Santorum Warns McCain Presidency is dangerous for Republicans

During the interview, Levin said that McCain was recasting himself as more conservative in order to win the Party's presidential nomination. Santorum responded to this by saying, "It’s amazing to hear what John McCain is trying to convince the voters he is all about. The bottom line is, I served 12 years with him, six years in the Senate as one of the leaders of the Senate, trying to put together the conservative agenda, and almost at every turn, on domestic policy, John McCain was not only against us, but leading the charge on the other side."

Santorum referred to the McCain-Feingold Act, sponsored by McCain, which limits campaign contributions. Detractors have dubbed the bill as an 'incumbent protection act.' Santorum attacked the act as "an affront to personal freedom and liberty in this country, and what we’ve seen as a result of this misguided attempt to placate the New York Times and to help his stature within that community … is that special interests have absolutely taken over the political process, and individual candidates, unless you’re a billionaire, and parties have very little voice in the process.

"It’s a shame," Santorum said, "but he was obviously out front on that."

Santorum was also critical about McCain's decision to vote against the Bush Tax cuts; McCain, incidentally, was one of only two Republicans who did so. Santorum said, "The reduction in rates and lowering the rates on capital gains and dividends … did so much to get this economy up and going." However, he said, "We would have had a much bigger tax cut if it were not for John McCain."

Santorum also drew attention to McCain’s hostile attitude towards the conservative position on issues such as drug re-importation, embryonic stem cell research, immigration, trial of terror detainees, and other issues.

Santorum expressed "big fear" regarding McCain's presidency, saying it would lead to a huge rift in the GOP. "I think he’s been solid in the war on terror … but on domestic policy, he’s very, very dangerous for Republicans," he said, adding, "There’s nothing worse than having a Democratic Congress and a Republican president who would act like a Democrat in matters that are important to conservatives."

Santorum also said that McCain was a leader of Senate moderates who prevented the Republicans from implementing pro-life legislation. While he said, he had not decided on which candidate he would vote for, Santorum ruled out McCain.

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