Santorum at the Supreme Court: Romney "uniquely disqualified" to attack health care law

AP Photo/Charles Dharapak

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum came to the steps of the Supreme Court on Monday to lambast President Obama's Affordable Care Act and rival Mitt Romney for signing the Massachusetts blueprint for the national law.

"There's one candidate who is uniquely disqualified to make the case" against the law, Santorum said of Romney. "It's the reason I'm here and he's not. The reason that I talk about Obamacare and its impact on the economy and on fundamental freedoms, and Mitt Romney doesn't. It's because he can't, because he supported government-run health care as governor of Massachusetts."

The Supreme Court is hearing three days of arguments on the constitutionality of the law. With the famous building as a backdrop, Santorum spoke for 15 minutes to a thick crowd of reporters and demonstrators.

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Santorum pledged to center his campaign around opposition to the health-care law and said Republicans should make him their nominee if they really want the law repealed. "There's only one person who can make that happen, and that's someone who makes Obamacare the central issue in this race, and that's what I do," he said. By contrast, he called Romney "the worst person to make that case."

Santorum made a similar comment Sunday and lost his temper when reporters repeatedly asked him whether he meant Romney was the worst candidate on health care or in general -- including a particularly noteworthy outburst at New York Times reporter Jeff Zeleny. Santorum accused Zeleny and the national media of "distorting" his words and called it "bull(expletive)." (watch at left)

"I don't regret taking on a New York Times reporter who was out of line," Santorum said on the court steps. "You know, if you're a conservative and you haven't taken on a New York Times reporter, you're not worth your salt as far as I'm concerned. So we're going to stand up and fight." For good measure he accused the Romney campaign of "feeding ... lies to the reporters."

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Santorum also answered questions about his decision to remain in the race despite moutning calls from party leaders to shift focus to the general election. He seized on a comment from former New Hampshire governor John Sununu, a Romney supporter, that the "significant" people had decided it was time to move on from the primary process.

"Well, I guess we'll have to leave it to the 'insignificant' voters of America in the remaining primaries to step forward and challenge the 'significant' people who are speaking here in Washington, D.C.," Santorum said. "The significant people in my mind are the people in Louisiana on Saturday who significantly gave us a big win, and we believe as we go forward there will be a lot of significant voters out there who want to have their voices heard from the folks here in Washington, and the Romney campaign who don't believe they should be heard throughout the course of this primary."

Full CBS News coverage: Rick Santorum

39 Photos

Rick Santorum on the campaign trail

[dannysteele]

On the video screen above, Santorum looks like Andy Kaufman when the latter was doing his "crazy" man stuff. At least we know now that Andy was acting. As for Rick, that's another story...

[BrandonNJ]

The real problem with Santorum is all his actions really add up and sink him. Only fanatical Republican Voters will bother trying to vote for him in the primaries, which, as of months of campaigning has turned out to be a dramatic overhype. What's even more interesting is how much Rick Santorum projects flip-flopping, which I can list a few from his time as a Senator:

1) Supported and demanded support for Arlen Specter, whom he knew was pro-abortion while claiming to be so devoutly against abortion.

2) Then there's the fact that he spoke great words about Romney being for the Massachusetts mandate. OOPs!

3) Then there was Rick Santorum being on the record for taking campaign contributions for union lobbyists while trying to argue that he will crack down on them.

All in all Santorum is screwed, the Tea Party is revealed to be little more than a faction out of the whole of the GOP, and well, the two biggest egos in politics are in denial about the fact that they have already lost, all the while the moderate option walks all over them for the incompetent candidates that they are.

[USAFFLY]

A true Christian. How he loves his fellow man. He is so Like JESUS.
The good LORD must be proud of him. Santorum would kick Lazarus for asking to be cured.
May The GOD he quotes change his hearth. We have different Catholic beliefs. Mine are not like his. I will pray for him.

[OhRyan]

I hate Romney as much as Santorum, but a state DOES have the right to pass healthcare reform. He needs to rethink those comments.

[bolafson]

When will it end. He was mildly amusing at first and now just sickening.

[Smokinjoe36]

"There's one candidate who is uniquely disqualified to make the case"
But if thet said candidate were to select me as his vice president, why sure I would accept.

[LeoBaoighill]

Not that I disagree with Santorum's take on Romney, I have to add that Santorum is uniquely unqualified to call himself a "true conservative" considering his history of big spending and big government.

Also, I think the central issues of this race do not include Obamacare, it is economic & civil liberty. Obamacare is but a single byproduct amongst many in the USA and our slow slip into socialism.

[WHAT-IS-HE-SMOKING]

"Santorum pledged to center his campaign around opposition to the health-care law and said Republicans should make him their nominee if they really want the law repealed. "There's only one person who can make that happen, and that's someone who makes Obamacare the central issue in this race, and that's what I do,"
It's the economy dummy, not health care!!!!