Tag Archives: Rick Santorum

Is Santorum Too Catholic for Evangelicals and Too Evangelical for Catholics?

Yes to both, probably, and that will be his downfall.

Mean time, he has made it quite clear that he is no Jack Kennedy. You will remember (if you are, like, 100 years old) that Jack Kennedy was asked if he was going to be all Catholicy and stuff if he won the election to the presidency, and he said “I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish, where no public official either requests or accept instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source…” etc. etc.

Santorum has addressed the same issue. He says: “Ultimately Kennedy’s attempt to reassure Protestants that the Catholic Church would not control the government and suborn its independence advanced a philosophy of strict separation that would create a purely secular public square cleansed of all religious wisdom and the voice of religious people of all faiths. He laid the foundation for attacks on religious freedom and freedom of speech by the secular left and its political arms like the ACLU and the People for the American Way.”

So, Santorum is explicitly against the Constitution of the United States of America on this. I wonder if he also favors gun control?

How will this play out in the primary process? The Gallup organization has measured one important factor: Santorum’s Catholicness does not impress Republican Catholics. They hold him in no more favor than they hold any of the other candidates.

Truth Out continues and expands on this discussion.

From Iowa to New Hampshire. What to look for and what it means. (Updated)

We’ll get to the big picture in just a moment, but first a fair well to our home-girl, Michele. Today’s headline could have been Bachmann Moves Ahead “Full Steam” after Iowa Victory … … by the other guy” but in the end, she appears to have dropped out.

It is … difficult to see such a path for Bachmann, given her last-place finish and the fact that her campaign strategy had been premised on a strong launch in Iowa, the state where she was born and where she won the GOP straw poll in Ames in August.

At first her campaign manager, Keith Nahigian, said Bachmann is going ahead “full steam.”*

But hours later she dropped out of the race. And speaking of the race, let’s have a quick look at the final tallies:

Mitt Romney 30,015 (25%)
Rick Santorum 30,007 (25%)
Ron Paul 26,219 (21%)
Newt Gingrich 16,251 (13%)
Rick Perry 12,604 (10%)
Michele Bachmann 6,073 (5%)

John Huntsman also relieved a few votes, so technically, he came in last behind Michele. (See this insightful analysis of the numbers by Pharngula’s PZ Myers.)

And now, the meaning of it all… Continue reading From Iowa to New Hampshire. What to look for and what it means. (Updated)