Santorum attacks Romney over the 2002 Olympics

[Enrique]

http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2012/feb/19/santorum-takes-on-obama-romney/

Even as he criticized Obama, Santorum also went after one of Romney's most promoted achievements -- his leadership at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

"One of Mitt Romney's greatest accomplishments, one of the things he talks about most, is how he heroically showed up on the scene and bailed out and resolved the problems of the Salt Lake City Olympic Games," Santorum said.

"He heroically bailed out the Salt Lake City Olympic Games by heroically going to Congress and asking them for tens of millions of dollars to bail out the Salt Lake games -- in an earmark, in an earmark for the Salt Lake Olympic games."

The Romney campaign does not dispute that congressional earmarks helped save the games, but it noted that Santorum voted for those earmarks, among many others, when he was a senator.

"Sometimes when you shoot from the hip, you end up shooting yourself in the foot," Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said. "There is a pretty wide gulf between seeking money for post-9/11 security at the Olympics and seeking earmarks for polar bear exhibits at the Pittsburgh Zoo."

[Kurmudgeon]

1. I've realized what Santorum's problem is. Well, amongst other problems that is.

He's a Flibbertigibbet. It's the only explanation that makes sense.

[PCIntern]

2. "Romney indiscriminately let foreigners into the USA so they could run around freely!!!!"

"And use our medical services for FREE!!!!!"

not really quotes...but they COULD be...

[dems_rightnow]

3. 100% Romney win on that issue

No question that sudden unforeseen dramatic changes were in store for that Olympics.

So many things to dislike Romney for.... just choose one of those.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

4. Whew! Obama almost got blamed

for the 2016 Olympic Games in Chicago, and the money spent there.

That was a close one!

[Kahuna]

5. Myth and santorum both need to shut up about the olympics...

I would imagine that most folk's eyes gloss over whenever they talk about it like mine do. Who really cares about the olympics from 2002?

[customerserviceguy]

6. Mormons

The 2002 Winter Olympics went from a scandal-plagued debt-ridden boondoggle that would have totally embarassed the LDS church to a showcase for Mormonism. Most all of the infrastructure built from that time is still in very good operating condition, and the liberalization of the strictest liquor laws in the nation has not been dismantled, either, although they're still pretty strict.

I lived in Utah for six months in 2005, and they had an uplifting effect on that place. It sort of helped them get a bit more into the mainstream. Romney's nomination and possible election would further steps along that path, and his trumpeting of his role in those Olympics is a dog whistle to his Mormon base that he can get the job done for them.