But are they true Freepers or plants. Just asking because I don't ever remember this level of hate and anger on Free Republic in the past. Oh there have been arguments and passion but not hate and not personal attacks.
Based on the posting dates and the posting histories, I think many and perhaps most of the people virulently attacking Santorum are legit. While I'm sure there are trolls, I suspect many of those have been zotted. I'm thinking, for example, of a professed libertarian conservative with two years of posting history who made the mistake a few days ago of defending a woman's “right” to abort two of her three unborn children and got zotted. I'm sure we have libertarian pro-choicers on Free Republic, but if they were sincere about their views they would at least respect the position of the site owner against advocacy of such views and would focus instead on points where they agree with other Freepers.
I think American in Tokyo is right. Santorum’s Christian convictions rile some people up because his comments are perceived as judgmental of people's personal lives, and we're kidding ourselves if we think that won't be a factor in the general election as well as the primary going on now. I understand why liberals hate Santorum, and have been bashing him for at least a decade and a half. However, there are lots of political conservatives who are just as deeply involved in the sinful behaviors that Santorum opposes, sometimes openly advocating them as libertarians but more commonly quietly participating in them in private.
The Republican Party's conservative movement has, for a very long time, been divided into social conservatives, economic conservatives, and military/nationalist conservatives. Some people, myself included, feel comfortable in all three camps, but that is definitely not the case for the people whose primary goal in life is to get government out of people's personal lives. To such people, Santorum’s conservative Christian views raise red flags.
I get it. I really do. If I were a secular conservative I wouldn't like Santorum very much, either.
But for the life of me, I cannot figure out why a forum which was once filled with Sarah Palin supporters is now filled with people attacking some of the most important parts of Palin’s political views. If even Sen. John McCain understood that he had to placate Christian conservatives by nominating Palin, why can't the secularists on a strongly conservative forum like Free Republic understand that? Are some secular conservatives here unable to see what even John McCain saw clearly? Antagonizing Christian conservatives is not a recipe for winning elections as a Republican.
We're not a proportional-representation European parliamentary democracy. In American politics, we need to get to 50 percent even to have a seat at the table. I know that Christian conservatives need secularists to get to 50 percent, and that means I'll support secular conservatives if they win the primaries and agree not to be virulently anti-Christian. It's a huge part of why I have been saying for months now that Christians need to be prepared to back Newt Gingrich if he becomes the nominee, since Romney and Obama simply must be defeated.
On top of that, Newt Gingrich isn't really a secular conservative. We have good reason to believe his repentance may be genuine, and I've repeatedly linked to Free Republic posts of a letter by the pastor of Skyline Wesleyan Church in San Diego. Examples are here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2835639/posts?page=272
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2837165/posts?page=33
It is crystal clear that Newt Gingrich believes in the importance of the Judeo-Christian tradition to Western civilization, and views Islam as an existential threat to the West. That's enough for me to support him if he becomes the Republican nominee.
I think Gingrich and Santorum get along much better than some of their supporters. Let's keep our eyes on the goal of defeating Romney.