I'm painfully aware that there are problems with Rick Santorum’s record. He's not a hard-right strict economic conservative. His stances on economic policy are about what would be expected from a Republican in a heavily unionized traditional Democrat state — it is not reasonable to expect an elected official to ignore his constituents. Also, speaking as a Calvinist whose economic views are also framed by my religious beliefs, I cannot expect a Roman Catholic conservative to defy the teachings of his own church on economics. I'm a hard-right capitalist because I'm a Calvinist who believes in what is sometimes called the “Protestant work ethic.” The Roman Catholic church teaches very different things from what I believe, and as long as Santorum is a member of the Roman Catholic Church, he **SHOULD** believe what his church teaches.
However, some of the items on Marguerite's list don't make sense from a conservative perspective.
Somebody explain why, from a conservative perspective, it is wrong for Santorum to attend a conservative Roman Catholic church along with Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia whose priest is a member of Opus Dei, which is roughly a Roman Catholic equivalent to Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority or Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition.
Somebody explain why, from a conservative perspective, anybody should care that Rick Santorum attends a Latin Mass. That's his own business, and as long as he's attending a church where the Latin Mass is authorized by the local bishop, all it shows is Santorum is a strictly conservative Catholic.
Somebody explain why, from a conservative perspective, it is wrong for Santorum to oppose increases in the minimum wage.
Somebody explain why, from a conservative perspective, it is wrong to be a supporter of Wal-Mart, which, by the way, is strongly anti-union and routinely gets targeted for attacks by unions.
Somebody explain why, from a conservative perspective, it is wrong for Santorum to support tort reform to make lawsuits more difficult — especially since Santorum is himself a lawyer.
Somebody explain why, from a conservative perspective, it is wrong to push for eliminating the estate tax, which, by the way, would disproportionately benefit not Wal-Mart but rather small business owners who own unincorporated businesses and whose heirs could be forced to sell their parents’ business if they die unexpectedly.
Somebody explain why, from a conservative perspective, it is wrong to promote coal plants which could eliminate or even reduce dependence on foreign oil. I am very leery of government getting involved in economic incentives to business, but if there's anything that the government **SHOULD** be promoting, it's things like this which have a clear national security benefit.
Looks to me like this list of complaints about Santorum includes some items which are actually reasons to vote for him.
Somebody in Gingrich's campaign can verify this quicker than me, but I strongly suspect that Newt Gingrich is also an opponent of increasing the minimum wage, a supporter of tort reform, and an opponent of the estate tax. If so, good for Gingrich. What's Mitt Romney's stance on those issues?
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83 posted on Wednesday, March 07, 2012 12:01:47 AM by SatinDoll
7. The defender of family values was also slavish in his devotion to a large American corporate behemoth, Wal-Mart: In the wake of the report about Santorum’s travel in the Wal-Mart corporate jet, I counted the many ways that Santorum had done the bidding of the world’s largest retailer in the Senate, including battling to limit any increases in the minimum wage and seeking to make changes in overtime rules that woulld benefit the company and hurt its blue-collar workforce, tort reform to limit lawsuits against what is said to be the world’s most-sued company, and changes in charitable giving laws and of course eliminating the estate tax that would benefit the billionaire heirs of Sam Walton.
8. Santorum has frequently insisted that his political values are guided by his religious values, and that John F. Kennedy’s famous 1960 speech describing a separtion between the two had done “much harm” in America. But despite inviting such scrutiny, there’s been little discussion of Santorum’s ties to ultra-conservative movements within the Roman Catholic Church Santorum’s comments about JFK were made in Rome in 2002 when he spoke at a 100th birthday event for Jose Maria Escrivade Balaguer, founder of the secretive group within the church known as Opus Dei. Although Santorum says he is not a member of Opus Dei — which has been criticized by some for alleged cult-like qualities and ties to ultra-conservative regimes around the world — he did receive written permission to attend the ultra-conservative St. Catherine of Siena Church in Great Falls, Va., where Mass is still conducted in Latin and a long-time priest and many parishioners are members of Opus Dei, mingling with political conservatives like Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and former FBI director Louis Freeh.
I don’t care about any of the crap. Its simple math.
In Florida, Santorum took less than Gingrich lost by. In Michigan Santorum lost by 3 and Gingrich took twice that. In Ohio, Santorum lost by 1 and Gingrich took double digits. Aside from winning Georgia last night, Gingrich finished no better than 3rd in the rest of the races.
Frankly, anyone who really believes Gingrich is going to come roaring back for the big win isn’t being honest with themselves.
Its no secret that I don’t like Gingrich but I do think he would be nearly ideal for a VP pick. He’s strong willed enough that he would have considerable influence in a Santorum administration and he has experience in herding the cats in congress.
darrell, the thread that SatinDoll was referencing in post 83 was pulled on Feb. 11 by Jim Robinson - Reason? - Trash.