The Democratic National Committee’s attacks on Sen. Rick Santorum are just another instance of Mitt Romney and the Democrats having the same ideas, and the same tactics, a Santorum staffer said.
The DNC began taking swipes at Santorum on Sunday and Monday, acknowledging his lead in the latest polls of the Republican field. Previously, they had focused their energies almost exclusively on Romney, who has been the front-runner until recently and was seen as the “inevitable nominee.”
The DNC’s Rapid Response arm sent out an email Sunday of the “lowlights” of Santorum’s appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that morning, focusing on his remarks that President Barack Obama practiced a “phony theology,” his attack on prenatal care as leading to more abortions, and his continued comments on the idea that public schools are “anachronistic.”
On Monday, the DNC sent out another email with an in-depth criticism of Santorum’s economic policy, saying that he “has embraced the same philosophy that created the economic crisis.”
Santorum’s communications director, Hogan Gidley, pointed to the DNC attacks as “another instance where Mitt Romney and Barack Obama have joined together — first it’s on the issues, then it’s on strategy.”
“It’s pretty sad but comical that Mitt Romney and Barack Obama are so similar on their positions on government health care and the big bank bail out and cap and tax, and with his attack from the DNC, it also proves that Mitt Romney and Barack Obama are the same in campaign tactics,” Gidley said.
“Instead of talking about their own records, they choose to spend millions and millions of dollars to send out their well-funded D.C. attack machines,” Gidley went on, saying that was either because they didn’t have any accomplishments of their own to tout, or because what accomplishments they did have were bad.
“The DNC and the Obama administration are terrified that they could face a true conservative who actually can draw contrast with the president’s liberal positions — and Rick Santorum can credibly draw those contrasts,” Gidley added.
The shift to Santorum could add fuel to his candidacy by acknowledging him to be a real threat, but, a Democratic source told The Daily Caller, “He’s leading in the polls nationally — it would be crazy for us to ignore him.”