February 2012: Santorum Says Obama’s a Snob

Muffy, Buffy, and Obama? Rick Santorum accused the president of “snobbery” after Obama touted the importance of college. Looks like Santorum believes that some children should be left behind, after all.

March 2012: Santorum’s Etch a Sketch Campaign

Sure, he had a hefty lead ahead of Louisiana’s primary, but that didn’t stop Santorum from jumping on Team Romney after an aide referenced an Etch a Sketch toy in relation to Romney’s general-election strategy. Watch as Rick pulls out an Etch a Sketch to mock Mitt on the campaign trail.

October 2011: ‘Gay Soldiers Cause Problems’

Cue foot going into mouth: The 2012 hopeful said that race and sexuality are incomparable when it comes to integration in the military because homosexuality is a “behavioral issue.”

January 2012: Santorum Says He’d Bomb Iran

As Santorum surged in the polls over New Year’s following his win in Iowa, the former Pennsylvania senator took a hard line on foreign policy? On Meet the Press, Santorum went out swinging, saying he would authorize targeted airstrikes in Iran to stop the Iranians from acquiring a nuclear weapon. “We will degrade those [nuclear] facilities through airstrikes, and make it very public that we are doing that,” he said. How’s that for taking a stance?

February 2012: Santorum Feels Like Throwing Up

Someone get this guy a barf bag. On This Week, Santorum got feisty when talking about JFK’s famous 1960 speech that supported the separation of church and state. The former Pennsylvania senator said that reading the speech made him nauseated because it called for a complete removal of religious influence from state operations. “What kind of country do we live in that says only people of non-faith can come in the public square and state their case?” Santorum asked. “That makes me throw up.”

February 2012: Rick Santorum Claims Prenatal Testing Leads to Abortion

A day after calling the president’s beliefs “phony theology,” Santorum got into a heated exchange with Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer over whether or not prenatal testing leads to increased abortions. “Prenatal testing—amniocentesis—does in fact result more often than not in this country in abortion,” Santorum said. The candidate also clarified his statement about the president’s faith and said he was instead questioning Obama’s “worldview,” adding, “I accept the fact that the president’s a Christian.”

February 2012: Santorum Concerned About Women in Infantry

Santorum took some heat in early February when he said he wasn’t sure about women in combat. In a debate that followed, he was given a chance to clarify his stance. “I didn’t say it was wrong,” the former senator said. “I said I had concerns about certain roles … particularly in infantry. I still have those concerns.” But Santorum said the generals and civilian leadership should think about it more. “We should have sober minds looking at what [are] in fact the best, proper roles for everybody in combat.”

January 2012: Romney and Gingrich Are Just Like Obama!

Santorum might have had the best line of the Tampa debate when he said in reference to bailouts, mandates, and climate change, “When push comes to shove, [Gingrich and Romney] got pushed!” Santorum argued that Romney’s health-care plan as Massachusetts governor was the “basis for Obamacare,” while Gingrich supported mandates at the heart of Obama’s health-care plan “for 20 years!” Not something we haven’t heard from the former Pennsylvania senator before, but well delivered at the end of the debate in Tampa. In short, Santorum said, they’re just like Obama—so vote for me instead.

February 2012: Not Satisfied With Contraception Solution

The contraception saga continued in February after President Obama revised his health-care plan so religiously affiliated institutions wouldn’t have to pay for contraception. While the compromise appeased some, Santorum told Meet the Press that the government should stay out of the issue all together. “There is no compromise here,” Santorum said. “They are forcing religious organizations either directly or indirectly to pay for something that they find is a deeply morally wrong thing.” Santorum added that, as a Catholic, he is opposed to contraception, though he “has no problem” with women having access to it.

January 2012: Jumps on Romneycare

In late January, Santorum went on the attack over Mitt Romney’s health-care legislation, saying that the law makes it so that people need to buy health insurance “as a condition of breathing in Massachusetts,” and that people are now paying a fine instead of buying insurance because it is so expensive. Romney brushed off the accusation and said that during a debate with Barack Obama he would be able to show passionate concern for people who need health insurance, but also point out that Obama’s health-care plan “is bad medicine, it’s bad for the economy, and I will repeal it.”