Santorum: I Suspect Romney’s Stripes Haven’t Changed

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: Fireworks in Arizona, and a critical night for Senator Rick Santorum. He and Governor Mitt Romney are in a knock-down, drag-out battle for Arizona and Michigan. Senator Rick Santorum joins us.

Good evening, sir.

RICK SANTORUM, GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: How're you doing, Greta?

VAN SUSTEREN: I'm doing very well. Did you hear that soundbite coming in? It was the exchange over Governor Romney asking you about endorsing him in 2008.

Let me ask you a question. And by the way, it wasn't $400 million that Massachusetts got, it was about $530 million. We had Secretary of HHS...

SANTORUM: OK.

VAN SUSTEREN: ... Tommy Thompson on. So it was a bit more. But why -- I mean, the things you criticized him for, getting money in the Olympics and for getting the federal money to start up health care in Massachusetts, preceded the 2008 endorsement. So why was he good enough in 2008 and now you want to beat him?

SANTORUM: Yes. Well, first off, after the 2008 election, where he told me that he had changed his stripes, that he was going to be a conservative, he went out and supported the Wall Street bailouts, a big, huge intrusion of government. And he has now repeatedly supported and stood by "RomneyCare."

In 2008, "RomneyCare" was just getting started, and it frankly wasn't the big issue it is today. I mean, health care has become the central issue in this election because of what President Obama did was to use "Romney care" and impose a federal mandate on -- on people. And Governor Romney's right. The state mandate is -- is certainly lawful. It's just not the right way to fix the problem.

And so I saw -- what I saw from Governor Romney was a continuation of going to big government solutions after the 2008 elections, which leads me to suspicion, number one, that he really hasn't changed his stripes, and number two, the issue of Obamacare is the issue in this race. It wasn't in 2008, and it's about government control of healthcare. And Governor Romney is uniquely unqualified to take that battle to the president of the United States.