Soledad O’Brien ask Santorum rep. about inconsistency on earmarks

CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien asks Alice Stewart, Santorum campaign national press secretary, about Santorum’s record and stance on earmarks and Ron Paul’s statement that he is “fake” at last night’s Arizona Republican debate on CNN.

Stewart says, “But the truth is when it comes to consistent conservatives on the fiscal issues and when it comes to social issues, there is no one more consistent than Rick Santorum. And he made that case very clearly last night. No amount of ads or rhetoric on the debate stage will change history. And Governor Romney can’t say that. He can get up there and say he has been fiscally responsible, but when we have issues like Romneycare that he supported, that he was creator of in Massachusetts, which was the model for Obamacare, that’s not fiscally responsible. The Wall Street bailout, that’s not fiscally responsible. He is saying one thing and his record reflects something different. What Rick Santorum says today is reflective of what he has done in the past.”

O’Brien responds, “But some of what he says is ‘I regret having voted for that. I wanted to take one for the team.’ So some of what he says is actually saying, ‘I did it against what I believe because there was sort of another agenda there,’ that’s what he said last night in the debate.”

Stewart answers, “When he got to Washington and saw the waste, fraud, and abuse that was going on with members of congress, he has taken on the position and is firmly opposed to earmarks and supports the moratorium on earmarks. That is something that he took going to Washington and seeing the waste, fraud and abuse that went on.”

O’Brien adds, “He talked about that in the debate last night. He talked about specific earmarks that he supported. So I will agree to disagree with you on that one this morning.”

Starting Point with Soledad O’Brien airs week mornings from 7-9am ET on CNN.