Rick Santorum Flies His Faith Flag at CPAC Conference
Santorum denounced abortion at CPAC. Howard Kurtz on his strategy of emphasizing his Catholicism.
Eric Gay / AP Photo
If there was any lingering doubt that Rick Santorum is going to run for president as a committed Catholic, it vanished on Friday morning.
Rather than wait for his speech at CPAC, the huge conservative gathering in Washington, Santorum held forth in a hallway at a gathering called Students for Life.
Addressing his own faith, the man whose presidential campaign has been revitalized by a triple victory this week declared that for him, faith provides “motivation. It’s a calling.”
In a voice that was barely audible given the 10-foot throng around him, the former senator sounded an inclusive note at first, saying, “This is a movement, not based on condemnation, not based on accusation, but based on love.”
But then he pivoted to an uncompromising stance: “I don’t believe life begins at conception. I know life begins at conception.”
Get the best of The Beast delivered right to your inbox
By clicking “SUBSCRIBE” you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
With Christian activist and former president candidate Gary Bauer standing behind him, Santorum made an impassioned pitch against abortion, saying: “We need to go out and challenge the left, which is constantly telling the public that conservatives are anti-science. The choice that they’re choosing is to kill an innocent human life.”
He mocked the contention of liberals that they want abortion to be rare, saying, “They fight every attempt to give women informed consent.”
By pouncing on religious issues, especially when the White House battle with Catholic organizations over a rule governing contraception is in the news, Santorum subtly distances himself from Mitt Romney, a Mormon, and Newt Gingrich, who converted to Catholicism a few years ago.
Moments later, the leading faith candidate in 2008, Mike Huckabee, told the CPAC audience that he didn’t want to get hung up on ideological credentials. “I’m not so interested in hearing, ‘Mirror, mirror, on the wall, tell me who is the most conservative of all,’ ” he said, because all of the GOP’s candidates are more conservative than President Obama.
See more of our coverage in your search results.
Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.
Register below to read this article for free or subscribe
to unlock unlimited access to The Daily Beast.
Monthly
$1
First month then $5.99/month
Annual
$35
First year then $59.99/year
Premium
$79
First year then $119.99/year
*Substack access provided by the next business day, using your subscription email. Choosing the Premium plan constitutes your permission to share your subscription email with Substack and your agreement to Substack’s Privacy Policy.
Already have an account? Sign In
Looks like you already have a subscription!
You're all set!
Thanks for subscribing.