Santorum: Occupy Wall Street Protesters Have A ‘Legitimate Point’

Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum (R-PA)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Rick Santorum, the Republican candidate who is perhaps the most severe in his conservatism, is doing something that might surprise people: Cutting some slack to the Occupy Wall Street movement on the issues of the bailouts and economic inequality.

Speaking to the Iowa State Association of Counties, Santorum said that Republicans “ignore some realities at times,” CNN reports.

“The bottom line is if it you look at this economy, if you are white collar worker, if you have a college degree, the unemployment rate in America for college educated people is 4.4%,” he said. “The unemployment rate for everybody else is over 10%.”

After the speech, Santorum told CNN that while he generally considers the Occupiers misguided, they have a “legitimate point.”

“The original idea, which is that Wall Street is getting preferential treatment, bailouts and support, while the rest of the country is struggling, is a legitimate point,” he said, pointing out that he opposed TARP and the “moral hazards” of Too Big To Fail.

Latest Election 2012
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: