Rick Santorum Would Have Been Fiscally Conservative If ...

Rick Santorum tells Philip Klein of the American Spectator that he would have been true to his fiscal conservative "principles" and opposed all the Bush-era spending and big government programs -- i.e., the programs he voted for and led the charge for in the U.S. Senate -- if only the Tea Party had been around then to pressure him.

That is too say, he would have been/will be fiscally conservative when it is politically expedient to be so.

Recall, that Rick Santorum recently claimed that he alone among presidential candidates could be considered a "tea party candidate" and decided he opposes earmarks after celebrating the ones he got.

Santorum also recently told prospective Iowa Caucus voter that the federal government should subsidize ethanol, a policy almost every (Al Gore included) recognizes is bad for the environment and bad for the economy (driving up taxes, fuel prices, and food prices).  Everyone that is, except a few corn farmers in Iowa who receive ethanol subsidies.

Hey, notice a pattern here?