Santorum: Confused, bigoted, disturbing [How did the Phila. area end up with so many lefty rags?]

In his own myopic Mr. Magoo fashion, U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) has once again shown just how confused he is when it comes to navigating in the real world. But unlike the famous cartoon character, Santorum is neither charming nor funny.

In fact, downright disturbing is the best way to describe this federal legislator, considering his recent remarks regarding homosexual Americans.

Two weeks ago, in an interview with The Associated Press, he said he believed state lawmakers had the right to ban gay sex or other private behaviors that were "antithetical to a healthy, stable, traditional family."

"If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery," said Santorum.

This isn’t the first time the conservative Catholic senator has mixed church with state.

In his 2000 campaign for re-election, he told the Daily Times editorial board that he wanted to ban abortion because he knew for a fact that life begins at conception.

When asked for the empirical data supporting his assertion he said it was simply "common sense."

That has to be news to hundreds of thousands of scholars, scientists and theologians, both "pro-life" and "pro-choice," who have debated the question of when life begins, for centuries.

In truth, Santorum was presenting, as fact, an opinion most likely predicated on religious beliefs. Even more alarming, he believes it is the basis for federal law.

But, it’s not only on issues as emotional as reproductive rights and sexuality that Santorum has proven his confusion.

During his last campaign visit to the Daily Times, he also told the editorial board that the annual average cost of prescription drugs for senior citizens in Pennsylvania is $500. After just about every editorial board member fell on the floor, aghast at his proclamation, he quickly issued the disclaimer, "It’s not my data."

Again, a rather unsettling revelation considering this man is basing legislation proposals on that information.

So, we weren’t entirely surprised when Santorum managed to alienate at least 10 percent of the American population by equating their sexuality with criminal behavior.

We aren’t even convinced that he was being mean-spirited or bigoted. He probably was just, once again, uninformed and, definitely confused.

In any case, he managed to do enough political damage that, last Thursday, two of his fellow Republican senators - one of them Pennsylvania’s elder senator, Arlen Specter - joined Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., in calling for expansion of federal penalties for acts of violence against homosexuals.

Specter denies that he is co-sponsoring the hate-crime legislation to make amends for Santorum’s horrendous gaffe, and that’s fine. Whatever his motivation, his aim is sound.

Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., was a little more pointed in commenting on the reason for co-sponsoring the bill that Kennedy says has the support of 175 law enforcement and religious groups.

"We want to say that there is no family value to be served in opposing hate-crime legislation," noted Smith.

Just curious,who owns this newspaper? I know the Boston Globe is now owned by the New York Times so I was wondering about this one.

The DCDT is owned by the Journal Register company, whose other Delaware Valley dailies are

the Chester County Daily Local News

the Pottstown Mercury

the Norristown Times Herald

the Phoenixville Phoenix

the Lansdale Reporter

and

the Trenton Trentonian.

From the JR company's main webpage...

"A leading U.S. newspaper publisher,

"Journal Register Company

"(NYSE: JRC) owns 23 daily newspapers, with approximately 560,000 total daily circulation, including the New Haven Register, Connecticut's second largest daily and Sunday newspaper. The Company also owns 233 non-daily publications, with total distribution of more than 3.6 million, as well as commercial printing and software development companies.

"The Company's operations are strategically clustered in six geographic areas: Greater Philadelphia, Connecticut, Greater Cleveland, Central New England, and the Capital-Saratoga and Mid-Hudson regions of New York. The Company also has 147 individual Web sites featuring the Company's daily newspapers and non-daily newspaper groups, all of which can be accessed below. The Company has an investment in PowerOne Media, Inc., a leading provider of online solutions for newspapers, hosting the largest online newspaper network in the U.S.

"Journal Register Company is committed to being the leading provider of local information in print and online in the markets it serves and to providing a vibrant and responsive medium for its readers and advertisers, and a stimulating environment for its employees."

Hope this helps.

foreverfree

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.