I have to say that Rick Santorum is the most interesting candidate, psychologically speaking, in the presidential race. And this is in the face of stiff competition from Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, and Newt Gingrich, all of whom would make fascinating studies of deluded thinking.
One thing that you must concede in favor of Santorum is that when it comes to his anti-women, anti-sex, anti-contraception, anti-gay, anti-secular agenda, he is a true believer. Unlike with Mitt Romney, there is no doubt that this is what he truly cares about. Unfortunately for him, this focus is already dooming his chances in the nomination race and will undoubtedly sink him in the presidential race in the almost impossible event that he wins the nomination. The state of the economy is almost always the main driver that determines presidential election outcomes and by not focusing on it, he is throwing away his already small chance at winning.
Some of his apologists say that he does talk about the economy and his plans for it but that the media instead prefers to focus on the culture war issues because they are more interesting. That is not true. For example, Santorum was campaigning over the weekend in the tight race in Ohio where concerns about the economy are high and here is a report of his speech to the crowd.
But five minutes into his speech to the packed dinner Saturday night, Santorum was reiterating his message about the role of faith in the public square.
“When God gave us rights, he gave us responsibilities and laws which we follow and so we as society try to follow that,” he said. “It’s important to have those higher laws, to have faith in the public square, to hold man accountable for something that is bigger, more responsible then their wants and passions.”
Santorum did not mention his tax plan during his speech, nor did he cover in detail any of the policies he has proposed for boosting the American economy.
In general, people like their religion in small doses and the idea of a president going on and on about saving the nation’s soul might be daunting even to those who want a religious person as the nation’s leader. I suspect that few want a Pastor-in-Chief, a national scold, in the White House. But even though the reporter says that Ohio voters want to hear about the economy and are getting tired of talk of god and contraception and the like, you can sense that these are the things that drive the man and get him fired up.
Santorum is obsessed by the leviathan that is destroying America’s soul, thinks that he has been called to drive a harpoon though it, and will relentless pursue that goal even if it destroys him.
My rights don’t exist because some imaginary friend in the sky condescended to give them to me; I have them because I exist. Period. Same with Rick Santorum.
Lawrence Odonnel/MSNBC is campaigning (!) to have Rick Santorum the nominee. He wants to end this thing where we go year after year with a loud, obnoxious, far-right wing minority driving everything because people are too scared to fight back. Having Santorum as the nominee will provide America in 2012 to have its clearest, up/down vote on the subject -- period; AND, he thinks they’ll lose it. I’m tending to agree with him.
“Santorum is obsessed by the leviathan that is destroying America’s soul.”
Is there’s anything destroying America’s soul then it’s people like Rick Santorum.
If Santorum were to win the nod and be defeated in the general election, I doubt this would end the religious rights quest for political supremacy. Since the inception of the John Birch Society we have seen that the religious right has long term goals that get little media attention. Maybe we’re seeing a high point, but it isn’t the end point especially when you look at local and state governments where the right wing has taken over and spread.
I wonder if Rick Santorum understands how useful he is to the corporate oligarchy. Instead of talking about the concentration of wealth and income in the hands of a select class of owners, we’re talking about contraception.
The conventional wisdom is that the oligarchy is disturbed by Santorum’s militancy because he might cost the GOP the election. But when Obama is quietly doing their bidding anyway, there’s no harm in keeping gullible minds distracted with social issues. The media play right into their hands by lapping this stuff up instead of ignoring it and pressing Santorum on harder issues.