Rupert Murdoch Praises Rick Santorum On Twitter

Rupert Murdoch made waves Monday evening when he tweeted his support of Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum, just a day before the Iowa caucuses.

@rupertmurdoch
Rupert Murdoch

Can't resist this tweet, but all Iowans think about Rick Santorum. Only candidate with genuine big vision for country.

January 3, 2012 12:26 am via Twitter for iPad Reply Retweet Favorite

It was the second time in two days Murdoch had sung Santorum's praises. On New Year's Day, he tweeted:

@rupertmurdoch
Rupert Murdoch

Good to see santorum surging in Iowa. Regardless of policies, all debates showed principles, consistency and humility like no other.

January 1, 2012 5:26 pm via Twitter for iPad Reply Retweet Favorite

The latest remarks "didn't quite rise to the level of an official endorsement," The Hollywood Reporter noted. But they constitute a major vote of confidence for the ex-Pennsylvania senator, who is locked in a tight three-way race with Mitt Romney and Ron Paul in Iowa. Santorum's campaign had been marked by ineffectiveness until the past week, when he began to surge in the polls while other social-conservative favorites like Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann faded.

Murdoch and Santorum have a history: Santorum was a paid consultant on the Murdoch-owned Fox News until March when he declared his presidential intentions. As The New York Times's Brian Stelter reports, Santorum has sometimes been critical of Fox News since then.

Some commentators appeared bemused by Murdoch's opinions. The Nation's Chris Hayes tweeted:

@chrislhayes
Christopher Hayes

Ok, someone got punked. No way this is really @rupertmurdoch right?

January 3, 2012 12:30 am via web Reply Retweet Favorite

But Stelter reported that, "When asked on Monday if Mr. Murdoch -- a computer neophyte -- is indeed on Twitter, his top spokeswoman, Teri Everett, said, 'Oh, yes.'"

Murdoch only joined Twitter on Saturday, but has already amassed over 78,000 followers while letting loose a string of unvarnished opinion. He has endorsed Wall Street Journal editorials and Fox-produced films like "The Descendants," and criticized the biography of Steve Jobs. Murdoch also stirred up a bit of his trademark controversy on his first day on Twitter, when he tweeted -- from St. Barts, no less -- that Brits may spend too much time on vacation. His wife, Wendi Deng, apparently asked him to delete the comment, which he did.

Comments

[Kenny Daniels]

10:04 PM on 01/09/2012

Media Ignores Santorum’s Support For Accused Child Molester Sandusky while Scandal that undermines Santorum’s “family values” swept aside, the comparatively shocking scandal of Rick Santorum having sponsored alleged child molester Jerry Sandusky has been almost universally ignored.Santorum, who has cultivated an image as a clean-cut social conservative trumpeting family values, nominated Sandusky for a “Congressional Angels in Adoption Award,” after Sandusky had already been accused of at least five cases of child molestation.“Its philosophy is simple,” said Santorum of Sandusky’s charity, “It is easier to develop a child than to rehabilitate an adult.”Since the scandal broke into the news, Santorum has been circumspect in his comments about it. He has said he does not know Sandusky personally, the charge that a Penn State graduate assistant spotted Sandusky allegedly anally raping a young boy in a shower and then told head football coach Joe Paterno, Santorum defended Paterno, who did not inform the police of the alleged incident. the establishment media has uniformly failed to highlight how his sponsorship of Sandusky underscores Santorum’s hypocrisy when it comes to “family values”..And yet establishment candidates such as Santorum and Romney have virtually been given a free pass“Why has Rick Santorum not been questioned about his connections and support of Jerry Sandusky?,”
“So why not the same scrutiny for Santorum’s sponsorship of Sandusky to receive the congressional angels in adoption award? but we still haven’t heard if Santorum disavows his outright honor of Sandusky.”

[abbadabba]

02:06 PM on 01/04/2012

Wow, Coulson's taking a beating, today!!

The MP's report is out. Scotland Yard continues to sit on evidence of people who were victimized by NoW. SY has said they will NOT be notifying folks who had their phones hacked. That means those who suspect they were hacked will have to spend a legal fortune to ask the police to release the information of their victimization. Cops are still working for Murdoch, and they are probably sitting on evidence of their own indictments, too.

The Press Complaints Committee was roundly accused of declaring NoW free of any other wrongdoing but also admitted they never really looked into it.

And now ANOTHER NoW private investigator currently being prosecuted for a violent crime has been revealed to have been rehired by NoW after serving a seven year sentence under Coulson. Coulson is getting roasted. The MPs want to pull his access card and keep him out of Parliment. How could he have the gall to show his face unless he felt Murdoch was still firmly in control?

And three more victims of voicemail interception have been revealed: George Galloway, an MP; David Davies, former executive director of the Football Association; and Brendan Montague, a freelance journalist.

They say "A," the newly revealed PI, had a lot of press earlier. This is where the US press can open the story up as we don't hold back identities of suspects or defendents being prosecuted.

Gee, What might Murdoch have to tweet, today?

[consandy]

03:50 AM on 01/04/2012

Looks like it worked. Scary.

[Scott Colbert]

02:55 AM on 01/04/2012

I've been told that lizards refer to their skin as Murdoch-like.

[breakingpoint]

01:41 AM on 01/04/2012

why not post the tweet where he praises Obama for NDAA?

Its also alarming that so many Americans do not know that Rupert Murdoch is a US citizen.
He had to becomes one in order to broadcast FOX TV over the US air waves.

[obinna000]

12:26 AM on 01/04/2012

OMG imagine this leathery looking piece of meat without cloths on..Wendy Deng deserves all that fortune, please people should stop thrashing her.

[monkbot]

11:26 PM on 01/03/2012

What is with that picture? Is he looking into the ark of the covenant? It looks like Fred Armisen's wax figure being microwaved.

[pjmducks6]

08:11 PM on 01/03/2012

Ron Paul is probably happier to have the brothel's endorsement!

[DocBlake]

07:39 PM on 01/03/2012

It's like getting an endorsement from Darth Vader.

[InActionMan]

09:21 PM on 01/03/2012

You don't know the POWER of the dark side.

[davandsher]

07:31 PM on 01/03/2012

Why does Rupert Murdoch even care ? He has more money than most anybody in America today. If he backs Rick Santorum, I will vote for anyone else except Øbama.

[PassionateAmerican]

07:28 PM on 01/03/2012

I've read every post so far on this from you Huffers. I swear, none of you would know a rugged individualist and self made person if he wiped your wimpy behinds for you. What a bunch of vile losers you all are. Now you can go back and study your Salon and Nation rags for further instructions.Puke!

[InActionMan]

09:24 PM on 01/03/2012

His dad already owned several newspapers. He didn't exactly have a hard scrabble upbringing. I would say hard work had less to do with Rupert's success than a sociopathic ruthlessness.

Someone who cynically became an American citizen just so he could buy TV stations is not admirable.

[aknishtus]

07:22 PM on 01/03/2012

Now there's an endorsement to be proud of, of course Santorum will take any endorsement he can, he'll still be an "also ran."

[lu386ibew]

06:39 PM on 01/03/2012

old rupe is just maneuvering to become the minister of propaganda. here's hoping by election time he and his henchmen are doing hard time.

[jcclsc]

06:38 PM on 01/03/2012

The Kiss of Death.

[jimvragel]

06:35 PM on 01/03/2012

Thank you, Mr. Murdoch. You've made my choice for president a little easier. If you favor Rick Santorum, then I'm definately voting for anybody but him and should you change your mind and favor someone else, that candidate can count on my voting against him/her also.