Santorum tells Berks GOP to stand and deliver

Rick Santorum, former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania, spoke to a packed house at the annual Berks County Republican Dinner Tuesday.

From a story by Mary Young in the Reading Eagle:

Republicans must turn the energy and enthusiasm generated by opposition to President Barack Obama into the political capital needed to win state and federal elections, former GOP Sen. Rick Santorum said Tuesday.

Santorum, who served two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and two terms in the U.S. Senate before losing a re-election bid in 2006, delivered that message to about 200 people at the Berks GOP's annual spring dinner in the Crowne Plaza Reading hotel, Wyomissing.

In 2008, Republicans weren't doing a great job. Frustrated with government, people wanted change and elected Obama, Santorum said.

What they got is a government that is like the drug dealer on the corner who wants to get people hooked, he said.

Obama and his supporters are getting people hooked on entitlements, such as stimulus funding and health care, which make people more dependent on the government, Santorum said.

Not only is government growing, but also Democrats are trying to change its foundation by convincing people that their rights are given to them by the government, he said.

Read the full story at the newspaper's Web site:

Santorum tells Berks GOP to stand and deliver