Who is better for America: Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney, or Barack Obama?

Because he has ALL the qualities that the Tea Party supports.

Here’s a Pennsylvanian’s brief guide to the Rick Santorum you don’t know:

1. This compassionate Christian conservative founded a charity that was actually a bit of a scam. In 2001, following up on a faith-based urban charity initiative around the 2000 GOP convention in Philadelphia, Santorum launched a charitable foundation called the Operation Good Neighbor Foundation. While in its first few years the charity cut checks to community groups for $474,000, Operation Good Neighbor Foundation had actually raised more than $1 million, from donors who overlapped with Santorum’s political fund raising. Where did the majority of the charity’s money go? In salary and consulting fees to a network of politically connected lobbyists, aides and fundraisers, including rent and office payments to Santorum’s finance director Rob Bickhart, later finance chair of the Republican National Committee. When I reported on Santorum’s charity for The American Prospect in 2006, experts told me a responsible charity doles out at least 75 percent of its income in grants, and they were shocked to learn the figure for Operation Good Neighbor Fund was less than 36 percent. The charity – which didn’t register with the state of Pennsylvania as required under the law --- was finally disbanded in 2007.

2. Likewise, a so-called “leadership PAC” created by Santorum that was supposed to fund other Republicans instead seemed to mostly pay for the lifestyle of Santorum and those around him. My investigation of the America’s Foundation PAC showed that only 18 percent of its money went to fund political candidates, less -- and typically far less -- than any other “leadership PACs.” What America’s Foundation did spend a lot on with what looked like everyday expenses, including 66 trips to the Starbucks in Santorum’s then hometown of Leesburg, Va., multiple fast-food outings and expenditures at Wal-Mart, Target and Giant supermarkets. Campaign finance experts said the PAC’s expenses – paid for by donations from wealthy businessmen and lobbyists – were “unconventional,” at best and arguably not legal. Santorum also funded his large Leesburg “McMansion” with a $500,000 mortgage from a private bank run by a major campaign donor, in a program that was only supposed to be open to high-wealth investment clients in the trust, which Santorum was not, and closed to the general public.

3. Santorum was never above mingling his cultural crusades with the everyday work of raising political cash. In 2005, Santorum made headlines – not all positive – for visiting the deathbed of Terri Schiavo, the woman at the center of a national right-to-die controversy.What my Philadelphia Daily News colleague John Baer later exposed was that the real reason he was in the Tampa, Fla., area was to collect money at a $250,000 fundraiser organized by executives of Outback Steakhouses, a company that shared Santorum’s passion for a low minimum wage for waitresses and other rank-and-file workers. Santorum’s efforts were also aided by his unusual mode of travel: Wal-Mart’s corporate jet. And he canceled a public meeting on Social Security reform "out of respect for the Schiavo family" even as the closed fundraisers went on.

4. Santorum didn’t seem to be against government waste when it came to his family. During his years in the Senate, Santorum raised his family in northern Virginia and rarely if ever seemed to use the small house that he claimed as his legal residence, in a blue-collar Pittsburgh suburb called Penn Hills. So Pennsylvania voters were shocked when they found out the Penn Hills School District had paid out $72,000 for the home cyberschooling of five of Santorum’s kids, hundreds of miles away in a different state. The cash=strapped district was unsuccessful in its efforts to get any of its money back from Santorum.

5. Washington's lobbyist culture -- Santorum was soaking in it. The ex-Pennsylvania senator spent much of his final years in government trying to downplay and defend his involvement in the so-called "K Street Project," an effort created by GOP uber-lobbyist and tax-cutting fanatic Grover Norquist and future felon and House majority whip Tom DeLay. By all accounts, Santorum was the Senate's "point man" on the K Street Project and he met with Norquist -- at least occasionally and perhaps frequently -- to discuss the effort to sure that Republicans were landing well-paying jobs in lobbying firms that were seeking to then access and influence other Republicans.

6. Santorum had no problem with big government if it was supporting his campaign contributors in Big Pharma.It's little wonder that Santorum ultimately supported Medicare Part D, a prescription drug plan for the elderly that has added hundreds of billions of dollars to the federal deficit and was drafted in such a way to best help pharmaceutical companies maximize profits from all the unbridled spending. When Santorum was defeated for a third term in 2006, an internal memo at the drug giant GlaxoSmithKline said his departure from Washington "creates a big hole that we need to fill.

7. The defender of family values was also slavish in his devotion to a large American corporate behemoth, Wal-Mart: In the wake of the report about Santorum's travel in the Wal-Mart corporate jet, I counted the many ways that Santorum had done the bidding of the world's largest retailer in the Senate, including battling to limit any increases in the minimum wage and seeking to make changes in overtime rules that woulld benefit the company and hurt its blue-collar workforce, tort reform to limit lawsuits against what is said to be the world's most-sued company, and changes in charitable giving laws and of course eliminating the estate tax that would benefit the billionaire heirs of Sam Walton.

