Rick Santorum, Conservative Ideas & the Anti-anti-gay attitudes of most Americans
Just over two weeks ago, I asked, “Where is the conservative candidate at this conservative moment?”
If this election were held on which party had the best vision for the future of America, the Republicans, should they hew to Reagan’s ideals, would win hands-down. Polls show a continuing, if not growing, distrust of the federal government and a skepticism for the types of solutions President Obama has been offering.
Note that his biggest political victory of 2011 was outmaneuvering Republicans on a tax-cut.
We need someone, as I wrote in January, who can take the fight to Obama–who can stand up for conservative principles. Rick Santorum, despite his absence of real accomplishment in the Senate and lack of executive experience, has, since Newt’s meltdown, done that better than anyone else in the race. No wonder he did so well last night.
Let us hope Mitt Romney learns from his defeat.
Santorum may be able to articulate conservative principles, but he didn’t when he was in Congress, he didn’t lead the fight to stem the growth of federal spending or limit the scope of government regulation. And he comes with baggage that will not endear him to independent voters. As Jim Hoft reminds us, in April 2003, the then-Pennsylvania Senator
. . . stated that he believed mutually consenting adults do not have a constitutional right to privacy with respect to sexual acts. Santorum described the ability to regulate consensual homosexual acts as comparable to the states’ ability to regulate other consensual and non-consensual sexual behavior, such as adultery, polygamy, child molestation, incest, sodomy, and bestiality, whose decriminalization he believed would threaten society and the family, as they are not monogamous and heterosexual.
Just over five years ago, in the wake of his Senate defeat, I wrote
The lesson for Republicans in Santorum’s defeat is that expression of anti-gay sentiments will not help advance a candidate’s cause. Most Americans, while opposing gay marriage, don’t harbor much, if any, animosity against gay people. But, on the whole, they do seem to seem to have an antipathy to politicians who readily express anti-gay bias. (more…)








