Don't Pick Rick

NRO ^ | 2/24/2012 | Mona Charen

[WPaCon]

Wish I had a nickel for every conservative who confidently predicted that the Arizona debate would, of course, feature obnoxious questions about birth control and the devil aimed at Rick Santorum. As it turned out, CNN’s John King did not ask “gotcha” questions and, for the most part, conducted a fair and informative debate.

The debate moderated by King, along with other events of the past week, has resolved a question that has been swirling since the Missouri, Colorado, and Minnesota primaries: Why not Santorum?

There is much to like and admire about Rick Santorum. He did fine work enacting welfare reform in the 1990s. He was an eloquent and thoughtful advocate for the unborn. He has kept a weather eye on Iran for many years. He’s a dedicated family man. He was the first candidate to raise the issue of family structure in the context of discussions of poverty. And he had a solid, conservative voting record in Congress (with some exceptions — there are always exceptions).

But Santorum would make a poor Republican nominee.

Because he has phrased his socially conservative views in vivid terms, he is precisely the sort of candidate who will evoke a Pavlovian response from the press. Just as they were driven mad by Sarah Palin, they will be outraged by Rick Santorum. The campaign will be cluttered by the continual discovery of “controversial” Santorum quotes from the past three decades, and precious time will be lost as he explains, justifies, or withdraws his comments on women in the workforce, contraception, gay unions, Obama’s “theology” (by which he did not mean to question the president’s faith, something he’ll have to explain over and over), and so forth.

[conservativejoy]

Big government making medical decisions for people is one of the big objections to Obamacare. That is what has to be repealed. Sonograms and even amniocentesis can save lives.
Spinal bifida can be corrected in the womb and some other conditions can be successfully treated before birth.

They did know that the treatment would cause an abortion, but the alternative was that both Karen and the baby would die. They made the only decision that they could make, and I know it was extremely painful for them to go through.

We have to repeal Obamacare and I don’t believe Mitt Romney will do it.

[editor-surveyor]

I’m not piocking Rick, but the article is garbage.

[Antoninus]

The mask is really coming off these establishment clowns. Their message is, "A conservative can't win." Really? McCain. Dole. George H. W. Bush (when he wasn't riding Reagan's coattails).

As for G. W. Bush, everyone--myself included--thought he was a conservative. In the end, we were fooled badly.

It won't happen this time, Mona. You can kiss my Romney.

[editor-surveyor]

>> “Everything from NRO needs a BARF alert. Everything.” <<

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Agree!

National Review was softheaded crap 20 years ago, and it is 20 times worse now.

Adios moaning Mona.
.

[editor-surveyor]

>> “What in the world has happened to Mona Charen?” <<

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Nothing, she’s always been a joke.

[editor-surveyor]

>> “No one was criticizing Newt in the way Santorum is being criticized.” <<

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You’re deluded.

[editor-surveyor]

>> “since the Santorum critics are most critical about his stances on social issues” <<

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No, we’re sick of his establishment, tax and spend acquiescence to the big government, big tyranny thugs.

[Antoninus]

I don’t really have much of a preference between him and Newt, but the attacks on Santorum should stop. No one was criticizing Newt in the way Santorum is being criticized. I think a bunch of the Santorum haters may actually prefer Romney but are forced to express that support for him in criticisms of Santorum.

For the record, there have always been Santorum haters on FR. They are mostly from the liberal-tarian crowd, many of whom are multiple-zot retreads who used to congregate over at the now-defunct ClownePosse anti-FR site. I would wager that a fair number of them are back posting other other handles.

[okie01]

What in the world has happened to Mona Charen?

Washington.

[Tau Food]

I support Newt, but Rick would be better than Romney.

[Revolting cat!]

There’s been no POTUS named Rick, let’s keep it this way. Oh wait, sorry, I forgot Rick Nixon.

[Yaelle]

I do get it. I heard charen speak once, years ago, and she was rather patronizing to the mostly older crowd. I lost some respect for her. She looked like shed rather be doing her laundry.

[HiTech RedNeck]

(1) Many of the griefs we see (robberies, murders etc.) ARE a result of other humans’ sin.

(2) I’m not saying that Satan-less human sin isn’t theoretically possible, only that it’s apparently how God arranged things with respect to our local fallen creation. Adam and Eve had nothing to be ashamed of until taking what (uh huh) the serpent offered. Why this and not some lone human disobedience to God was the prototype of all sin, I think there has to be a reason.

[HiTech RedNeck]

how God arranged => not how God arranged

[WPaCon]

For the record, there have always been Santorum haters on FR.

Yeah, I was pretty surprised when I first started visiting this site to see that Santorum was unpopular with a lot of people here.

[MikeSteelBe]

Well, Romney is electable. Newt is progressive, and the media will crucify him with his baggage.

You know it does not matter whatever baggage or skeletons the democrats have, be they just as bad and probably worse.

The propaganda media makes sure that republicans are the only ones held to ethical standards.

Don’t you think Carter, Clinton, and Obama said and done things that made them seem unelectable to their constituents?

Carter admitted to having lust in his heart, Clinton was a known serial philanderer, and Obama went to a racist hate “church”.

How in the world did they get elected?

We have to stop letting the media select our candidates.

[aruanan]

Why this and not some lone human disobedience to God was the prototype of all sin, I think there has to be a reason.

Well, it was the prototype because it was the first example (in Adam, not Eve) of willful disobedience. Eve was fooled. Adam was not. She was alone and got snookered. He came back and she offered it to him and he chose to go with her rather than his previous instructions from God. But everything that Eve had experienced from the serpent is exactly what James describes as arising within a person's own self:

When you are tempted, you shouldn't say, "God is tempting me." God can't be tempted by evil. And he doesn't tempt anyone. But your own evil longings tempt you. They lead you on and drag you away. When they are allowed to grow, they give birth to sin. When sin has grown up, it gives birth to death.

The popular idea that sin happens as a result of Satan or one of his demons coming and whispering in one's ear is the same sort of myth as that which posits God as the ruler of heaven and Satan as the ruler of hell; the angels and demons fighting over one's soul, one whispering in one ear, the other whispering a contrary message in the other, trying the pull the person one way or the other (the funniest example seen in South Park Episode, Ike's WeeWee, when Mr. Mackie gets tempted to drink after getting fired for losing control of a lid of Columbian red). It's popular imagery that's more Zoroastrian in origin than Christian.

[Jim Noble]

“Because picking moderates who won’t upset liberals is a goal we should all strive for. LOL”

Americans are ready to elect a conservative EXCEPT they will not tolerate criticism of the sexual sin that is destroying society.

When was the last time your pastor spoke about fornication?

Rick Santorum is not savvy enough to escape the trap Obama has set for him. There are so many things to make this election about - fornication isn’t one of them.

[cripplecreek]

Might want to make sure that you aren’t the one in the trap.

[jersey117]

We have to stop letting the media select our candidates.

I have a hard time with that statement. First of all, any republican who wanted to was free to jump in the race. Many did and and some did not. Various candidates were eliminated after the people voted in the primary states we've had so far. We are left with Santorum, Newt and Mitt. That's just how it played out.