Franksville, Wisconsin: March 25, 2012. Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum goes on a diatribe toward New York TImes reporter Jeff Zeleny (foreground right). "If I see it, it's bullshit!" Santorum said during his outburst. He was reacting to Zeleny's question about a previous quote by Santorum referring to "Mitt Romney as the worst Republican in the country to run against Obama." Santorum insisted that his comment about Romney pertained to health care. He accused the reporter of distorting the comment to make it into a broader criticism of Romney. Santorum vented his anger for about one minute. This event happened at the South Hills Country Club. Chris Fitzgerald / Candidate Photos/Newscom. Find it on Newscom.com: cpphotos004001
There hasn’t been a whole lot to say about the 2012 GOP race for the presidential nomination – mostly just the neck and neck race between Romney and Santorum to pick up more delegates before June. But Rick Santorum made headlines yesterday, although probably not in the way he wants to.
Spending all day yesterday on the campaign trail, Santorum was all smiles and inspiring speeches. But there was one moment when he really lost his cool. While speaking at the South Hills Country Club in Wisconsin, Santorum said “Mitt Romney as the worst Republican in the country to run against Obama.”
Later, when asked about the statement by two reporters, Santorum lost his cool to New York Times reporter Jeff Zeleny saying, “If I see it, it’s bullshit!”- referring to the way Santorum felt the press often takes his comments out of context or twists his words. Romney’s group almost gleefully jumped on the episode, quickly coming out with the hashtag “#tantorum” by the end of the evening and commenting that the stress of trying to keep his campaign together is clearly starting to affect Santorum.
The story probably wouldn’t have made very many headlines if it had been another candidate losing his cool, but Santorum has been riding his good Christian and family values this whole campaign, so it was a bit of a shock for the public to see him snap a bit.
Newscom has the only photos of Santorum venting to the reporter. Check out the photo here in this blog, then you can head back to Newscom to see more photos of the candidates on the trail.
You may be interested in some of these other posts from FocalPoint:
Rick Santorum’s Christian Supporters
Tags: 2012 us presidential election, gop, mitt romney, rick santorum, tantorum