Limbaugh - "Mantra: Santorum is a 'Big Government Conservative'"

(JR: A vitally important monologue from Rush today...)

"Now there's a mantra -- there's mantra out there -- and it's even now spread to CBS News: "Will Santorum's big government conservatism resonate?" It's everywhere, folks. "Santorum's big government conservatism." Have you ever heard "big government conservatism" associated with Rick Santorum before today? Have you? Have you? All right, very rarely. Some of you might. In Pennsylvania in some of his campaigns it might have been said, but nationally most people are hearing this for the first time after he wins the Hawkeye Cauci. Now, it started (at least I first saw it) in conservative media and then The Cato Institute, which is Libertarian. Now CBS News has it. So let's talk about this for a second.

I remember in the early days of this program, one of the things that I said when I was actually in the process of introducing myself to the audience, explaining my views and so forth. I remember saying... I'm gonna have to paraphrase myself; I don't have the exact quote in front of me 'cause I'm going back to 1988 or '89 now, maybe 1990. But I said, "In certain things, conservatives actually do like a big government. For example, conservatives do want an activist government defending what's right and attacking what's wrong." Big government may not be the term, but, for example: Conservatives do think that it's the role of government to protect the sanctity of life, as does Rick Santorum. If government doesn't, who else will? And it stems from our founding documents: Life, liberty, pursuit of happiness. The Declaration of Independence.

Clearly the government has a role here in defending life. If they don't, who will? Also, the government should be used effectively to fight crime. Conservatives are all for, for example, the government fighting illegal immigration. Now, is that big government or is that responsible government? Big government is being misused here when applied to Santorum. Big government as it's used today means welfare state, and Santorum does not believe in a welfare state. So the left is playing a rhetorical game here, folks, and I want to alert you to this. "Big government" has a specific meaning today, and it means welfare state. It means redistribution. It means high taxes. It means command-and-control of the economy. And that's not what Santorum believes. So the left knows that "big government" is a negative. It is a harmful term to attach to somebody, and that's why they're trying to attach it to Santorum. But Rick Santorum does not believe in the big government of Barack Obama. It's totally different thing for him.