Fact check: Mitt Romney’s claim that Rick Santorum was a big spender

The Weekly Standard evaluates Mitt Romney’s claim that Rick Santorum is fiscally liberal. (H/T Shane)

Excerpt:

The National Taxpayers Union (NTU) has been rating members of Congress for 20 years.  NTU is an independent, non-partisan organization that — per its mission statement — “mobilizes elected officials and the general public on behalf of tax relief and reform, lower and less wasteful spending, individual liberty, and free enterprise.”  Steve Forbes serves on its board of directors.

For each session of Congress, NTU scores each member on an A-to-F scale.  NTU weights members’ votes based on those votes’ perceived effect on both the immediate and future size of the federal budget.  Those who get A’s are among “the strongest supporters of responsible tax and spending policies”; they receive NTU’s “Taxpayers’ Friend Award.”  B’s are “good” scores, C’s are “minimally acceptable” scores, D’s are “poor” scores, and F’s earn their recipients membership in the “Big Spender” category.  There is no grade inflation whatsoever, as we shall see.

NTU’s scoring paints a radically different picture of Santorum’s 12-year tenure in the Senate (1995 through 2006) than one would glean from the rhetoric of the Romney campaign.  Fifty senators served throughout Santorum’s two terms:  25 Republicans, 24 Democrats, and 1 Republican/Independent.  On a 4-point scale (awarding 4 for an A, 3.3 for a B+, 3 for a B, 2.7 for a B-, etc.), those 50 senators’ collective grade point average (GPA) across the 12 years was 1.69 — which amounts to a C-.  Meanwhile, Santorum’s GPA was 3.66 — or an A-.  Santorum’s GPA placed him in the top 10 percent of senators, as he ranked 5th out of 50.

Across the 12 years in question, only 6 of the 50 senators got A’s in more than half the years.  Santorum was one of them.  He was also one of only 7 senators who never got less than a B.  (Jim Talent served only during Santorum’s final four years, but he always got less than a B, earning a B- every year and a GPA of 2.7.)  Moreover, while much of the Republican party lost its fiscal footing after George W. Bush took office — although it would be erroneous to say that the Republicans were nearly as profligate as the Democrats — Santorum was the only senator who got A’s in every year of Bush’s first term.  None of the other 49 senators could match Santorum’s 4.0 GPA over that span.

This much alone would paint an impressive portrait of fiscal conservatism on Santorum’s part.  Yet it doesn’t even take into account a crucial point:  Santorum was representing Pennsylvania.

Based on how each state voted in the three presidential elections over that period (1996, 2000, and 2004), nearly two-thirds of senators represented states that were to the right of Pennsylvania.  In those three presidential elections, Pennsylvania was, on average, 3 points to the left of the nation as a whole.  Pennsylvanians backed the Democratic presidential nominee each time, while the nation as a whole chose the Republican in two out of three contests.

Among the roughly one-third of senators (18 out of 50) who represented states that — based on this measure — were at least as far to the left as Pennsylvania, Santorum was the most fiscally conservative.  Even more telling was the canyon between him and the rest.  After Santorum’s overall 3.66 GPA, the runner-up GPA among this group was 2.07, registered by Olympia Snowe (R., Maine).  Arlen Specter, Santorum’s fellow Pennsylvania Republican, was next, with a GPA of 1.98.  The average GPA among senators who represented states at least as far left as Pennsylvania was 0.52 — or barely a D-.

But Santorum also crushed the senators in the other states.  Those 32 senators, representing states that on average were 16 points to the right of Pennsylvania in the presidential elections, had an average GPA of 2.35 — a C+.

In fact, considering the state he was representing, one could certainly make the case that Santorum was the most fiscally conservative senator during his tenure.  The only four senators whose GPAs beat Santorum’s represented states that were 2 points (Republican Judd Gregg of New Hampshire), 10 points (Republican Jon Kyl of Arizona), 25 points (Republican James Inhofe of Oklahoma), and 36 points (Republican Craig Thomas of Wyoming) to the right of Pennsylvania in the presidential elections.  Moreover, of these four, only Kyl (with a GPA of 3.94) beat Santorum by as much as a tenth of a point.  It’s an open question whether a 3.94 from Arizona is more impressive than a 3.66 from Pennsylvania.

Do you know who is a big tax and spend fiscal liberal, though? MITT ROMNEY.

So, why is liberal Mitt Romney telling lies about conservative Rick Santorum?

New national Rasmussen poll: Santorum leads Romney 39-27

From Newsmax. (H/T Doug)

Excerpt:

Building on his triple play of victories in Minnesota, Colorado and Missouri, former Sen. Rick Santorum has now surged to a 12-point lead over Mitt Romney in the race for the GOP presidential nomination heading into a key battle in Romney’s home state of Michigan.

