I actually watched tonight’s GOP presidential debate. Saw no one that appeared very presidential. Much, much pandering to the far, far right.
Every time Rick Santorum spoke he looked like a nervous schoolboy who had to pee. No kidding.
Not my observation, but the observation of someone with whom I was watching.
Still, Santorum managed to defend the massive amounts of money he made from lobbying since he lost his U.S. Senate seat.
During Saturday’s GOP Primary debate, Rep. Ron Paul accused Rick Santorum of being a “big government person” who exploited his beltway connections with lobbyists to get wealthy after losing his Senate seat in 2006. Santorum insisted that he only took a series of high paying “consulting” jobs because he believed in the causes.
“I’m known in this race and I was known in Washington, DC, as a cause guy. I am a cause guy. I care deeply about this country and about the causes that make me —that I think are at the core of this country,” Santorum said. “And when I left the United States Senate, I got involved in causes that I believe in.”
Santorum was one of the less wealthy members of the Senate during his tenure, though as the main gatekeeper for the “K-Street Project,” the attempt to place Republicans in influential positions in DC lobbying firms, Santorum developed plenty of key connections with lobbying firms and trade associations. After leaving Congress those connections proved financially beneficial. Financial disclosure forms filed last year indicate that Santorum went from making around $200,000 a year to more than a million dollars in 2010.
Washington, as it stands now, is an incredible cash cow for these GOP candidates. Do you really think any of them will change that in the least if they win the presidency?