Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum’s image as a straight arrow was reinforced Sunday by the straightest arrow of them all, 1950s-era crooner Pat Boone, who endorsed the former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania for president and called him the best thing since Ronald Reagan.
“I’ve known Rick for many years and Rick has been a consistent defender of conservatism and the values our great nation was founded upon,” Boone said in a statement released Sunday by the Santorum campaign. “I began supporting my friend, Ronald Reagan in the 1960’s and I was a Reagan delegate at the 1976 convention because I saw in him a strong leader who would defend traditional America. I see many of those same qualities in Rick Santorum. He’s experienced, honest, and deeply principled.”
Boone’s recorded popular music in the 1950s and gospel music in later years. He has long been a conservative activist and crusader against gay rights. He also was a staunch supporter of the wars in Vietnam and in Iraq, and actively campaigned for Reagan in his gubernatorial and presidential contests.
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