8. Santorum has frequently insisted that his political values are guided by his religious values, and that John F. Kennedy's famous 1960 speech describing a separtion between the two had done "much harm" in America. But despite inviting such scrutiny, there's been little discussion of Santorum's ties to ultra-conservative movements within the Roman Catholic Church Santorum's comments about JFK were made in Rome in 2002 when he spoke at a 100th birthday event for Jose Maria Escrivade Balaguer, founder of the secretive group within the church known as Opus Dei. Although Santorum says he is not a member of Opus Dei -- which has been criticized by some for alleged cult-like qualities and ties to ultra-conservative regimes around the world -- he did receive written permission to attend the ultra-conservative St. Catherine of Siena Church in Great Falls, Va., where Mass is still conducted in Latin and a long-time priest and many parishioners are members of Opus Dei, mingling with political conservatives like Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and former FBI director Louis Freeh.

9. Santorum isn't above big government-funded boondoggles -- when they're linked to his allies and campaign contributors. Consider the type of project that the Tea Party loves to hate, a $750 million energy plant in Schuylkill County, Pa., that was to convert coal to liquids but needed massive subsidies. Santorum boasted of his rule in securing an $100 million federal loan for the project -- which had hired Pennsylvania's top Republican Party power broker of the 2000s, Bob Asher, as a lobbyist and paid him at least $900,000. Despite Santorum's efforts, the plant has not been built.

10. Santorum apparently believes in "an entitlement culture" when it comes for former politicians. After Tuesday night's virtual tie in the Iowa caucus, the Pennsylvanian spoke eloquently about his immigrant grandfather working for decades in the Pennsylvania coal fields and his massive hands; the grandson probably won't have that problem. Losing an election in 2006 allowed Santorum to become a poster child for how ex-pols quickly and easily cash in in America, as a lawyer-rainmaker and joining a "think tank" (that for a time was called America's Enemies) and as an analyst for the Fox News Channel and as a board member for Universal Health Services, an ethically challenged company where executives had supported his Senate campaigns. The New York Times' Gail Collins noted that Santorum had earned $970,000 in 2010 despite seeming sort of unemployed.

The real Rick Santorum is indeed a frothy mixture -- of self-interest, loose ethical standards, and careerism in a career that's been largely devoted not so much to the social causes about which he makes headlines as looking out for the interests of big corporations and the wealthiest 1 Percent of Americans. It's a shame that more voters don't know that yet. That is the "Google problem" that Santorum actually deserves.

Are you talking about this Newt Gingrich?

