The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Santorum’s Hope

Posted on | August 8, 2011 | 21 Comments

From my American Spectator column today:

SIOUX CITY, Iowa — Perhaps 50 voters showed up Saturday for a campaign event held in a barn on a dirt road amid cornfields near Roland, about 20 miles north of Ames. While a few dozen voters isn’t much of a crowd by Republican presidential campaign standards, the audience inside the barn was enlarged — and enlivened — by the presence of scores of children, the offspring of several Christian homeschooling families in attendance. One family brought eight kids, another brought nine, and the hosts, Scott and Susan Hurd, have seven of their own, as did the guest from Pennsylvania whose “Road to Ames Barn Bash” was the occasion of this gathering.
Rick Santorum has been campaigning across the state for months and, as he told the voters (and their numerous children) during his speech in the barn, he has visited 51 cities in Iowa by now. Despite his dogged persistence, however, Santorum’s candidacy has yet to strike the kind of sparks that garner major national attention — a problem the former Pennsylvania senator blames on the media. “The national media has done a very good job of ignoring Rick Santorum,” he said, lamenting the fact that polls show him as the only GOP candidate whose name-recognition hasn’t increased in recent months. “Everybody else was being covered and promoted by the national media, even people that are below me in the polls, even people who most people say have no chance of ever getting the nomination.” The reason for this, he explained, is that the liberal media knows he is a conservative who can win and have decided “maybe the best way to get rid of this guy is to simply suffocate him by making sure that nobody talks about him?” . . .

Please read the whole thing.

And you should also read today’s profile of Santorum in the Des Moines Register, which quotes one of Santorum’s longtime friends:

“Rick is a very devout Catholic guy, and he believes in the principles of the founding fathers of this country. . . He is not willing to compromise on that. He will stand for his beliefs and his principles above any political expediency.”

And he’s never embraced global warming theory, unlike some other Republicans I could name.

Category: American Spectator, Election 2012, Iowa, Rick Santorum

Comments

21 Responses to “Santorum’s Hope”

  1. Bob Belvedere
    August 8th, 2011 @ 12:19 pm

    I’m still hoping for Mrs. Palin to get in, but you’ve made me appreciate this fellow a lot more with you’re fair reporting, Stacy. 

    If a Repub wins [and it is not RS], that person would be a fool who did not make RS SecState or SecDef.

  2. Bob Belvedere
    August 8th, 2011 @ 12:23 pm

    Sarah Palin = President
    Herman Cain = VP
    Rick Santorum = SecState
    Thad McCotter = SecDef
    Mitt Romney = White House Greeter

  3. ThePaganTemple
    August 8th, 2011 @ 12:48 pm

    Seriously, Bob? You want somebody that phony for a White House greeter? Naw, put Romney’s most obvious talent to good use-name him Ambassador to Great Britain.

  4. Bob Belvedere
    August 8th, 2011 @ 12:59 pm

    I’d rather inflict him on the French.

  5. Anonymous
    August 8th, 2011 @ 1:01 pm

    RSM = EL Presidente de Roatan island.

  6. Anonymous
    August 8th, 2011 @ 1:19 pm

    She asked, “What do you think about Romney?”

    He replied, “Pardon my French, but . . .”

  7. Zilla of the Resistance
    August 8th, 2011 @ 1:30 pm

    Thank you, Stacy! 

  8. ThePaganTemple
    August 8th, 2011 @ 2:07 pm

    Say what you want about the French, but two-faced and hypocritical they are most definitely not.

  9. Adjoran
    August 8th, 2011 @ 4:23 pm

    Santorum is complaining about attention being given to “those below me in the polls” now?  WHO would that be?  In the Rasmussen Iowa poll just released, it’s Bachmann 22, Romney 21, Paul 16, Perry 12, Pawlenty 11, Gingrich 5, Cain 4, Huntsman 2, with 7% for “some other candidate” – which means Santorum wasn’t even mentioned by 2% of likely caucus voters.  After serving two terms in the Senate, he lost by 12% to Casey, who didn’t even show up for his job as State Treasurer most of the time.  Puh-leeze!

    Neither does he have any administrative experience, so he isn’t qualified for a cabinet position, much less the top job. 

    It doesn’t look like Cain is exactly catching fire, either, but at least he and Pawlenty are organizing for Ames to try to move up.  Santorum probably can’t afford his own ticket, much less a tent – although Thad McCotter has a tent.

    There is a great tradition of losers in American politics who come back to win later – Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, Cleveland, Nixon, Clinton.  The difference between those men and Santorum is they actually had some measurable support even in the early stages of their next try.

  10. ThePaganTemple
    August 8th, 2011 @ 4:34 pm

    Adjoran is right, Rick might as well hang it up. You know how the support of some candidates hasn’t yet made it into the double digits? Well, Rick’s supoport hasn’t made it up to single digits yet.

    Tight Republican Contest Heading Into Ames Iowa

    Sorry Zilla

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  12. AngelaTC
    August 8th, 2011 @ 6:18 pm

    Santorum is Bush.  Been there, done that.

  13. ThePaganTemple
    August 8th, 2011 @ 9:15 pm

    That was really my main problem with him, not so much that he’s a social conservative as he seems to be just another Big Government type.

  14. Zilla of the Resistance
    August 9th, 2011 @ 1:29 am

    Sorry, Pagan, I Don’t “Do”  Defeatism. It ain’t even CLOSE to being over yet!

  15. Zilla of the Resistance
    August 9th, 2011 @ 1:35 am

    He ain’t Bush; Bush bought into that whole “islam is peaceful” dhimmitude garbage and moronically did the “outreach” appeasement which got a whole lot of stealth jihadis infiltrating our government at its highest levels. Rick Santorum understands the problem with jihad & sharia better than anyone else in the current GOP field by miles & miles. He also has a far better understanding of foreign policy issues, border security and national security (they are of course intertwined) than anybody else in the current field even comes close to having. The last thing we need right now is another islamcoddling suckup or a “leader” who is afraid to speak honestly & stand strongly for what is right. Rick Santorum is head & shoulders above the rest and definitely NOT BUSH when it comes to these things of critical life & death importance for our country.

  16. ThePaganTemple
    August 9th, 2011 @ 2:06 am

    That’s the worst thing about Ron Paul. He is just ideologically blinded by his Libertarian beliefs when it comes to borders, trade, and especially Islamic terrorism and Islam in general. To him, Israel is just another nation. I also find it disturbing that he failed to stand up to the 9/11 Truthers and even the Stormfront neoNazis who supported him the first time out. Yet, he’s polling 16% in Iowa.

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