Rick Santorum tells The Brody File Romney's healthcare plan was 'not right to do'

03-08-2011
aid=21628

Rick Santorum who is likely to run for President tells The Brody File that Mitt Romney’s Massachusetts health care plan was not the right thing to do and goes on to say that this idea that he can’t win the nomination is “silly”.

The Brody File walked the streets of downtown Des Moines, Iowa, with Santorum Monday afternoon before the big Iowa Faith and Freedom event.

We’re posting three clips from the interview below with transcriptions.

Rick Santorum has “street cred” with Evangelicals so his message will play well in Iowa. A top-tier finish in Iowa keeps Santorum relevant going into New Hampshire and I can tell you this: Nobody will outwork Santorum.

The man is a bulldog and is determined as ever. The Brody File expects Santorum to be the guy who gets into the GOP ring and shakes things up. He is not afraid to speak his mind and ruffle some feathers.

Rick Santorum on Romney’s healthcare plan:

Rick Santorum: I’m not going to shy away from how I feel about issues and decisions that politicians have made about votes. My votes are fair game. I think Obamacare is the most important domestic policy issue that we have to deal with. It is bad policy, it is government control of health care, it’s the wrong approach and anybody that supports an approach similar to it, I think is on the wrong track.

They [Massachusetts] certainly had the right to pass this. I will agree with that. Unlike the federal statute, the Obamacare statute, which I think is unconstitutional. Clearly Massachusetts had the right to pass an individual mandate, and to have a government basically exercise control over the health care system. The question is is it the right thing to do? Not whether they had the right to do it, was it right to do

And I think it was not right to do, I don’t think that’s the way that you control costs. I don’t think that’s the way that you improve quality of care, and I don’t think it’s the way that you make sure that patients earn control of the system.

Rick Santorum on media predictions that he can’t win the nomination:

Santorum: Their separating people into tiers drives me to tears. It’s silly. The bottom line is nothing matters until you’re out there and you start doing it. You have all these people who are sitting on the sidelines, seeing where everything is going to happen. And my feeling is, get out there, test the waters, see what the response you’re getting. Get a real feel for whether this is doable or not and that’s what we’re doing.

So far, it’s been great. People have been terrific. We’re going to continue to plug away and eventually make a decision here, go or no-go here in a short period of time.

Rick Santorum on being a true “ultra” conservative:

Santorum: It’s one thing to give your social conservative speech and tell people what you believe in. It’s another thing to go out and live it and lead it.

And the time I was in public office, I had the courage of my convictions. And I was willing to get up, step out, and lead on issues that are, let’s just put it this way, they’re not 90 percent issues in America. They’re divisive issues, they’re personal issues, they’re issues of moral imperatives and they get a lot of people pretty jacked up, on both sides.

Blog Keywords: 

Blog Posts: 

The Brody File