05/04/1979 - He voted for a federal land grab that put tens of millions of acres of land in the hands of Washington bureaucrats.
09/20/1979 - He voted to raise the debt ceiling for the first time.
09/27/1979 - He voted to establish the Federal Department of Education.
06/04/1980 - He voted to raise the debt ceiling for the second time.
02/05/1981 - He voted to raise the debt ceiling for the third time.
06/28/1984 - He voted to raise the debt ceiling for the fourth time.
04/02/1987 - He cosponsored the 1987 Fairness Doctrine (anti 1st Amendment legislation)
02/22/1989 - He cosponsored the Global Warming Prevention Act of 1989.
03/--/1993 - He was "passionately in favor" of sending $1.6 Billion in foreign aid to Russia.
11/19/1993 - He voted for the NAFTA Implementation Act.
11/27/1994 - He supported the GATT Treaty giving sovereignty to the U.N.
04/10/1995 - He supported Federal taxdollars being spent on abortions.
06/--/1995 - He wrote the foreword to a book about tearing down the U.S. Constitution and implementing a Fascist World Government.
08/27/1995 - He suggests that drug smuggling should carry a death sentence.
01/06/1996 - He himself conceived a secret CIA mission to topple the Iranian leadership.
04/18/1996 - He voted for Federal restrictions on laser sighting devices.
04/25/1996 - Voted for the single largest increase on Federal education spending ($3.5 Billion)
06/01/1996 - He helped a "Clinton Clone" Democrat switch parties in an attempt to defeat constitutionalist Ron Paul in the 1996 election.
09/16/1996 - He voted for the anti-gun Brady Campaign’s Lautenberg Gun Ban, which took away gun rights for people involved in certain misdemeanors.
09/25/1996 - Introduced H.R. 4170, demanded life-sentence or execution for someone bringing 2 ounces of marijuana across the border.
09/28/1996 - He voted for the "Gun Free School Zones Act" which resulted in schools being easier targets for shooters, and disarming law-abiding citizens.
--/--/1996 - He earned a "D" rating from the Gun Owners of America.
01/22/1997 - Congress gave him a record-setting $300,000 fine for ethical wrongdoing.
11/05/1998 - He resigned from his House seat three days after being elected to his 11th term.
10/13/2005 - He called for "universal but confidential" DNA testing of citizens.
11/29/2006 - He said that free speech should be curtailed in order to fight terrorism. Wants to stop terrorists from using the internet. Called for a "serious debate about the 1st Amendment."
11/29/2006 - He called for a "Geneva Convention for terrorists" so it would be clear who the Constitution need not apply to.
02/15/2007 - He supported Bush's proposal for mandatory carbon caps.
04/04/2007 - He says that there should be a clear distinction about what weapons should be reserved for only for the military.
04/11/2007 - He had a public debate with John Kerry on global warming, in which Newt agreed with Kerry and his views on the environment, praised his book, and almost hugged him.
04/20/2007 - He praised NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg; said that he "takes his hat off to the mayor for proving government can be effective."
04/24/2007 - He praised the corporatist business-model of Freddie Mac, saying it would be effective for space travel to Mars.
04/24/2007 - He said about Government-Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs): "conservatives should embrace [them] and want to extend as widely as possible."
05/20/2007 - He would bypass the court system by establishing a "military tribunal system to lock people up the way Abraham Lincoln would’ve done it."
05/20/2007 - He would "establish a nationwide ID card with biometrics so you can actually track everybody in the country."
04/17/2008 - Made a commercial with Nancy Pelosi on Climate Change.
04/28/2008 - He said that allow some terror to happen, to keep the people afraid.
04/28/2008 - He wants yet another new Federal agency to be "very aggressive" against "terrorists" and have "extraordinary abilities" that are not restricted by the constitution.
09/28/2008 - Says if he were in office, he would have reluctantly voted for the $700B TARP bailout.
09/28/2008 - He says that McCain's vote for TARP bailouts "is the greatest single act of responsibility ever taken by a presidential candidate".
12/08/2008 - He was paid $300,000 by Freddie Mac to halt Congress from bringing necessary reform.
03/31/2009 - Says we should have Singapore-style drug tests for Americans.
10/16/2009 - He angered conservatives by endorsing super liberal Dede Scozzafava.
06/10/2010 - He's cozy with VeriChip/PositiveID, a company that specializes in human-microchipping.
07/30/2010 - Says that Iraq was just step one in defeating the "Axis of Evil".
08/03/2010 - Advocates attacks on Iran & North Korea.
08/16/2010 - Opposes property rights of the mosque owner in NYC.
08/16/2010 - Compares mosque supporters to Nazis
12/05/2010 - He said that a website owner should be considered an enemy combatant, hunted down and executed, for publishing leaked government memos.
01/30/2011 - He lobbied for ethanol subsidies.
01/30/2011 - He suggested that flex-fuel vehicles be mandated for Americans.
02/02/2011 - He says we are "losing the War on Terror"; the conflict will be as long as the Cold War
02/13/2011 - He criticized Obama for sending less U.S. taxdollars to Egypt.
02/15/2011 - His book said that he believes man-made climate-change and advocated creating "a new endowment for conservation and the environment."
03/09/2011 - He blames his infidelity to multiple wives on his passion for the country.
03/15/2011 - Says that NAFTA worked because it created jobs in Mexico.
03/19/2011 - He has no regrets about supporting Medicare drug coverage. (Now $7.2T unfunded liability)
03/23/2011 - He completely flip-flopped on Libyan intervention in 16 days.
03/25/2011 - He plans to sign as many as 200 executive orders on his first day as president.
03/27/2011 - He says that America is under attack by atheist Islamists.
04/25/2011 - He's a paid lobbyist for Federal ethanol subsidies.
05/12/2011 - He was more supportive of individual health-care mandates than Mitt Romney.
05/15/2011 - Said GOP's plan to cut back Medicare was "too big a jump."
05/15/2011 - He backed Obama's individual mandate; "All of us have a responsibility to help pay for health care."
05/16/2011 - He also endorsed individual mandates in 1993 when Clinton pushed Universal Health Care.
05/17/2011 - He has an outstanding debt to Tiffany's Jewelry of between $250K - $500K.
06/09/2011 - His own campaign staff resigned en masse.
07/15/2011 - His poorly managed campaign is over $1 Million in debt.
08/01/2011 - He hired a company to create fake Twitter to appear as if he had a following.
08/11/2011 - His recent criticism of the United Nations is belied by a long, long history of supporting it.
09/27/2011 - He says that he "helped develop the model for Homeland Security"
10/07/2011 - He said he'd ignore the Supreme Court if need be.
11/12/2011 - He advocates assassinating Iranian scientists and covert war with Iran.
11/19/2011 - He said Barney Frank should be arrested for his close ties lobbying for Freddie Mac, just one month before it became public that Gingrich was also lobbying for them at the same time.
11/20/2011 - He has been outed as a paid lobbyist for drug companies, but he still denies it.
11/22/2011 - He supports the Patriot Act and would like to see it strengthened.
11/22/2011 - He says that matters of National Security should not be encumbered by giving Due Process to the accused.
11/28/2011 - He thinks its the job of the Federal Government to ban medical marijuana.
11/28/2011 - He is a Pharmaceutical lobbyist, and coincidentally thinks that non-Pharma drugs like medical marijuana should be banned by the Federal government.
11/28/2011 - He said he wants to be "aggressive" with Cuba topple their government before 2014.
11/28/2011 - He praised draconian drug penalties in Singapore for the second time.
12/01/2011 - His comments about warning Freddie Mac of its "insane" business model are proven false when his laudatory interview from 2007 surfaced again.
12/08/2011 - He pocketed campaign funds -- including paying himself over $40K for a mailing list he already had.
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