Photo by Prezography.com

As the Romney campaign’s “Etch a Sketch” remark,  revealing that Mitt Romney won’t run as a conservative in the general election, has gone viral, Rick Santorum contacted conservative bloggers today saying he wants to “focus in on what I think is the central issue of this campaign.” That issue is Obamacare and Mitt Romney’s role in instituting the blueprint for Obamacare — “Romneycare” — in Massachusetts. Earlier today, the Santorum campaign released a press release that included a scathing outline showing conservative criticism of Romneycare which is seen as “identical” in the most key areas to Obamacare.

Governor Romney, Santorum said, “advocated for the federal government to follow Massachusetts as a model. He defends the policies in Massachusetts as the right thing to do” and “advocated for the states to adopt it and for the federal government to adopt it.”

As he has often said throughout the campaign, Santorum said these problems show that Romney is “uniquely disqualified” to be the Republican nominee for president.

“The Etch-A-Sketch is out,” Santorum said, as Mitt Romney now intends to have voters believe that he would repeal Obamacare even despite his being responsible for it in such a profound way.

“The signature issue of the 2010 election is the signature issue of this campaign,” Santorum said.

Peter Ingemi of DaTechGuy asked Santorum if he thought the Democrats would exploit the “Etch-A-Sketch” remark since it is “such a simple thing to understand.”

“It’s a simple thing for everyone to understand because it fits,” Santorum said.

There has been much criticism from political pundits in the mainstream media about Rick Santorum’s remarks in Puerto Rico regarding English being the official language. Santorum pointed out that Mitt Romney’s position on English being the official language of the United States was the same until he went to Puerto Rico. In Puerto Rico, Romney had “no problem” flip-flopping just to gain the delegates in Puerto Rico, Santorum said. He followed by saying that the “Etch-A-Sketch” remark was a “rare moment of candor” for the Romney campaign.

Mike Rodgers of Granite Grok offered his respect for Senator Santorum’s consistency as a conservative candidate and for his “message of freedom.” Mitt Romney will “say and do anything to win,” Santorum said, which shows the stark contrast between the two candidates. Peter Ingemi has more from Rodgers’ question about electability. Santorum referenced the latest Rasmussen poll showing that he does better in swing states while Romney does better in national polls.

I asked, “What are your thoughts concerning the challenges of the MSM including Fox against you?” I noted his remark that Fox is shilling for Mitt Romney and that I agree with him on that.  I noted that it seemed to me that “they will take one comment” from a big speech that covers a lot of areas “and run with it.”

“It’s not even that,” he said. He said that while they will report what he says, they will take it out of context, seemingly intentionally. An example he gave was his remark about “not caring” about the unemployment rate. As we see at Reuters, the headline is “Santorum: ‘I don’t care’ about unemployment rate.” He said that his intention, which should have been clear to the embedded reporters, was that it is like “a parent saying, ‘I don’t care about my child’s fever.’” Obviously, he said, a parent cares about his child’s fever, but “what is most important is what is causing the fever.” Santorum said, “I’m concerned about what is causing unemployment.” He said that he knows what is causing the unemployment and what he cares about is seeking to address that. He explained that embedded journalists are with him on the campaign trail and know what his message is but that they are driving a narrative that is not at all consistent with who he is or what he is about.

His quote on that, from Peter Ingemi:

“Today I challenged the embed if I’ve been saying this right along, it is disingenuous… they know this is a complete distortion and yet they follow the narrative. We just have to continue to plug away..They have a narrative they want to tell and they tell it.”

On what bloggers can do to help Santorum get his message out, he said, “I’m not asking any favors from anyone,” but he noted that bloggers have the capacity to help him “get the truth out” about what he is about as a person and what his campaign’s message really is.

I make no bones about my support for Rick Santorum for president. It’s one of the reasons I choose to be an independent blogger. You will always know where I stand. The same holds true for Rick Santorum. You will always know where he stands, provided that you get to hear his message. Unfortunately, the state of the mainstream media today makes this virtually impossible without the use of blogs and social media. It’s our responsibility, as grassroots supporters of Rick Santorum, to show the world who he REALLY is. Those who are paid regular paychecks from big media outlets to travel around the country with presidential candidates are not doing that. The “rag tag” lovers of freedom have to do what they refuse to do…and oftentimes we  have to do it without any pay whatsoever.

That’s the beauty of America. We still have the freedom to use these tools to stop the tyranny of Obamacare. We have the freedom to expose Mitt Romney as a “fake conservative” who is the Father of Obamacare and who intends to abandon his conservative positions if he is the nominee. We have the freedom to show the world who is funding the attacks on Rick Santorum, the only candidate who has been a consistent conservative on the most important issues of our time. But will we? That’s up to you, reader. That’s up to you.

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