Posted on 02/22/2012 12:54:19 PM PST by SeekAndFind
MESA, Ariz. -- Some of Rick Santorum's advisers are frustrated and angry that reporters are focusing more on their candidate's statements about Satan than on his positions on the issues. Here in Arizona Tuesday, Santorum faced repeated questioning about portions of a 2008 speech at a Catholic university in Florida in which he said, "Satan is attacking the great institutions of America."
"I don't know what's newsmaking that Rick Santorum believes in right and wrong, good and evil, God and the devil," says one campaign aide. "I really don't know how that's out of the mainstream."
It's not. In 2007, the Gallup polling organization asked Americans whether they believe in God, in heaven, in hell, and in the devil. The results: 86 percent of those questioned said they believed in God, 81 percent in heaven, 70 percent in the devil, and 69 percent in hell.
Just 21 percent of those questioned said they do not believe in the devil, giving Satan a healthy 70-21 believe/disbelieve ratio. (Eight percent said they weren't sure.)
Santorum's aides believe it is unfair that reporters are asking questions about aspects of Santorum's faith and not asking similar questions about Mitt Romney's. Of course, Santorum has spoken more publicly about the details of his religious beliefs than Romney has, and that is why some of the questions are popping up now. On the other hand, some in the Santorum camp are pointing to a 2007 interview Romney did with Iowa radio talk show host Jan Mickelson in which Mickelson essentially goaded Romney into discussing, off-air but on-camera, a few details of Mormon beliefs. ("The Church says that Christ appears and splits the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem," Romney told Mickelson. "That’s what the Church says. And then, over a thousand years of the millennium, that the world is reigned in two places, Jerusalem and Missouri. . . . The law will come from Missouri, and the other will be from Jerusalem.")
But specifically religious questioning of Romney is as rare as specific Romney statements about Mormon beliefs. Given the current grilling of Santorum, that is a source of growing frustration to Santorum's advisers. "Why is Mormonism off limits?" asks one. "I'm not saying it's a seminal issue in the campaign, but we're having to spend days answering questions about Rick's faith, which he has been open about. Romney will turn on a dime when you talk about religion. We're getting asked about specific tenets of Rick's faith, and when Romney says, 'I want to focus on the economy,' they say, OK, we'll focus on the economy."
UPDATE: After this was posted, the Santorum adviser called back to stress that his "off limits" point was not specifically about Mormonism but rather that Santorum alone is being questioned about religion. He asked why Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul, in addition to Romney, have not faced the level of questioning abour religion that Santorum has. In our original conversation, the adviser said, "If you're going to ask us, you need to ask everybody."
You betcha, as will Newt Gingrich!
A much more interesting question is, will Newt....?
Why should it be much more interesting to know if Newt would have ash on his forehead
But he IS the exorcist-in-chief.
RE: I didn’t sign up for this extreme platform
Is belief in the Devil extreme?
That would put 70% of America as extreme.
See here:
Catholicism is extreme? If you go to the other party, you will find more bishops there than in the Republican Party.
I wonder if Rick has noticed that while he is fired up doing his Church Lady impersonation, the Economy is still going to hell? He still doesn’t have any Vision or Solutions to offer. At this point, I wonder if he shouldn’t have a condom on his head?
RE: He still doesn’t have any Vision or Solutions to offer.
If you look past the media hype, Here are the solutions he offers (and nope, the word ‘satan or ‘devil’ won’t be found in that page) :
http://www.ricksantorum.com/issues
First if all, he was speaking to a conservative Catholic religious group, and if you bother to listen to or read the whole speech, you see that it is what the evangelicals call “testimony.” And gee, whiz, he uses theological and more terms while testifying to his faith. And if you are offended by mention of the Devil, no Catholic do not believe he comes with horns and hooves, Often as not he appears as an angel of light.
I have no problem with it. He is espousing his religious beliefs. Romeny should also be questioned on any PUBLIC statement he has made concerning his beliefs.
And I believe it's a fair subject in the debate.
The folks are not out of line by asking "Just what the hell did you mean by that"? It's part of discerning the character of the man...and a legitimate part of the vetting process.
Unlike Tomlin, Rich really does go to church and he said what he said in a church setting.
Evil is the absence of grace. It may assume the form of grace, but cannot sustain that pose. Its apparent qualities will disappear if we only look long enough. Imagine a beautiful woman who has suffered an agonizing death, and the contortion of her features make her hard to look upon. The beauty of person is in the soul.
At about the 18-minute mark in the video at this link, you will hear Santorum saying “One of the things that I will talk about that no president has talked about before is...contraception.”
Talking about it as aprt of his personal belief is OK. I’m not bothered by it.
After all, Obama keeps harping about TAXING the RICH and he REPEATS himself ad nauseum.
It’s obsessing about it that I can’t stand.
But who is obsessing about it anyway? It’s the media. Santorum isn’t bringing the topic up at all.
How many times has he harped on contraception since October?
The posters comment went way over your head - what an extreeeme position you took on it. LOL!!
No, in the video linked in my post 74, Santorum was clearly pivoting away from funding, practically changing the subject. "One of the things I will talk about," he said, was the danger of contraception. And then he went on to say nothing about funding it, but rather he spoke of the moral and spiritual aspects of the subject.
It is a long interview, over 40 minutes, so again, this part of the discussion occurs about 18 minutes in.
http://caffeinatedthoughts.com/2011/10/interview-with-rick-santorum-a-champion-for-the-family-manufacturing-jobs/
Neither am I. However, several people here have brought up the point about the media shining their nasty light on this topic, and others have said Santorum himself wanted to bring it up -- and that is true, and the video is the source. (I couldn't find the video at the link provided to you by someone here, so I went and dug it up.)
This certainly does not rise -- or sink -- to the level of Gary Hart's follow-me-around, but Santorum did indeed invite the scrutiny he is getting. Reasonable people will differ as to the political prudence of his emphasis on morality, but he himself put it on the table.
#1 Issue at Rick’s website, “War on Pornography”????
I have looked at Rick’s website. I have also looked at his voting record.
I have talked to people in PA who know him personally. They tell me he is petty,temperamental, stubborn as a jackass, and thinks he is the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. They have seen him have meltdowns when he doesn’t get his way. They question whether he is emotionally equipped to be President.
I never accept media hype, but digging deeper on Rick has further convinced me that he will be a disaster.
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