Political analyst and Democratic pollster Doug Schoen tells Newsmax that Romney’s presidential bid is in “deep trouble” and his campaign badly needs a win in the Great Lakes State before heading into the do-or-die Super Tuesday contests on March 6, where voters in 10 states will pick their candidate to become the GOP presidential nominee.

“Romney is in deep trouble. He’s out of arguments. People don’t buy the central premise of his candidacy that he’s a businessman who can get things moving again,” Schoen said in an exclusive interview on Wednesday. “He’s entirely negative — whether it’s about President Obama, Newt Gingrich and now Rick Santorum. And Rick Santorum’s ad basically sums up the case against Mitt Romney: He’s a serial attacker who offers nothing other than negative ads, super PACs, bundlers and special interest money. It’s a recipe for failure.”

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of likely Republican primary voters released on Wednesday shows Santorum leading with 39 percent support, compared with 27 percent for Romney nationwide.

The two latest polls in Michigan, a state where Mitt Romney grew up and where his father was governor, show Rick Santorum with a 10 point lead and a 9 point lead.

Mitt Romney

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• Santorum and Gingrich expose Romney’s liberal record in Sunday’s NBC debate
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• RINO Mitt Romney deploys another RINO John Sununu to attack Newt Gingrich
• Mitt Romney supports the anti-Christian and anti-business ENDA law
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• Jon Huntsman’s anti-Romney ads are awesome
• Mitt Romney’s political views on gay marriage, abortion and global warming
• Mitt Romney flip-flop videos: flat tax, abortion, health care, public sector unions, global warming
• Mitt Romney on global warming, climate change, environmental regulations
• Mitt Romney on abortion and stem cell research in his own words
• White House used Mitt Romney’s Romneycare as a blueprint for Obamacare
• Mitt Romney on the issues: Mitt Romney political views and positions in 2012

Rick Santorum

• Rick Santorum gets endorsements from James Dobson and John Stemberger
• Wall Street Journal: Rick Santorum is a supply-sider for the working man
• Rick Santorum would not stand idle while Iran develops nuclear weapons
• 150 evangelical leaders agree to endorse Rick Santorum after two-day conference
• Why Christians and social conservatives should vote for Rick Santorum
• Rick Santorum’s pro-family economic plan TRIPLES the child tax deduction
• Is Rick Santorum conservative or liberal? What are Rick Santorum’s political views?
• Rick Santorum helps liberal college students to understand the logic of marriage
• George Will: Rick Santorum connects with the working class
• Video and transcript of Rick Santorum’s inspiring Iowa victory speech
• Rick Santorum for President of the United States
• Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum: who has the pro-life record on abortion?
• Rick Santorum wins Fox News Republican primary debate (with video)
• Rick Santorum explains why socialism is hostile to the family

Filed under: News, Big Government, Big Spender, Conservative, Earmarks, Election, Fact Check, Fiscal Conservative, Fiscal Liberal, Liberal, Mitt Romney, Mud Slinging, Political Views, Poll, Pork, Pork Barrel, Positions, President, Race, Record, Rick Santorum, Senate, Senator, Small Government, Voting Record

Obama says that limited government and capitalism have never worked

Obama Economic Record November 2011

Investors Business Daily explains the latest speech on economics from the man who has doubled Bush’s 2007 unemployment rate, and increased Bush’s 2007 budget deficits tenfold.

Excerpt:

One thing is certainly true about President Obama — no matter how many times people point out the falsehoods in his speeches, he just keeps making them. Case in point: his latest “economic fairness” address.

In that speech Tuesday, Obama once again tried to build a case for his liberal, big-spending, tax-hiking, regulatory agenda. But as with so many of his past appeals, Obama’s argument rests on a pile of untruths. Among the most glaring:

• Tax cuts and deregulation have “never worked” to grow the economy. There’s so much evidence to disprove this claim, it’s hard to know where to start. But let’s begin with the fact that countries with greater economic freedom — lower taxes, less government, sound money, free trade — consistently produce greater overall prosperity.

Here at home, President Reagan’s program of lower taxes and deregulation led to an historic two-decade economic boom. Plus, states with lower taxes and less regulation do better than those that follow Obama’s prescription.

Obama also claimed the economic booms in the ’50s and ’60s somehow support his argument. This is utter nonsense. Taxes at the time averaged just 17% of the economy. And there was no Medicare, no Medicaid, no Departments of Transportation, Energy or Education, and no EPA. Had Obama been around then, he would have decried it all as un-American.

