Presidential candidate and former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) broke with the spirit of some of his own past speeches on Friday, telling a crowd in Iowa that he worries “about anti-government rhetoric.”
According to both the Washington Post and the Quad-City Times, Santorum made the remark at the Iowa Machine Shed, taking questions after a brief speech.
Santorum said government needs to be smaller, and he drew applause when he called the Internal Revenue Service a “political organization.”
Later, however, he said he was worried about “anti-government rhetoric” and argued there is a place for government.
“Government’s not evil. Government can be evil,” he said, but added, “Government’s us.”
As RightWingWatch pointed out, this is the same candidate who has warned that President Barack Obama is a “tyrant,” that the Affordable Care Act would be the “death knell” for freedom in America, and that Obama’s America is leading to beheading of Christians.
