"Primary battle could cost Rick Santorum the war; Far-right stances fuel primary surge but could alienate independents in fall" by Michael Kranish and Bobby Caina Calvan | Globe Staff, February 26, 2012
BIRMINGHAM, Mich. -The higher Rick Santorum climbs in the polls, the more that scrutiny of his social views has intensified with every comment about sex, abortion, contraception, public education, religion, and morality....
Santorum strongly defends his interweaving of religion and politics. In a speech last October at the College of Saint Mary Magdalen in New Hampshire, Santorum told the students how angry he became when he read John F. Kennedy’s famous 1960 speech in which he said the separation of church and state was “absolute’’ and that he would not be beholden to the Vatican’s views.
“I had the opportunity to read the speech and I almost threw up,’’ he said. “You should read the speech. In my opinion it was the beginning of the secular movement of politicians, the separation of their faith from the public square, and he threw faith under the bus in that speech.’’
This guy is making me want to throw up.
Santorum’s emphasis on religion has paid off in the polls among Republicans. A survey of Republicans by the Pew Research Center, which showed Santorum leading Romney nationally in mid-February 30 percent to 28 percent, found that Santorum was strongest among evangelicals and Catholics, while Mitt Romney was strongest among mainline Protestants.
Romney rarely mentions his Mormon faith, which some conservative Christians consider a cult, and he has had a hard time winning over some Republicans who are troubled by his past support of abortion rights. Newt Gingrich is disliked by some conservatives because he cheated on his first two wives and now is married to his third. Ron Paul focuses on his libertarian beliefs.
Santorum, meanwhile, talks regularly about his Catholicism, his home-schooled children, and his view that the country faces a crisis because many Americans have fallen from their faith.
It's facing a crisis because Wall Street and Israel have led it astray!
In the 2008 speech to Ave Marie University, a Catholic university in Florida, Santorum laid out the framework of his beliefs. The speech received new attention last week after being featured at several online sites....
In the early days of Santorum’s presidential campaign, relatively little attention was paid to his social views because he was so low in most polls. But his social stances were pivotal to his narrow victory in the Iowa caucuses and began to gain more notice as well as controversy. Much of the early debate involved Santorum’s statements about homosexuality. Santorum has said, for example, that he has “a problem with homosexual acts.’’
I have a problem with him, how's that?
Then, during a January appearance in Concord, N.H., he challenged a college student who supported gay marriage by equating it with polygamy, saying sarcastically, “So anyone can marry can marry anybody else, so, if that’s the case, then everyone can marry several people.’’ The audience of college students booed him.
Oh, yeah, did you hear?
Republican leaders have tended to favor Romney. One of the harshest critics of Santorum is Alan Simpson, former senator and Wyoming Republican, who said on CBS-TV’s “Face to Face’’ program last week that Santorum was so “rigid and a homophobic’’ that he feared Santorum would “float us out in the Bering Sea or something. . . . here’s a party that believes in government out of your life, the precious right of privacy, and the right to be left alone. How then can they [have] the hypocrisy of fiddling around in these social issues? We won’t have a prayer.’’
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"Santorum questions separation of church and state; Republican presidential candidate defends criticism of JFK" by Shira Schoenberg | Globe Correspondent, February 27, 2012
Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, who has made his conservative stance on religious and social issues one of the centerpieces of his Republican presidential campaign, questioned the idea of a complete separation of church and state yesterday.
Santorum stood by comments he made last year when he said he was disturbed by President John F. Kennedy’s famous 1960 speech in which he declared that the separation of church and state should be absolute.
“I don’t believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute,’’ Santorum said yesterday on ABC’s “This Week.’’ “The idea that the church should have no influence or no involvement in the operation of the state is absolutely antithetical of the objectives and vision of our country.’’
Santorum’s conservative social views have come under increasing scrutiny as he has soared in the polls nationally and come to challenge former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.
He has waded into battles about insurance coverage of contraception, federal support for education, and what he referred to as President Obama’s “theology’’ on the environment. Yesterday, Santorum was forced to defend his views on college education and on the separation of religion and politics.
His original comments on Kennedy’s speech came in a talk at the College of Saint Mary Magdalen in New Hampshire in October. “Earlier in my political career I had opportunity to read the speech, and I almost threw up,’’ Santorum said at the time.
Kennedy’s speech was intended to address skepticism over his own religion as a Catholic running for president. Kennedy called for an America “where no Catholic prelate would tell the president - should he be Catholic - how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote; where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference; and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the president who might appoint him or the people who might elect him.’’
Santorum said he considered the speech as going beyond the First Amendment.
“That means bringing everybody, people of faith and no faith, into the public square,’’ he said. “Kennedy for the first time articulated a vision saying ‘no, faith is not allowed in the public square, I will keep it separate.’ ’’
Maybe he was on to something considering where you are now, Rick.
Santorum said his point was how important it is for everybody - including those of faith - to feel welcome in politics. “What kind of country do we live in that says only people of nonfaith can come in the public square and make their case?’’ he said.
That's not really what Kennedy said, is it?
On NBC’s “Meet the Press,’’ Santorum said the major American movements that opposed slavery and supported civil rights were led by people of faith. “The idea we need to segregate faith is a dangerous idea,’’ he said.
Santorum also defended comments he made Saturday in Michigan, criticizing President Obama’s statements encouraging pursuit of a college education.
“President Obama wants everyone in America to go to college. What a snob,’’ he said.
On ABC, Santorum explained, “There are a lot of people in this country that have no desire, or no aspiration to go to college because they have a different set of skills, desires, and dreams that don’t include college.’’ Santorum said technical schools, apprenticeships, or vocational training could be more appropriate for some people than college.
Yeah, we still need slaves!
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Update: Clerics take issue with Rick Santorum’s criticism of John Kennedy’s view on church-state divide
"Romney, Santorum turn up the heat in Michigan; Each say the other has compromised on key principles" by Matt Viser and Bobby Caina Calvan | Globe Staff, February 26, 2012
TROY, Mich. - Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum yesterday stepped up their mutual criticism in the final days before a crucial primary in Michigan, calling each other not sufficiently conservative to win the Republican presidential nomination.
Speaking at a Tea Party forum here, Romney accused Santorum of abandoning his conservative principles to trade favors in Washington. Santorum called the charge laughable, and suggested Romney was a political chameleon who is only now trying to remake himself as a conservative standard bearer.
“What’s he going to be tomorrow?’’ Santorum asked.
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Related: Mitt Romney, PAC share consultants in single office
"Mitt Romney defends ability to relate to voters" February 27, 2012
On Fox News, Mitt Romney portrayed himself as an underdog, despite the fact that he was leading in the polls until the last two weeks....
Some of Romney’s trouble in Michigan - home of the American car industry - stems from an op-ed article he wrote in the New York Times in 2008 titled “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.’’ Romney argued that the car industry should not receive a federal bailout, but should go through managed bankruptcy.
The United Auto Workers protested that stance at Romney events last week....
Didn't see much if any of them in my corporate piece of crap.
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Also see: Republican rivals trade last jabs in Michigan
Impact of Republican primary discord is debatable
Romney’s memory is ‘foggy’ on Detroit’s Golden Jubilee
What, sermon over?
Update: Mitt Romney rebounds to win Mich., Ariz. primaries
Could victory in Michigan shift Rick Santorum’s narrative from scrappy underdog to front-runner?
Nope.
Newt Gingrich plans new ads with another donation from casino magnate
