Jul 7, 2003

This weeks entry from the nomination of TOM at THE FUNNY FARM

Republican Rick Santorum (R-PA) REPUBLICAN ROLE MODEL OF THE DAY # 6
is under fire for likening consensual gay sex with bigamy, polygamy, incest, and adultery. Santorum told the AP, "If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual (gay) 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. You have the right to anything." Rick Santorum, the pudgy-faced Pennsylvanian is a hero among social conservatives. He make Trent Lott look like a man of principle, John Warner like a deep thinker, and Newt Gingrich like Miss Manners.
His only exposure to life in the private sector was a brief stint as a lawyer and lobbyist (where his clients included the World Wrestling Federation). Nonetheless, Santorum can sound like a militia member denouncing big government: "I've read the Bible. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that America will be here 100 years from now,"
After he was elected to the House his chief issue was the House Bank scandal and their goal, to force full disclosure of the number of checks bounced by various members. His biggest supporters were the pharmaceutical and medical-insurance industries, impressed with his implacable resistance to health-care reform. In both the House and the Senate, he has remained firm in his doctrinaire opposition to any kind of meaningful campaign-finance reform.
Hepped up on Gingrich's candidate-training tapes, Santorum’s campaign against Sen. Wofford was notable for its uncalled-for personal nastiness. Responding to Wofford's support for national service, Santorum smirked, "Someone's going to pick up trash in a park and sing 'Kumbayah' around a campfire and you're going to give them 90 percent of the benefits of the GI Bill & $30,000 a year” he lied and then accused Wofford of being dishonest. "I have never seen another candidate in my life who would stand up in front of the voters and tell lies, absolute lies, the way he does,"
At 36, Santorum became the youngest member of the Senate and made a name for treating fainthearted older members of his own party with the same boorishness and arrogance he had displayed toward Wofford. Santorum's personal unpleasantness and affinity for injecting religion into politics have led many liberals to cast him as a sort of Jesse Helms of the North. One looks in vain, however, for any thread of consistent belief. Santorum is pro-life, but supports the death penalty; he opposed NAFTA, but favored GATT; he wants to balance the budget while providing more pork for Pennsylvania. Unlike some of his class of '94 comrades in the House, who are principled in their bullheaded way, he never met a principle he wouldn't swap for a few more votes.

NOMINATIONS ARE OPEN FOR FUTURE ENTRIES you can choose from ideas here and here or offer ideas of your own.

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