Former Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) declared “I don’t know too many governors with national security experience” on Friday’s “Kelly File” on the Fox News Channel.
“There’s not too many people out there who are contemplating running for president who have that kind of [foreign policy] experience. And I think we’ve seen from this president, that having experience in national security, having a track record that people can look to, and having some grounding in those issues is really important for an office, that’s that’s probably the number one priority of the president, certainly the area that he has the most purview when it comes to running our government” he stated.
Santorum then addressed those who prefer a governor be elected president, saying “I don’t know too many governors with national security experience…I was eight years on the Armed Services Committee, passed major pieces of legislation both dealing with Syria and Iran when I was in the United States Senate. So, I think having that kind of track record, having dealt with these issues for a long [time], knowing and understanding how the military operates, knowing and working on foreign issues for a long time, particularly since 9/11, is, I think, a very important credential that people need to look at.”
He also denied that he would be fighting with Mike Huckabee for socially conservative voters, but added that his foreign policy experience set him apart from Huckabee. He further argued “we’ve had a very, very strong record of going out there and working for folks who have been left behind. I made that argument in 2012, talking about how we had to have blue-collar voters on our team from all across ethnic and racial lines, that we have to be the party not just of pro-growth, but pro-worker. And we need to be a pro-worker party because those are the folks who are hurting and suffering in America today. And we need to help them and target our policies to make sure that they have a chance at the American Dream.”
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