Santorum Out

[Winehole23]

Did any of you have a party when you heard the news? I swear people are too hardcore when it comes to politics. I hear people say how they hate Ron Paul, Romney, Santorum, or Obama but I mean, do you know them personally? Have they personally screwed you over in some way? I guess I could understand in a way if people had bad feelings toward Bush and Obama over their loved ones dying in Iraq and/Afghanistan. I could also understand how the families of 9/11 victims or Hurricane Katrina victims have bad blood with Bush. Other than that, I just don't get it.

Some posters get all emo about politicians, others get more emo about what other posters say.

Level of emotionality is pretty high generally. Fear, envy and resentment are biggies, but impatience, annoyance and overconfidence do a lot of heavy lifting too.

[Jacob1983]

I've been rooting for Ron Paul but I'm not going to cry if he doesn't get the nomination or doesn't run as a 3rd party candidate. It's just politics. After this election, people will still have sex and gay sex. People will still be able to read whatever kinds of books they want to read. People will still be able to look at porn. Dudes will still be able to be chicks and chicks will still be able to be dudes. Women will still be able to kill their unborn babies legally. People will still be buying that they don't need but are only really buying it because they think it will make them happy and have worth. Adam Sandler will still make ty movies. Madonna will still be on stage shaking her old lady ass and legs. Life will go on no matter.

[Winehole23]

For months, Santorum failed to raise money, failed to hire a campaign staff, failed to create a campaign structure, failed to create a base of supporters, and failed to impress in the endless stream of candidate debates. A couple of weeks before the Iowa caucuses, Santorum was in the low single-digits in national GOP polls -- he was neck and neck with Huntsman -- and was generally considered an afterthought, when he was considered at all.


And yet, despite having very little money, no staff, no organization, few endorsements, an unimpressive legislative record, and a weak message, Rick Santorum managed to beat Mitt Romney 10 times during the Republican nominating race (Iowa, Colorado, Minnesota, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kansas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana). The total reaches 11 if you include Missouri's pseudo primary in February.

http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_new...ands-down?lite

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

Not really all that impressive given that Santorum appeals to the religious right far more than Romney does.

[Wild Cobra]

Not really all that impressive given that Santorum appeals to the religious right far more than Romney does.

I think you give the religious vote too much credit.

[Winehole23]

wrt Santorum in these primaries, he's spot on

[SnakeBoy]

Did any of you have a party when you heard the news? I swear people are too hardcore when it comes to politics. I hear people say how they hate Ron Paul, Romney, Santorum, or Obama but I mean, do you know them personally? Have they personally screwed you over in some way? I guess I could understand in a way if people had bad feelings toward Bush and Obama over their loved ones dying in Iraq and/Afghanistan. I could also understand how the families of 9/11 victims or Hurricane Katrina victims have bad blood with Bush. Other than that, I just don't get it.

Did you honestly think that even by some mystical chance that Santorum became president that he would do all of the he promised?
Do you really think he would stop people from looking at internet porn? Do you think he would stop gay people and straight people from having anal sex? Do you think that he would stop people from being atheists, Jews, or Muslims? Do you think he would have banned abortion?

Nice lecture. What exactly in this thread inspired it?

You haven't been so nice towards Santorum yourself...

Santorum is a joke. He's the " hunter" in my book. He's care more about gay sex, gay people, and Muslims than the economy. Who the cares about gay guys doing each other and Muslims doing their thing? I mean seriously, isn't the economy an important issue?

Santorum is a dumbass. North Dakota would probably be one of the safest places in America to be at if there was a big terrorist attack or war in America.

Santorum claiming to be a conservative is like Stern saying that Donaghy was the only dirty ref. It's a big ass lie.
Ron Paul is the most conservative candidate in the GOP field.

[SnakeBoy]

wrt Santorum in these primaries, he's spot on

I think the TEA Party vote played as much or more of a role in Santorum's limited success than the religious right. They were the ones who worked their way through the not Romney candidates until they had to go with Santorum for lack of another choice.

[Wild Cobra]

I think the TEA Party vote played as much or more of a role in Santorum's limited success than the religious right. They were the ones who worked their way through the not Romney candidates until they had to go with Santorum for lack of another choice.

Think they will now support Paul?

[SnakeBoy]

Think they will now support Paul?

No chance, they'll get on board with Romney. The talk radio guys who they listen to are already talking up Romney after bashing him for months. Like the saying goes Dems fall in love Republicans fall in line.

