Rick Santorum can currently position himself almost as a Washington outsider not having been in office for almost six years, he has the advantage of knowing exactly how Washington works having successfully authored the Welfare Reform Act, the Iran Freedom and Support Act and driven other key pieces of legislation through the process.

Because his positions on social issues are so well known, the main stream media glosses over the other two legs of the stool that President Reagan coalesced: fiscal conservatism and national security conservatism. He has written, some times on a daily basis, about the threat of Ahmadinejad, Islamist fascism and the connection to Chavez in Venezuela. He gets it!

His fiscal conservative credentials are borne out by his actions as a freshman Congressman when he joined the Gang of Seven to highlight the House banking and House Post Office abuses; championing for the line item veto and a balanced budget amendment.

Recent kind comments by Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck affirm his ability to ignite the all important voters who believe our country is facing a decision between being governed by rules and regulations or inspired by values and virtues.

The energy and enthusiasm and dedication he exhibits can best be demonstrated by his visiting all 99 Iowa counties and moving his entire family to Iowa for seven weeks to let people assess who he really is and to see him up close and personal rather than through the gloss of television messaging.

I first met him when he gave a speech at the National Republican Senatorial Committee when Phil Gramm headed it and instantly perceived his likability and leadership qualities. I can also attest he has a very good golf game which seems to be important if Clinton and Obama are any indication.

By the fact that he has won over Democrats and Independents in prior elections says a lot about his ability to bring people together rather than to be divisive.

The importance of getting all the players on the same team is demonstrated by the farmer who hitched his huge Percheron horse to pull a car from a muddy ditch, ‘Pull Jim’ nothing happened, ‘Pull Tom’ nothing happened, ‘Pull Todd’ nothing happened, ‘Pull Homer’ and the giant horse pulled it out as slick as could be. The happy driver asked, ‘why do you have to call your horse four names?’ The farmer replied, ‘You see son, Homer is blind. If he thought he was the only one pulling, he wouldn’t give a dang.’

This is where we find ourselves now in America. The solutions we need are not Republican or Democrat and we don’t have to argue who is at fault for where we are. It’s obvious that our balance sheet didn’t get there solely because of the Democrats.

If you take eight zeros off the government numbers, we find a person making $21,000 a year, spending $38,000 a year, with a $142,000 credit card tab. Our current Political Ruling Elite comes up with a plan to reduce the expenses by $385!

Rick has the ability to articulate that our solutions are not solely coming from the Republican or the Democratic party, but it requires an American solution. He can influence the American people of all political stripes to emulate Homer’s dedication to getting our country out of our current excessive spending ditch.

I like the guy. I like his wife. I like his kids. I like everything about him. He deserves to be seriously vetted by the American public despite the Main Stream Media’s efforts to ignore his qualities. The lack of attention from the Main Stream Media ought to endear him to the Tea Party folks. He is definitely not a Dole or McCain!

His Fiscal Conservatism, National Security Conservatism and his Social Conservatism make him an heir of Reagan’s three legged stool.

God Bless, Foster