• Bush’s tax cuts on the rich only managed to produced “massive deficits” and the “slowest job growth in half a century.” Budget data make clear that Obama’s spending hikes, not Bush’s tax cuts, produced today’s massive deficits.

And Obama only gets his “slowest job growth” number by including huge job losses during his own term in office. Also, monthly pre-recession job growth under Bush was about 40% higher than post-recession growth has been under Obama.

• During the Bush years, “we had weak regulation, we had little oversight.” This is patently false. Regulatory staffing climbed 42% under Bush, and regulatory spending shot up 50%, according to a Washington University in St. Louis/George Washington University study. And the number of Federal Register pages — a proxy for regulatory activity — was far higher under Bush than any previous president.

• The “wealthiest Americans are paying the lowest taxes in over half a century.” Fact: the federal income tax code is now more progressive than it was in 1979, according to the Congressional Budget Office. IRS data show the richest 1% paid almost 40% of federal income taxes in 2009, up from 18% back in 1980.

• We can keep tax breaks for the rich in place, or make needed investments, “but we can’t do both.” Not true. Repealing the Bush tax cuts on the “rich” would raise only about $70 billion a year, a tiny fraction of projected deficits. With or without the Bush tax cuts, the country can’t afford Obama’s agenda.

The Heritage Foundation describes the effects of the Bush tax cuts.

Excerpt:

President Bush signed the first wave of tax cuts in 2001, cutting rates and providing tax relief for families by, for example, doubling of the child tax credit to $1,000.

At Congress’ insistence, the tax relief was initially phased in over many years, so the economy continued to lose jobs. In 2003, realizing its error, Congress made the earlier tax relief effective immediately. Congress also lowered tax rates on capital gains and dividends to encourage business investment, which had been lagging.

It was the then that the economy turned around. Within months of enactment, job growth shot up, eventually creating 8.1 million jobs through 2007. Tax revenues also increased after the Bush tax cuts, due to economic growth.

In 2003, capital gains tax rates were reduced. Rather than expand by 36% as the Congressional Budget Office projected before the tax cut, capital gains revenues more than doubled to $103 billion.

The CBO incorrectly calculated that the post-March 2003 tax cuts would lower 2006 revenues by $75 billion. Revenues for 2006 came in $47 billion above the pre-tax cut baseline.

Here’s what else happened after the 2003 tax cuts lowered the rates on income, capital gains and dividend taxes:

• GDP grew at an annual rate of just 1.7% in the six quarters before the 2003 tax cuts. In the six quarters following the tax cuts, the growth rate was 4.1%.
• The S&P 500 dropped 18% in the six quarters before the 2003 tax cuts but increased by 32% over the next six quarters.
• The economy lost 267,000 jobs in the six quarters before the 2003 tax cuts. In the next six quarters, it added 307,000 jobs, followed by 5 million jobs in the next seven quarters.

The timing of the lower tax rates coincides almost exactly with the stark acceleration in the economy. Nor was this experience unique. The famous Clinton economic boom began when Congress passed legislation cutting spending and cutting the capital gains tax rate.

If, in the 2012 election, half the country decides to vote for the person who gives the best speeches and who is cheered on the Comedy Channel, then we are going to have four more years of 9% unemployment and 1.4 trillion dollar deficits. Barack Obama knows nothing whatsoever about economics.

UPDATE: Obama says that small business owners didn’t build their own businesses

Filed under: Commentary, Barack Obama, Capitalism, Communism, Communist, Economics, Economy, Failure, Free Market, Incompetence, Leftist, Liberal, LImited Government, Marxism, Marxist, Obama, Small Government, Socialism, Socialist, Tax Cuts

What happens if a city decides to privatize all its functions?

Everything good, and nothing bad.

Privatization makes costs go down, and quality go up.

Filed under: Videos, Capitalism, Conservative, Georgia, Libertarian, Liberty, LImited Government, Private, Privatization, Sandy Springs, Small Government

Michele Bachmann beats RINO Mitt Romney in fundraising

Rep. Michele Bachmann

From the left-wing Politico.

Excerpt:

Michele Bachmann became the queen of 2011 fundraising this quarter, bringing in a combined $2.2 million for the quarter – bigger than the $1.9 million that frontrunner Mitt Romney reported bringing in, officials confirmed for POLITICO.

Bachmann raised $1.7 million for her congressional committee, and another $500,000 for her leadership PAC, Bachmann adviser Andy Parrish said.

The numbers are sure to roil the early presidential-watching, as the Minnesota congresswoman gears up for a likely run for the White House in 2012.

Much of her donations are reportedly small checks.

Bachmann, a tea party favorite, has been getting increasing attention as Sarah Palin appears increasingly unlikely to run.

