The slanted lips of the media are all frothing over the Rick Santorum “surge”, to quote those lips. Four national polls of “likely Republican voters” now place him ahead of Mitt Romney. And the media buildup of his candidacy continues. This morning, NPR made passing reference to Occupy protests at one of his appearances in Tacoma, Washington, but devoted a full story to the lovefest that greeted him in the archly-conservative conclave of Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho. MSNBC had their regular cast of pundits punditing over how Santorum’s base is comprised of Tea Party, Evangelical, and blue collar Republicans.
What almost no one is talking about is that 54% of Republicans state they aren’t likely to vote for ANY of the candidates being offered to them. In fact, in every primary so far, Republicans have stayed away from the polls in droves. Every one of these pundits is probably told to address the particular issue of the segment and to not stray from its restricted boundaries. So all we get is talk about how Romney still leads overall but Santorum seems to be gaining momentum.
What remains unspoken and is the giant elephant in Santorum’s war room is this: nationally, almost no one will vote for him. He is not only a ludicrous candidate for President, his base is the far right religious fringe. Rick Santorum is the Ludicrous Fringe Republican Presidential candidate. He’s got the far right religious fringe sewn up, that’s it. At most they may account for no more than 30% of the total electorate. 30% doesn’t win you a nomination and certainly doesn’t win the presidency. Democratic and Republican women voters loathe Santorum because he wants to take their rights to contraception and abortion away by federal and holy decree. He hates working woman, feeling they have destroyed the Republican illusion of the happy two parent, two children home. He also has a thing for bestiality, but that will be set aside for another day. If you fail to capture the women’s vote, you don’t get elected prom queen, let alone President of the United States.
The fact that Santorum actually thinks he can win is proof that he’s unfit for any public office because his judgment is delusional. The truth is that this is a guy whose ideas are shared by the aforementioned fringe who see the face of Jesus Christ in their high fructose-corn-imitation-maple syrup on their morning waffles and that God spoke personally to Jesus, the Pope, Martin Luther, and tens of others giving them the word that abortion, Trojans, and the morning after pill pisses him off something fierce so no one should be allowed to have them. Someone forgot to tell them Santorum’s wife had an abortion in 2006. Must have gotten a special dispensation direct from God, I suppose.
This is Santorum’s base. The Fringe hangs on old leather buckskin vests and jackets. It does not elect Presidents.
I feel so much better after reading this article, just like after having a root canal. I can't stand Ivory Tower highly paid consultants and features writers who don't know what the hell they're talking about. The average over-50 unemployed person has no chance at these careers.
So, the Democrats and the Republicans are reportedly once again on the verge of a compromise over extending federal unemployment benefits. And once again the members of both parties and Obama will get a pat on the back and the unemployed will get the shaft. The reported compromise is to decrease unemployment benefits from 99 weeks to 73 weeks. The Republicans can say to their base "The Demoicrats wanted to keep it 99 weeks but we "jewed" them down to 73." The Democrats can say "The Republicans wanted to cut it to 59 weeks but we negotiated up to 73." Obama can say "This is a compromise we can all live with, shared sacrifice, blah blah blah." Tell the long term unemployed (jobless for over 6 months) that we can live with 26 weeks--or 6.5 months--less of unemployment benefits. Democrats and Repugnant-cons and Obama--where are the jobs?
Karl Rove, why hasn't it ever been mentioned that he spells his first name just like Karl Marx? Why would his folks choose the Communist version over the good ol' American way? I sense fellow traveler sleeper cell here. That would explain EVERYTHING.