Wednesday on 'Hannity' 9/8C
Are rumors of Sarah Palin’s staff scouting out Iowa true? The former Alaska governor is here to tell us
Posted on 02/09/2011 3:28:01 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Matt Lauer's got company today on the political-mother shaming front: Rick Santorum.
Santorum is one of the possible GOP hopefuls for the '12 presidential nomination, along with Sarah Palin, of course. She decided at the last minute not to attend the conservative conference CPAC (she hasn't actually showed up the last few years, in fact—it's become a bit of a tradition for her to cancel). Santorum seized upon the no-show as an opportunity to criticize Palin, who's a hit among the same far-right base he'd be trying to appeal to in a run.
First, in an interview with conservative S.E. Cupp, he hinted at her celebrity profiteering: "I have a feeling that she has some demands on her time, and a lot of them have financial benefit attached to them." This is not an unfair criticism—but his next one was. He pretended to offer a more understanding take on why Palin might be unable to come. "I don’t live in Alaska and I’m not the mother to all these kids and I don’t have other responsibilities that she has." (Itals mine.)
Santorum happens to be the father to seven children—one might assume no matter the parenting balance in the Santorum household, he does, in fact, have some responsibilities in addition to attending CPAC. But more interesting here is the criticism he's subtly rescuscitating. In '08, one of the few things many women on both sides of the aisle could agree on re: Palin was that she had steamrolled over the expectation that women could only go into politics in a big way once their kids were raised, and this was a good thing. Republican women and consultants told me this fall over and over again that seeing her up on the stage at the 2008 GOP convention with her young kids was a moment that everything suddenly looked different, more possible for them. It's how the whole Mama Grizzly movement began, this version of conservative feminism that we found vexing and powerful all at once. Maybe Santorum's comments were a one-off from a sui generis conservative, or maybe it's a sign that the good 'ol boys on the right (and perhaps the left, too) are no longer quite as entranced and stymied by the possibility of grizzly power.
NO! Rick, you have no chance to be POTUS.
LOL Santorum. What an idiot.
Guess he thinks Sarah should get back in the kitchen, where he apparently keeps his wife.
Rick, you blew it. Cutesy cheap shot artists are not appreciated.
It appears to me that Rick has undermined his own chances for POTUS. These cheap shots at a fellow GOP contender are petty. Coming out for more Ethanol subsidies is just dangerous for the country. He will never break single digits in the polls irritating his base.
He didn’t sound like he was attacking her when he said that. It sounded like a guy who was thinking about the problems, as he would know because he has lots of kids.
He is a traditional Catholic, and from a religious perspective there is an expectation that mothers are more directly associated with raising kids than fathers. I don’t think he was faulting her for that, I think he was expressing the opinion that it’s hard to find the time for everything you want to do when you have young children.
Not that I want Santorum for President. I just think the crtiticism he took for his comment was overblown. It’s hard sometimes to imagine being able to talk about anything related to Sarah Palin without supporters jumping all over anything that doesn’t make her sound perfect. I like her, warts and all, and don’t see the advantage of attacking every comment perceived negatively.
I always liked Rick Santorum. He was an excellent Senator.
But, frankly, I think that the longing to get back into power has now succeeded in destroying him. This finishes him for any political office, as far as I’m concerned.
Sounds like he’s taking advice from Karl “Turd Blossom” Rove...”
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I think you may be right. Sounds like Karl, but unless we expect a Hillary like coronation with virtually no other contenders in the primary, then a contest is naturally going to include some softening up against the other guys.
This is going to include Sarah. She can take it if anyone can.
I want to like Rick, I really do, but he’s trying ... has always tried ... to be a Big Government Conservative, and there’s no such thing.
That said, I don’t think his remark about Sarah’s kids means anything, except to point out that he doesn’t, in fact, have the responsibilities and prioritization skills that Mrs. Santorum must have. And that is a compliment to her, not to him.
She’s been on the receiving end of more vitriol, hate, slander, contempt, disrespect, satire, violent rhetoric and libel than Presidents Nixon, Reagan and both Bushes, already. The other dwarves looking to run in 2012 would’ve already slunk away with their tails between their legs if a quarter of that had been directed their way, and I include Mr. Obama in that group.
You're in Pennsylvania, Lazlo, the state where I was born and then fled after getting fed up with the entrenched unionism and demonRAT machine that ran (and perhaps still runs) Pittsburgh.
Showing my age, I recall GOP governors like Joe Fine, Bill Scranton and Ray Shafer. My recollection was that they were all of the "go along to get along" types more than willing to reach across the aisle. Hugh Scott was Senator for many of my years there. I remember that he opposed anti-union Clement Haynsworth for the Supreme Court.
In summary, my perception is that those with the GOP label who ascend to office in the Keystone State are largely of the eastern elite stripe, Rockefeller-style Republicans. Am I mistaken as I view things from a distance of several decades and from afar here in Texas?
Santorum just flunked the comic relief test. Time for him to go get a real job.
I always though he was a snot—this confirms it.
You succeeded in saying what I wanted to say with much less vitriol and intensity than I would have used so I'll send it BTTT instead of writing my rant.
Thank you.
TS
Go ahead. Poke a Grizzly in the eye and see where that gets you.
I don’t care about this particular episode much but Santorum has been rubbing me the wrong way for a while now. I put him in the same category with Huckabee and Romney on my “Gonna be hard to vote for them even with the clothespin on the nose” list.
The latest from the American Spectator straw poll. Santorum may want to just stay home and tend to his children.
Select a Candidate
Sarah Palin
58.01%
Herman Cain
5.66%
Mitch Daniels
4.49%
Chris Christie
3.91%
Ron Paul
3.71%
Jim DeMint
3.32%
Other
2.93%
Tim Pawlenty
2.73%
Newt Gingrich
2.73%
Mitt Romney
2.15%
Michele Bachmann
1.76%
Marco Rubio
1.37%
Haley Barbour
1.37%
Mike Huckabee
1.37%
Paul Ryan
1.17%
Mike Pence
0.98%
Rick Santorum
0.78%
Rand Paul
0.59%
Rick Perry
0.59%
John Thune
0.39%
Gary Johnson
0.00%
Santorum couldn’t get laid in a women’s prison with a sack full of pardons! Why any Conservative would vote for this Arlen-loving fool is beyond me!
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