Rick Santorum On 'Mike Huckabee Show': 'Snob' Comment Was A Mistake

Appearing on "The Mike Huckabee Show" with his wife on Saturday, Rick Santorum said that he wished he had not called President Obama a "snob" for wanting everybody in America to go to college.

Huckabee brought up the remark in asking Santorum if he regretted anything he has said on the campaign trail during his run for the GOP nomination.

"Look, having been a candidate, we all go out there on the campaign trail, we say some things we wish we hadn't said, or we wish we'd said 'em a little differently," Huckabee said. "Is there anything out there that you would love to walk back and say, 'Well, let me do that a little differently'"?

Santorum replied: "Well, my wife, after she heard that comment, she said, 'Rick,' she said, 'His comment might have been snobbish, but that doesn't make him a snob.'"

Sometimes you say things you wish you had said a little differently, and that's certainly one of them," he continued.

Huckabee then praised the role of "the wives" on the campaign trail, who tell candidates "things nobody else will." He asked Karen Santorum to give an example of helpful advice she had given her husband.

"So much of it is just, you know, 'Be yourself, be sincere, speak from your heart -- and Rick is a very passionate man," she said. "And I love that in Rick -- very passionate. But sometimes people misinterpret that as sort of being mean. So sometimes I ask him to tone it down a little bit, and keep the balance between your passion and getting a little too fiery."

Mike Huckabee also addressed Santorum's fraught relationship with women. He said that, since the former Pennsylvania senator had married a woman with a law degree and nursing degree who has homeschooled seven children, "the last thing on earth that would ever be legitimately said about you is that you fear strong women." Karen Santorum concurred, calling Rick a "loving, passionate, devoted husband and father."

Santorum is coming off the heels of a resounding win in Saturday's Kansas caucus, which will net him most of the state's 40 delegates. Also on Saturday, Santorum fell to Mitt Romney in Wyoming's caucus.

Comments

[QNTASH03]

08:14 AM on 04/26/2012

He owes an apology directly to the President for being so hateful and dishonest. If he had really wanted to be clear on what the President had said he would have gotten clarification. Even after it was brought to his attention that his assertion was a lie he continued to pound the lie out to crowds again and again. What disturbed me then and now most about him is his abuse of the principles of faith he claims to represent. He spoke with ill intent and darkness in his heart on more than one occassion. He spread anger, dihonesty and vitriol purely to gain power and prestige which is cautioned in the bible. He bore false witness time and time again against both the positions and character of the President. He further damaged the credilbility of the church by saying he was one thing and behaving in an opposite manner. He was judegmental , critical, very harsh in his examinations of other people. but whats worst of all is depsite how much hate, racism, religious bigotry and prejudice he ran across he was more than happy to champion it and demonize, marginalize, trivialize and diminish others and eventually gain from it but advancing in politics. His behavior is/was shameful.

[lindsay2727]

10:34 PM on 03/12/2012

Mrs santorum please stop saying he's passionate. I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.

[geddy lee is a god]

11:28 AM on 03/12/2012

I wonder why Santorum is trying to be *nice* and appear human all of a sudden. Either his poll numbers aren't looking as good as his campaign originally thought, or something else is on the horizon. I'm not buying this "change of heart."

[geddy lee is a god]

11:23 AM on 03/12/2012

"Huckabee then praised the role of "the wives" on the campaign trail, who tell candidates "things nobody else will."

Please. Republican wives have no minds of their own and simply parrot their husband's ideas. Cleaning up the words and doing damage control for their GOP husbands won't work. Karen Santorum, Ann Romney, and the rest of the GOP wives should stop wasting their time trying to build up the candidates as "loving husbands and fathers" because their despicable words prove otherwise. They may act right at home, but they certainly cut-up sideways when it comes to the general/American public.

[Obviator]

11:03 AM on 03/12/2012

So he was also wishing he hadn't made the throw up statement. I wonder how all this wishing one could take back his ridiculous remarks might play on the international stage.

[Querent]

10:27 AM on 03/12/2012

I have to say that telling Santorum to be himself is really, really bad advice.

[1differentdrummer]

10:16 AM on 03/12/2012

People who vote for him or the other Rs are making bigger mistakes.

[tlgpa]

09:59 AM on 03/12/2012

Ricky holds 3 college degrees.
His wife holds 3 college degrees.
His mother holds 2 college degrees.

Ricky KNOWS what it's like to be a snob!

Sure the snob comment was a bad move. But was even worse was the vitriolic tone in which he said it. This man is so full of hate.

[TinaTime]

09:32 AM on 03/12/2012

Ricky doesn't fear strong women as long as they are doing what he says.

[JRCNSSWV]

09:29 AM on 03/12/2012

The entire Presidential bid of Santorum is a mistake.

He is a religious zealot, with a deep deep hatred of women and gays, and envisions an America where the words of the Pope.....Santourm's perverse take on them anyway, would be the blueprint on how he would be Commander-in-Chief of the over 330M persons in the United States.

As a Roman Catholic, the Pontiff offers valuable spiritual thoughts and advice, that being said his social declarations are from the Middle Ages, and most of us in the US, who are of the Catholic faith realise it.

Santorum trashed JFK, precisely because he said, that as a Roman Catholic, he would not be following directions from Rome as President of the United States. Santorum says just the opposite, in an ironic twist of fate, he as a Catholic might not even be seeking the office had not JFK made that speech some half century ago.

Rick Santorum is dangerous, evil, intolerant and clearly exhibits hatred for all those that his Party encourages it's members to hate.

One should see to it that this man never gets into the Oval Office as POTUS.

PA kicked him out of office while he was a sitting Senator, by 18-percentage points, a record margin for a current Senator.

If he should not be a Senator he most surely should not be a President.

[BillyPilgrim1951]

09:06 AM on 03/12/2012

Rick is a mistake.

[Sim0n Gomez]

08:12 AM on 03/12/2012

Dear Mr. Santorum,

Your whole campaign is a mistake. Actually, your entire political career is a mistake. But please go on.

When you made that comment even though you were being untruthful about what the president said (he didn't only say college) but at least you were being sincere about how you feel about education. A mind is a terrible thing to open, isn't it?

[Rosalee Harris]

07:52 AM on 03/12/2012

Little Ricky said on the Today's show that its Obama's fault why the massacre happened. Of course he was babbling so much that the reporter fail to make the connection. But he pretty much stated that if Obama hadnt gone and apologize for the burning of the Quaran that the massacre would not have happened. He wants absolve a craze person by blaming the President for this man's actions.

[Robert Weissman]

07:31 AM on 03/12/2012

The only snob is Ricky and thats because he thinks his religion makes him better then anyone else - can anyone disagree with that ?

[Mike169]

07:29 AM on 03/12/2012

Rick Santorum said that he wished he had not called President Obama a "snob"

If wishes were horses - beggars would ride.