[Wild Cobra]

No chance, they'll get on board with Romney. The talk radio guys who they listen to are already talking up Romney after bashing him for months. Like the saying goes Dems fall in love Republicans fall in line.

Hard to say in my view. I do know quite a few Tea Party type people. They are more libertarian than the average republican. Some of the Santorum may go to Gingrich as well. I guess we will see in the next few elections.

[boutons_deux]

InSaneTorum won state delegates when a state polled as 50%+ evangelicals, more proof how screwed up, anti-democratic, extreme fringe, and theocratic the religiously nutty evangelicals are.

How Rick Santorum Moved the GOP Primary to the Right

Romney will be as moderate as he can get away with, to maximize his chances of winning the general election. But being so lacking in principle, he will also, when necessary, swerve far to the right to appease conservatives. And that is what he has to do repeatedly to fend off Santorum’s challenge.

It was hard to imagine, even when staunch social conservatives such as Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry led the Republican field, that the primaries would become dominated by contraception. Few living politicians have made a point of decrying the immoral behavior that they believe contraception encourages. But Rick Santorum is one of them.

Prior to this campaign Santorum’s political iden y was dominated by two concerns: a social conservatism that could veer into phobia, and a hawkishness that could veer into paranoia.

Santorum has been beating the drum for a confrontation with Iran for years. His incessant fear-mongering on the campaign trail and in Republican debates—like his bizarre assertion that the United States faces a socialist/Islamist/terrorist threat from Latin America—has helped the GOP find its voice on foreign policy. President Obama has prosecuted the war against Al Qaeda much more effectively than did President Bush. That has left Republicans in a bind, unsure of whether they should follow their reflex to characterize Obama as weak, as they typically denigrate Democrats, when they lack any evidence to support such a claim. Especially with Ron Paul’s isolationist candidacy picking up enthusiastic support, Republicans were left flailing, attempting to somehow criticize Obama from the left and right simultaneously on issues such as Libya. Santorum, the most reliable proponent of neoconservative belligerence on the Middle East, argued forcefully with Paul in the debates and showed the way forward on foreign policy for other Republicans. The GOP message—that Obama has shown weakness towards adversaries such as Iran, China and Russia—may be absurd on the merits, but at least it’s a tangible concept. And it fits nicely with the Republican tendency to treat foreign policy as merely a swaggering expression of domestic nationalist iden y politics. Romney has recently pivoted towards painting President Obama as weak on national security.

On social issues, Santorum gave the religious right a reason to get out of bed. In recent years they had been supplanted by the Tea Party as the voice of right-wing populist anger. With Perry and Bachmann they had unserious candidates. When Santorum emerged in Iowa as a legitimate contender, religious conservative leaders had someone to coalesce around. Santorum ultimately won the majority of their endorsements.

His candidacy also demonstrated the ongoing political importance of evangelicals. In state after state, Santorum, a Catholic, won evangelicals, along with overlapping groups such as “very conservative” voters. Romney, a Mormon, won non-evangelicals, including Catholics. While some commentators have suggested this is a sign of social progress because it means voters no longer reflexively favor their co-religionists, it has a whole other implication. What Santorum’s strength shows is that evangelical Christian Republicans continue to hold a strong preference for candidates who are intensely conservative on social issues and overtly religious. They alone are not quite large enough to single-handedly give such a candidate the Republican nomination, but their cohesive voting behavior means they remain a powerful force in the party.

http://www.thenation.com/blog/167317...-primary-right

[Goran Dragic]

I do know quite a few Tea Party type people.

you mean like yourself?

[Drachen]

I think the TEA Party vote played as much or more of a role in Santorum's limited success than the religious right. They were the ones who worked their way through the not Romney candidates until they had to go with Santorum for lack of another choice.

AT THIS POINT the tea party is pretty much the religious right.

I will admit that it didn't necessarily start out that way though.

[Wild Cobra]

AT THIS POINT the tea party is pretty much the religious right.

I will admit that it didn't necessarily start out that way though.

Absolutely no.

The Tea Party includes people of the religious right, but that's a small part of them.

[boutons_deux]

the tea party is dying force. Their pinnacle was 2008 and they got a few of their assholes into Congress.

I don't think they'll make a lot of noise for Willard Gecko, or maybe the tea party really does like and support the 1% over Real America after all.