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Joan Walsh, Salon: Rick Santorum goes off the rails
Tuesday, Mar 20, 2012 5:15 AM 08:58:13 GMT-0700
Rick Santorum goes off the rails
He dismisses contraception -- and unemployment. He cheers religious bigotry, then doesn't. A campaign unravels VIDEO
By Joan Walsh
http://www.salon.com/2012/03/20/rick_santorum_goes_off_the_rails/
Rick Santorum started Monday picking a fight with a fellow Republican, MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, over whether the media have made too much of Santorum’s anti-contraception beliefs to the neglect of other campaign issues. He ended the day insisting he doesn’t care about the unemployment rate. The night before, he joined a standing ovation for extremist pastor Dennis Terry, who introduced him at a rally Monday by insisting that anyone who doesn’t follow Jesus Christ can “get out” of the U.S. – and then he had to deny he agreed with Terry when reporters followed up. What a big 24 hours for Santorum’s faltering presidential bid. As he heads into the Illinois primary, where he trails Mitt Romney in most polls, Santorum is looking less like a serious threat than he has since January.
If his campaign can’t be defined by his stance on either contraception or unemployment, what’s the rationale for Santorum’s marathon and increasingly long-shot candidacy? Cheering on a Christian theocracy, and then quickly backpedaling, is as close as I can get. Dennis Terry’s hysterical remarks should be chilling to anyone who values religious freedom, on the right or left (watch it here). Watching Santorum standing and clapping for the bigot made it more clear than ever that he can never lead this nation. The fact that he later backtracked and (sort of) said he disagreed with Terry’s remarks doesn’t erase the fact that when he heard them, he stood and clapped like all the other good Christians. This is the company Santorum keeps.
The right-wing Catholic’s claim that his political enemies are keeping the contraception issue alive has always been specious, but it was particularly strange to watch him try to hang Scarborough with that agenda, too. The “Morning Joe” host, along with colleague Mika Brzezinski, admitted their show has featured a lot of criticism of Santorum’s extremism on contraception, and they gave the candidate a chance to reply. Santorum insisted that the only issue he cares about is the “violation of the First Amendment” represented by President Obama’s requirement that insurance companies offer cost-free contraception. When Scarborough pushed a bit, pointing to a video interview five months ago in Iowa, in which Santorum said he’d be the only presidential candidate to talk about contraception and called it “not OK,” Santorum insisted, “I wasn’t talking about access to contraception … I was talking about the breakdown of the nuclear family.”
But even after Scarborough and Brzezinski agreed to leave the issue, Santorum couldn’t let it go, accusing them of trying to “pigeonhole” and “stereotype” him. Scarborough hit back, asking his former House GOP colleague: “Do you think I’m trying to pigeonhole you and stereotype you?” noting they had much the same stance on social issues when in Congress.
Rick Santorum goes off the rails
He dismisses contraception -- and unemployment. He cheers religious bigotry, then doesn't. A campaign unravels VIDEO
By Joan Walsh
http://www.salon.com/2012/03/20/rick_santorum_goes_off_the_rails/
Rick Santorum started Monday picking a fight with a fellow Republican, MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, over whether the media have made too much of Santorum’s anti-contraception beliefs to the neglect of other campaign issues. He ended the day insisting he doesn’t care about the unemployment rate. The night before, he joined a standing ovation for extremist pastor Dennis Terry, who introduced him at a rally Monday by insisting that anyone who doesn’t follow Jesus Christ can “get out” of the U.S. – and then he had to deny he agreed with Terry when reporters followed up. What a big 24 hours for Santorum’s faltering presidential bid. As he heads into the Illinois primary, where he trails Mitt Romney in most polls, Santorum is looking less like a serious threat than he has since January.
If his campaign can’t be defined by his stance on either contraception or unemployment, what’s the rationale for Santorum’s marathon and increasingly long-shot candidacy? Cheering on a Christian theocracy, and then quickly backpedaling, is as close as I can get. Dennis Terry’s hysterical remarks should be chilling to anyone who values religious freedom, on the right or left (watch it here). Watching Santorum standing and clapping for the bigot made it more clear than ever that he can never lead this nation. The fact that he later backtracked and (sort of) said he disagreed with Terry’s remarks doesn’t erase the fact that when he heard them, he stood and clapped like all the other good Christians. This is the company Santorum keeps.
The right-wing Catholic’s claim that his political enemies are keeping the contraception issue alive has always been specious, but it was particularly strange to watch him try to hang Scarborough with that agenda, too. The “Morning Joe” host, along with colleague Mika Brzezinski, admitted their show has featured a lot of criticism of Santorum’s extremism on contraception, and they gave the candidate a chance to reply. Santorum insisted that the only issue he cares about is the “violation of the First Amendment” represented by President Obama’s requirement that insurance companies offer cost-free contraception. When Scarborough pushed a bit, pointing to a video interview five months ago in Iowa, in which Santorum said he’d be the only presidential candidate to talk about contraception and called it “not OK,” Santorum insisted, “I wasn’t talking about access to contraception … I was talking about the breakdown of the nuclear family.”
But even after Scarborough and Brzezinski agreed to leave the issue, Santorum couldn’t let it go, accusing them of trying to “pigeonhole” and “stereotype” him. Scarborough hit back, asking his former House GOP colleague: “Do you think I’m trying to pigeonhole you and stereotype you?” noting they had much the same stance on social issues when in Congress.
