Rick Santorum Confronted on “Meet the Press” with His 2008 Endorsement of Mitt Romney as the “Clear Conservative Candidate” – Video 1/1/12

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Here is video of Rick Santorum on Meet the Press today where he was asked why he is calling Mitt Romney a “moderate” today when in 2008 he endorsed Romney, saying Romney was “the clear conservative candidate” in the race.

Santorum’s answer was that in February 2008, he said those things about Romney to stop John McCain from getting the nomination. His characterization of Romney as “conservative” was in comparison to McCain – though he did not say that in the endorsement.

This was an effective “gotcha” question by Gregory to show that Santorum is a politician who will sometimes say and do things for political purposes rather than based on principle – which is not how he has portrayed himself in the current race. It is ironic that Santorum endorsed Romney in 2008 instead of Mike Huckabee because he thought Romney could defeat McCain while Huckabee could not. Santorum may be on the verge of becoming the 2012 “Mike Huckabee” in Iowa.