Michele Bachmann is my pick to be President in 2012. Looks like she is off to a good start.

Just so you know, Mitt Romney is not a strong conservative. He enacted socialized medicine, with an individual mandate, in Massachusetts when he was the governor. It is suffering from enormous deficits. And in my opinion, he is pro-abortion, although he claims not to be when he is running for President.

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Filed under: News, 2012, Conservative, Conservative Mom, Conservative Woman, Conservative Women, Constitution, Family, Fiscal Conservativism, Fiscal Responsibility, GOP, GOP 2012, Michele Bachman, Michele Bachmann, Michelle Bachman, Michelle Bachmann, Politician, Politics, Presidency, President, Presidential, Pro-Child, Pro-Father, Pro-Life, Pro-Marriage, Republican, Republican Woman, Republican Women, Small Government, Social Conservatism, Tea Parties, Tea Party, Tea Party Caucus, White House

Michele Bachmann courts homeschoolers in Iowa speech

Rep. Michele Bachmann

From Caffeinated Thoughts.

Excerpt:

Congresswoman Bachmann was next.  She took time to introduce herself as a native Iowan and that she is a 7th generation Iowan.  She noted that she is also 100% Norwegian, so that makes her “Iowegian.”  She and her husband Marcus also homeschooled.  They have five natural born children, and were the foster parents for 23 kids, she said that makes her “the old lady in the shoe.”

She congratulated Iowans on ousting three of the Iowa Supreme Court justices calling them “black-robed masters.”  She was appalled at their audacity to redefine marriage, and said that as State Senator she offered a constitutional amendment to define marriage as one man, one woman in Minnesota.  That was sparked by what she saw happening in Massachusetts when their supreme court dictated to the Legislature what law they must pass to make gay marriage legal in that state.

She said that she was the first Republican woman to be elected to go to Washington out of Minnesota.  She qualified that, “I’m not just a Republican, I’m a way conservative.”  She joked that Washington still doesn’t know what to do with her.

She said that she has been prolife since she was 19 having been impacted by the teaching of Francis Schaeffer in college.  She also said that exercises her 2nd Amendment rights, and has a carry permit.  She noted that she grew up in a house where they made their own shotgun shells in the basement, and took her first gun safety course when she was 12.

She said, “I may be 5-foot-2 and wearing a yellow suit, but I am one tough lady when it comes to protecting our freedoms.”  To great applause she said, “we will make Barack Obama a one-term president.  We will repeal Obamacare.  She said that we have a brief window of opportunity in 2012.  She said we need to run up to 60 seats in the Senate.  She proclaimed, “I am in for 2012 to make sure that torch of liberty is not extinguished on our watch.”

She explained after the speech that she meant she’s “in it for 2012” to help beat Obama, it wasn’t an announcement of a presidential run.  She said that she’ll decide in June whether or not to run.  State Senator Kent Sorenson (R-Indianola) is an early supporter, and he said, “I hope she does run.  I think she will.”  Another homeschooling parent that I spoke with said, “she’s the real deal,” but was quick to mention that she like aspects of what each candidate who spoke.

Personally, after listening to Congresswoman Bachmann’s speech I felt that was the first true campaign speech I heard today.  Cain’s was good, but Bachmann’s covered a wider range and you definitely had the feel that she was selling herself to the group.  She does have the potential to do very well among homeschoolers specifically, and evangelicals in particular.

I have the chance to ask her about her 2012 intentions today in a one-to-one exclusive interview, so be sure to check back.

I hope she runs in 2012.

By the way, I think I mentioned before that Michele is into Christian apologetics. It’s not just Francis Schaefffer, she likes Ravi Zacharias, too. She’s a home-schooling apologetics mom!

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• Video and transcripts of response speeches by Paul Ryan and Michele Bachmann
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• AT LAST: Michele Bachmann open to presidential run in 2012
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• Michele Bachmann promises to work to repeal Obamacare
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• Michele Bachmann talks about Obamacare and the stimulus package
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• Michele Bachmann analyzes Obama’s latest foreign policy blunders
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• Michele Bachmann video on the future of Obamacare
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Filed under: News, 2012, Conservative, Conservative Mom, Conservative Woman, Conservative Women, Constitution, Family, Fiscal Conservativism, Fiscal Responsibility, GOP, GOP 2012, Michele Bachman, Michele Bachmann, Michelle Bachman, Michelle Bachmann, Politician, Politics, Presidency, President, Presidential, Pro-Child, Pro-Father, Pro-Life, Pro-Marriage, Republican, Republican Woman, Republican Women, Small Government, Social Conservatism, Tea Parties, Tea Party, Tea Party Caucus, White House