Rick Santorum called out Mitt Romney and John McCain for backing down on their principles, citing that as the reason why Republicans keep losing elections.
While talking at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday, Santorum followed off Sen. Ted Cruz's comments, which were directed at both of the former presidential candidates, as well as former Sen. Bob Dole, and said that they should have remained steadfast in their views, reports The Washington Post.
In his speech, Santorum asked, "How did it work for the Republicans nominating moderate candidates in the last two presidential elections?" The former senator continued, "They put forth candidates who keep apologizing for the principles that they say they believe in, and then they lose."
Just the day before Cruz had knocked all three as refusing to stand by their principles and that was the reason they lost despite being "good men."
McCain shrugged off the criticism from Cruz, but felt the senator should apologize for also blasting Dole, according to Politico. The Arizona senator went on MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports and said that Cruz can take aim at him all he wants, and Romney too since "Mitt's capable of taking it," but that he shouldn't speak ill of Dole.
McCain hopes that Cruz will realize that he had "crossed a line" and will apologize to the former senator for his comments. But an apology might not be forthcoming as Cruz's spokeswoman said McCain's comments were nothing but a "distraction."
image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
