Santorum: I Am Not Going To Have Other Candidates and the Party Leadership Dictate Who Should Stay In The Race

Rick Santorum, 2016 GOP presidential candidate and former Pennsylvania senator, called into Kilmeade & Friends to discuss the Pope’s historic address before a joint meeting of Congress, President Obama saying he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump saying Fox News doesn’t treat him fairly, Hillary Clinton being the one who started the birther movement and Scott Walker calling on other republicans to drop out of the race.

Listen here:

Scott Walker saying other candidates should leave the race so the voters can focus on a limited number of candidates.

“I am not going to have other candidates for president and the party leadership and the establishment dictate who is in this race and who is not. I am going to let the people of Iowa make that decision. I am going to let the people of New Hampshire and South Carolina make that decision. I think we are tired of the elites telling us who should be in and who should be out, who should get airtime and who should be on the debates and who shouldn’t be on the debates. The people should be deciding these things, not the backroom politicians. I rejected it four years ago, it turned out pretty well for us, and I reject it again this time.”

Pope Francis addressing Congress
What did you think of the Pope’s address to Congress?

“He is out there as a pastor trying to put out a moral construct for everybody and he is trying to be a pastor, trying to lead us with an understanding that we have to take care of God’s creation, take care of those who are in need in our society and make sure we have a just and decent society. That’s a good and very strong message.”

President Obama will meet with Vladimir Putin. Is that a good idea?

“Absolutely, you have to meet with world leaders. Whether it’s with the Chinese president or whether it’s the Russian leaders, you have to meet with world leaders even if you have, as we have, disagreements with the activity he is conducting. Putin is just doing what I would like to see the president do, which is act in his own country’s self-interest. He is actually building alliances in the Middle East and alliances with folks that used to be very closely aligned with the United States but are finding those alliances not to be particularly fruitful like Egypt and potentially Israel. You see Prime Minister Netanyahu talking with Vladimir Putin. What it sows is the United States influence is weaning dramatically and a country that is not a first-rate economic global power and is a second-rate power at that, is having huge influence because they’re willing to exercise and craft in their own national security interest and it’s a lot easier for those countries like Egypt and Israel and Syria and others to see clearly what direction Putin is going in. And with this administration it is a mystery as to what the president wants to do. ”

Donald Trump says Fox News hasn’t treated him fairly. Do you agree with him?

“I wish I had one tenth the airtime that Donald Trump has had over the last couple of months. I am focused on trying to get my own airtime and appreciate the opportunity of being on your show and look forward to being on TV and radio as much as possible.”

Donald Trump saying he wants to be unpredictable and not let the other side know everything he is thinking. Is it smart not to play your hand?

“I think it is important for the American public to understand what your vision is for the country and as much as you can lay out on what you would do to deal with ISIS and Iran. It’s an important differentiator and you display a basic understanding of the conflict that is in front of you and you lay out a plan that you think would be effective in resolving it. It’s important for candidates to lay out their vision and how they are going to solve problems.”

Hillary being the original birther

“This is the hypocrisy of Hillary Clinton. This is the hypocrisy of the media. There are people who systematically go after republicans and say horrible and untrue things about republicans, and democrats are never required to defend them. The media does a good enough job defending Barack Obama, they don’t need Donald Trump or Rick Santorum or Ben Carson or anybody else defending this president, he gets plenty of defense every single day in the media.”