Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum says former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s calls for him to abandon his presidential race now seem more than unjustified after final Iowa results show he won that state’s caucuses and he bested Gingrich in New Hampshire.
The former Pennsylvania senator also told Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren following Thursday night’s GOP debate he has decided to go on the offensive against Gingrich and the other Republican contenders — as well as President Barack Obama — because he has been under persistent attacks for his congressional record.
“They have been beating us up pretty bad hear in South Carolina, and we decided if they are going to try to beat us up on television then we are going to take our opportunity on television to lay out the case for us versus the case for them,” Santorum said. “And what I said with respect to [Gingrich’s] ability to execute [his] plan as speaker is something that I think if you go and talk to a lot of folks who served as I did with him during that time, that they would back me up.
“And we are looking for a leader who not just can have good ideas and big ideas . . . and Newt has been a big idea guy — I’ll give him that 100 times over,” he said. “The question is: Are you disciplined enough to be able to focus and accomplish those ideas in a way that’s going to move this country forward? And after three years conservatives decided no — and they tried to actually move him out of the speakership after three years of him being speaker.
“Speaker Gingrich came out and said that I should get out of the race — after I won Iowa and finished ahead of him in New Hampshire — he said my acts are not as grand and my capabilities are not as vast as his in order to win the kind of national race. I mean, he just lost two elections to me,” Santorum continued.
Santorum added his besting Gingrich in the two previous GOP nominee contests needs to be taken into consideration when potential candidates are placed under the media “microscope” before the upcoming primaries.
“You want someone who is solid, someone who is going to go out there and be disciplined in their message and be able to execute that on the campaign trail, as well as to be able to execute that when you are president of the United States,” he said.
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