Rick Santorum, Paul Ryan, Joe Biden and More Sunday Talk

Santorum’s In It to Win It

It’s not over until the fat lady sings—or someone wins 1,144 delegates. Although Mitt Romney has pulled ahead in the delegate count and continues to rack up endorsements from Republican leaders, Rick Santorum refuses to throw in the towel. “It’s not the longest of long shots,” Santorum said. “So many of the delegates who are coming to the convention are unbound delegates.” When asked what it would take for him to end his campaign, the Pennsylvania senator told Meet the Press that it will all come down to a numbers game: “Without a doubt, if he’s at that number, we’ll step aside. But right now, he’s not there, he’s not even close to it.”

Biden: Mitt’s ‘Out of Touch’

Romney hasn’t made any bets lately, but Joe Biden still thinks he’s out of touch. On Face the Nation, the vice president said Romney’s continued lack of support for the auto bailout is just one example of his inability to connect with the middle class. “Now, they’re hiring people, hundreds of thousands of new people,” Biden said of the auto industry. “General Motors is the largest corporation in the world again.” Biden also cited a decrease in unemployment and better access to healthcare as wins for the Obama administration, before expressing doubt that Romney could enact similar changes. “This is about the middle class, and none of what he’s offering does anything. It’s just returning to the old policies.”

Ryan: “I totally misspoke”

Liar, liar, Paul Ryan’s under fire.  Last week, Ryan suggested that the U.S. generals testifying in favor of President Obama’s Pentagon budget weren’t giving “true advice.” In response, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Martin Dempsey, shot back, saying that Ryan called them “liars.” Feeling the pressure, the House Budget committee chairman addressed the controversy on This Week. “Yeah, I totally misspoke, it was not the impression I meant to give,” Ryan said. “I talked to General Dempsey and expressed that sentiment.”

Gingrich Suspicious of Obama

Obama’s hot mic gaffe earlier this week has landed him in some hot water. On Face the Nation, Newt Gingrich used the mishap (in which Obama told Russian President Dmitri Medvedev that they could talk more “after my election”) to drum up suspicion on what Obama’s real intentions are. “You also have to ask yourself, how many foreign leaders has he said that to without an open mic,” Gingrich said. “How many other countries are counting on Barack Obama to be flexible after the election?” The former speaker added that Obama’s radical past should worry American citizens and that Israel also has reason to question what Obama will do if he is reelected in November.

McConnell’s Gasoline Frustration

And the gasoline debate continues. On State of the Union, Mitch McConnell backed the decision made by Senate Republicans to block a bill proposed by Democrats that would stop tax breaks for big oil companies. The Senate minority leader repeatedly stated that President Obama’s plan for lowering gas prices would in fact, have the opposite effect. “The issue is the price of gas at the pump,” McConnell said. “If you raise taxes on the producers of gasoline, you drive the prices even higher.”

Dean on Obamacare: President in ‘Great Shape’

Health-care reform isn’t an all-or-nothing scenario in the eyes of Howard Dean. The former DNC chairman told Fox News Sunday that although the health-care mandate is controversial and unnecessary, other parts of the bill are good for Americans. “If the rest of the bill stays intact, I think it will ultimately be seen as a victory for the president,” Dean said. “I think that the president is in great shape with health care, unless they strike down the whole bill.”

Why Trayvon Martin Case Is So Polarizing

Is the media taking sides in the Trayvon Martin shooting case? On Reliable Sources the panel discussed why it appears that liberal and conservative journalists seem to be reporting different sides of the story. According to radio host Callie Crossley, the polarization on this issue is due to a lack of information which leaves the events open for interpretation. “We’re ending up with drib-drab reporting,” Crossley said. “There’s no official investigation, I have to say, in which maybe there would be a way for reporters to attack this in a more holistic way.”