Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum is finishing his last stop in West Michigan Monday evening.
At a rally in Muskegon Monday afternoon Santorum mostly criticized President Obama, rather than his republican rivals in the presidential primary.
“Ladies and gentlemen this president is doing everything he can to shut down the manufacturing sector of this economy; from an environmental, energy, regulatory, and tax position,” Santorum said.
Santorum spent a lot of time talking about producing more energy in the United States by drilling for oil and natural gas. Santorum criticized President Obama for voting against a pipeline that would’ve sent crude oil from Canada to the southern U.S. for refining.
“(Obama and environmentalists) see an opportunity to go out and scare people. ‘Oh look at what’s going on - they’re producing all this dangerous stuff near you and they’re drilling wells. Oh and they’re going to pollute this and pollute that,” Santorum said sarcastically. “It’s a bunch of garbage.”
At least 500 people packed into a hotel conference room to rally for Santorum.
Sherry Shoup shouted passionately during Santorum’s speech. She supports Santorum because he’s always been pro-life. Shoup says that is her number one issue; over the economy, the national debt, even jobs.
“If we put God first in all of our life you know then he will bring the economic success,” Shoup said, “He will protect us.”
Unlike his visit to Detroit last week, Santorum received applause for his stance against all government bailouts, including those extended to the GM and Chrysler.
Becca Wentzloff of Shelby checked off reasons why she’s supporting Santorum. “He’s pro-family, pro-marriage, pro-life, pro-jobs, pro-constitution, pro-drilling in America; what’s not to love about Rick Santorum?” Wentzloff said.
Santorum is hoping to upset Mitt Romney in the Michigan primary next week. Romney has scheduled a town hall meeting in Southeast Michigan Tuesday.
