Rick Santorum Warns Of 'New Boogey Man'

Rick Santorum took aim at environmental regulations Thursday at a campaign stop in Oklahoma, a hub of the domestic energy industry. The presidential hopeful told voters that opposition to fracking is nothing more than political fear-mongering, according to CNN.

"We have to have all sorts of government regulations because of the threats of hydrofracking," Santorum said. "It's the new boogey man. It's the new way to try to scare you."

Later he imitated anti-fracking politicians and environmentalists. "Ooh, all this bad stuff's going to happen, we don't know all these chemicals and all this stuff," he said. "What's going to happen? Let me tell you what's going to happen, nothing's going to happen."

It's not the first time Santorum has dismissed environmental threats as bogus rhetoric. At a campaign stop in Colorado on Tuesday, he told voters that he never bought into the "hoax of global warming."

Santorum reiterated his thoughts on climate change on Thursday, telling the Oklahoma crowd it is "a politicization of science." He has attacked Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney for their previous support of cap and trade policies.

For his part, Newt has disowned the climate change ad he shot with Nancy Pelosi, calling it "the dumbest thing I've done in the last four years."

Comments

[PkSteph]

02:42 PM on 04/02/2012

I missed this one when it happened.

reason... common sense... and divine Revelation.... lol Go on Sesame Street Rick and do you're version of one of these things don't to with the others on there instead of doing some MAJOR projection on to others. Who the heck is more Authoritarian than Mr. Santorum these days? He sure isn't shy to tell us all... He scares me as a woman.

[Tom in FTL]

09:09 AM on 02/14/2012

This guy is a dangerous person. He hasn't a clue. Is this the direction Republicans want to go? If so they don't have to worry about winning any elections. Save your PAC money.

[cptbfhrt]

03:40 PM on 02/13/2012

Who would take scientific analyses seriously from a guy who thinks the earth is 6000 years old? Oh yea, republicans.

[Papi-Chullo]

11:34 AM on 02/13/2012

PART III
­*****

The Coalition also may proceed with its First Amendment retaliatio­n claim.
"Plaintiff participat­ed in protected First Amendment activities­, including speech and associatio­n. It aimed to educate the public about the dangers of unregulate­d gas drilling. Plaintiff asserts that, in response to these activities­, ITRR, pursuant to its contract with Powers, began surveillan­ce of its activities­, reporting them to non-law enforcemen­t companies and individual­s. This is enough to make a claim for retaliatio­n," the judge ruled.

**********­**********­**********­**********­**********­**********­**********­**********­**********­**********­****

But an injunction prohibitin­g further surveillan­ce is inappropri­ate because the contract appears to have been canceled.
"Since the contract between Powers and ITRR was canceled, there is no threat of future surveillan­ce by these defendants­. Plaintiff'­s request for injunctive relief to prevent defendants from conducting surveillan­ce and reporting on that surveillan­ce is moot and will be dismissed,­" Caldwell wrote.

"He dismissed the Institute from the civil rights case, finding that the group was performing services as a private contractor­, not as a state actor, and therefore is not a proper defendant for a Section 1983 claim."

But he refused to dismiss the Coalition'­s request for a court order directing defendants to destroy any Bulletins that are still available on a state-gove­rnment website.
"The claim does not overreach, because it requests that only informatio­n concerning plaintiff be removed from a website within the control of defendants­. This request for injunctive relief will not be dismissed,­" the judge ruled.

[cosmicdart]

08:13 AM on 02/12/2012

Santorum has never had his house rocked by swarms of earthquakes caused by fracking, or tasted toxic chemicals coming up through vertical rifts from far below into his well, or local fresh water reservoir. Pennsylvania used to have the best underground drinking water resource in the world until those big bad gas banksters fracked it. Now we must pay and pay as much as $1/gal for drinking water from elsewhere. No wonder he doesn't live here anymore!

[cmitzinc]

01:49 PM on 02/11/2012

Santorum should know a thing about gas, because he's full of it.

[toxhazzard]

09:41 PM on 02/13/2012

Actually he's full of something far worse.

[sillygames]

05:23 PM on 02/10/2012

He reminds me of Jim Jones in Ghanna, telling his followers everything will be better, Just Drink the
Kool-Aid and don't ask any questions.

Didn't we have enough of the GOP, Trust Me, We will be Greeted As Liberator's, The Oil will Pay for the WAR, and Deficits don't matter.

[j0hnwi11iams]

05:02 PM on 02/10/2012

They're in it for the gas, who cares about your faucet.

[krist6804]

04:35 PM on 02/10/2012

Once hydrofracking is under control (understood) we can put a cap on Rowe V. Wade and then the Boogey Man can, so to speak, be put to bed.

Managing energy without hydrofracking yourself in the process can be a huge problem. Best to measure twice cut once.

[Verna Cooke-Rishell]

04:33 PM on 02/10/2012

If Santorum is such a fan of fracking, lets a drilling rig in HIS backyard instead of MINE. Then I'll listen to him speak about the subject and believe he knows anything about it. I love how he talks about his "home state" of Pennsylvania like he cares anything about what goes on here. He doesn't live here, and he didn't care about the residents of this state when he did. He is evidently constitutionally incapable of being honest.

[Octagonalsign]

04:22 PM on 02/10/2012

He should know.....he is running a campaign hoax.

[madbonger618]

04:08 PM on 02/10/2012

Fear anyone that Religious because they're either insane, brainwashed or completely full of it.

[Sean Quaint]

04:00 PM on 02/10/2012

Aren't we finding increased tectonic activity in areas directly near fracking locations? Maybe Rick doesn't believe in plate tectonics either.

[drlouise]

03:52 PM on 02/10/2012

Someone needs to remind Catholic Santorum that it is a sin to tell lies. And you can't go to confession and get absolution if you intend to keep on lying.

[uniquindividual]

03:44 PM on 02/10/2012

Pray for this to change Rick, I hope it works. (But I thinlk praying is a bit more of a hoax than good science.)

http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/