This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," May 5, 2011. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FORMER SENATOR RICK SANTORUM, R-PA.: Rights come from God and the first of which is life, the second of which is liberty. Those two concepts transform the world because it said government was going to be limited, allow people to be free and to pursue their own dreams to serve their God and family and community.
What transformed the world in this United States of America was a belief in family, a belief in life and the belief of dignity of every person. If we abandon that we have given up on America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: Welcome back to this special post-debate edition of "Hannity." That was former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum just moments ago at tonight's GOP presidential primary debate.
And joining me with his take on tonight's events is the man himself, Senator Santorum. Good to see you.
FULL COVERAGE: GOP PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
SANTORUM: Thank you.
HANNITY: That was a pretty powerful answer. If we abandon those issues, we give up on America itself.
SANTORUM: If you look at the founding document of this country, the Declaration of Independence, it's the why of America, it's what we are all about. And we're a country that was formed about keeping people free. You can have limited government and free people unless you have solid families and communities and faith that structure that structures a society that allows people to continue to be free.
If you don't have strong families, don't have strong faith, then you have people who are not going to live good lives if I don't have that, guess what happens, you get bigger and bigger government. The idea that we can focus on the economy and not worry about the culture, not worry about families being able to inculcate those virtues into their children and having stable families and strong churches to do that, you can't have limited government, you can't have low taxes, you can't have smaller government.
HANNITY: I found your answer to what President Obama has done right. You said what he has done right was the continuation of the Bush policies. The decisions he made, you said have been wrong. And you mentioned, I think Iran 18 months ago.
SANTORUM: If you look at it in two ways, all of this foreign policy successes of this president had been a continuation of the strategic decisions the Bush administration made on Gitmo, Iran -- excuse me, on Iraq and Afghanistan, and with of course Usama bin Laden. What he did with Usama bin Laden was a tactical decision. The strategic decision was made we were going after him and use all means necessary. All he did was implement a strategy.
On the issues that have come to him since he's been president where he has had to design the policy, where he's had to put American policy at stake, he has gotten it wrong every time. Whether it was deploying missiles in eastern Europe, siding with the mullahs in Iran, whether it was standing on the sideline and letting the Muslim Brotherhood look like they are going to take control of Egypt, whether it was siding with Hugo Chavez against the folks who were fighting for democracy, and I can give a longer list but I know we're limited in time.
He's made the wrong call and he has decided we are going to support our enemies and try to embrace them. In every case that's what he did in these situations, and we're going to turn our back on our allies. That means our allies don't trust us anymore and our enemies don't respect us anymore.
HANNITY: All of the intelligence they received that led up to the killing of Usama bin Laden, enhanced interrogation techniques, Gitmo, rendition, black sites -- he called these things torture. Eric Holder, our attorney general is investigating the people, the CIA that got the information --
SANTORUM: They are going to prosecute these people.
HANNITY: Is anyone go to ask the president at some point A, you were wrong, and B -- actually, Debra Burlingate asked the president at ground zero today he said to her no.
SANTORUM: He said he wasn't going to stop it?
HANNITY: He would not talk to Holder about it.
SANTORUM: That tells you this president doesn't understand what it takes to defend America. His greatest foreign policy success was because of a president who understood what it takes to fight an asymmetric threat, this terroristic threat, and that you have to use the means to combat that. We are not in a conventional military battle where you can use conventional means. This president is making decisions like this one that is not going to keep us safe in the future.
HANNITY: Should Americans concern themselves with the shifting positions about the events that happened that night? For example, we were first told a firefight then no firefight. We are going to release the pictures, we are not going to release the pictures. He was hiding behind his wife, he's not hiding behind his wife.
In the Washington Post today they report, we are not going to talk about it anymore. Do the American people have a right to know what happened in this raid and a right to see those pictures?
SANTORUM: That raid was conned amazingly well by our military. Since those helicopters took off it has been a disaster for the administration. Once it's been put back in their lap to manage the situation they've mismanaged it beyond belief, including dumping the body within 24 hours. By the way, I understand from talking with folks who understand this, if a Muslim dies on the land, dumping him at sea is against Muslim protocol anyway. So they didn't even follow Muslim protocol.
HANNITY: Do you think that was an attempt somehow -- because, also aren't we also told --
SANTORUM: It was an (INAUDIBLE) attempt, it didn't do what he wanted to accomplish. It made no sense other than if there was something going on they didn't want people to see, which of course leads to all these conspiracy theories.
HANNITY: But not only that, aren't we told that he doesn't represent Islam? He represents radical Islamic views? Then why give him a "proper" burial?
SANTORUM: The reason he gave, we're not against Islam. The bottom line is, what this president doesn't understand is we are at war with an ideology and we have to confront it.
HANNITY: Senator Santorum, great to see you, tonight. This is round one of what is going to be a long process. Appreciate it.
Content and Programming Copyright 2011 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2011 CQ-Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CQ-Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox