Santorum vs. The New York Times

Rick Santorum lets NYT reporter Jeff Zeleny have it for distorting his quote about Mitt Romney.


Based to the clip, Santorum has a pretty good point. At the event what Santorum actually said was... "He (Mitt Romney) is the worst Republican in the country to put up against Barack Obama."

Afterwards, Zeleny breaks off the quote in asking his question.

Here's a transcript of the exchange:

ZELENY: You said Mitt Romney is the worst Republican in the country. Is that true?
SANTORUM: What speech did you listen to?
ZELENY: Right here up. Said he’s the worst Republican –
SANTORUM: Stop lying. I said he was the worst Republican to run on the issue of ObamaCare. And that’s what I was talking about.
ZELENY: You said he’s the worst Republican –
SANTORUM: For every speech I give, I said he’s uniquely disqualified to run against Barack Obama on the issue of health care. Would you guys quit distorting what I’m saying in?
ZELENY: Do you think he’s the worst Republican –
SANTORUM: To run against Barack Obama on the issue of health care because he fashioned the blueprint. I’ve been saying it in every speech. Quit distorting our words. If I see it, it’s bullshit. Come on man. What are you doing?
ZELENY: Who’s distorting your words?
SANTORUM: You just did by asking me that question.
ZELENY: You sound upset about –
SANTORUM: I’m upset when the media distort what is I say. Yeah I do get upset. You know exactly what I was saying and you’re misrepresenting it. What are you guys in the business of doing, reporting the truth or are you here to try to spin and make news? Stop it.
ZELENY: You don’t care –
SANTORUM: You don’t care about the truth at all, do you? You really don’t. Asking that question shows me you don’t care at all about the truth.

Santorum may have gone overboard in berating Zeleny and played to his conservative base by doing so on camera. But Zeleny did distort the quote in the question as he posed it. When asked about it later, Zeleny said he was just trying to get a clarification from Santorum without admitting his own mistake.