Last updated on February 9th, 2013 at 05:48 am
This is the modern-day fable of the Pecksniffian candidacy of Flaming Heterosexual, Rick Santorum. He’s been capturing headlines of late for a modest February 7th Republican presidential caucus win in Colorado, a thrashing of ‘frontrunner’ Mitt Romney in a non-binding Missouri primary and a 28 percentage point caucus triumph over Romney in Minnesota.
Even though Santorum is likely to come tumbling back to earth after the Saturday, March 11th count of Maine caucus votes, it’s instructive to take an objective look at this Flaming Heterosexual who commands the wing-nut vote and has a puncher’s chance of being the Republican nominee for president.
Just what kind of human being is this homophobe who equates gays with ‘man on child’ and ‘man on dog’? For me, that’s pretty much the end of the conversation, but there’s so much more distasteful Santorum history to explore.
Santorum was an undergrad honors grad in Poly Sci at Penn State University, he grabbed a quick Masters and earned his J.D. at PSU’s Dickinson School of Law. He practiced law for a few years before being elected at age 32 to the House and later moving over to the Senate.
So, I won’t call Santorum dumb. I am, however, about to call him a lot of other things.
The day after the February 7th votes, Santorum was in Texas talking to a bunch of preachers expounding on why he “centers his life around faith.” He neglected to add that his ‘faith’ doesn’t extend to his legal dealings when there are major billionaire bucks to be had.
As a young attorney, this candidate of ‘faith’ signed on to represent Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) in its effort to bypass regulations controlling anabolic steroids. Santorum sought a WWF exemption because wrestling was entertainment. Since 1985 over 75 professional wrestlers under 65 have died, a large percentage due to steroids and/or drugs as a consequence of this entertainment. The vast majority were in their 20’s, 30’s and 40’s. Many deaths were listed as heart attacks or heart failure, undoubtedly due to the strain heavy steroid use places on the heart. Ask a recent California governor. Well-known grapplers, Eddie Guerrero, 38 and Chris Benoit, 40 were two of the latest drugged-up victims. Benoit, killed his wife and 7-year-old son. He then committed suicide. Fox news reported that anabolic steroids were found in the home of Benoit, a known heavy steroid user.
But, what the hell? For Santorum, the money was a lot more important than the well being of young wrestlers and their families. I think the only ‘faith’ Santorum displayed at that time was praying he wouldn’t get sued.
Santorum is a first-generation American of Italian ancestry. For somebody who hates the federal government, it was Uncle Sam who put a roof over his head, clothes on his back and food on his table when he was growing up. You see, dad was a Clinical Psychologist and mom a nurse. They both worked for…wait for it…the VETERAN’S ADMINSTRATION. The money for a comfortable upbringing and subsequent entry into law school came from the GOVERNMENT!!!
During his congressional tenure, Santorum was at the forefront of gutting welfare and replacing it with work mandates that have led to laughably low wages and created a new class, ‘the working poor’, most of whom are included in our obscene poverty numbers.
He also pushed for education legislation to include ‘Intelligent Design’ in the nation’s classrooms, drafting an amendment to have it taught in tandem with evolution. It was stripped out of the final bill when educators and scientists packed the halls of congress in opposition.
Another Santorum legislative effort set aside $10 million for the purpose of “effecting regime change in Iran.” Can you say assassinations? This man of integrity rejected an amendment that would have directed companies like Halliburton that their subsidiaries could not do business with Iran. Faith? Santorum’s ‘Almighty’ is clearly the ‘almighty dollar.
Which brings me to his vaunted ‘home-schooling’. Here’s an ugly chapter of the Santorum home schooling tale that’s been making the rounds of the Internet recently. For four years, five of his children were cyber schooled by the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School. Penn Hills, Santorum’s home district paid $100,000 over that period per state law for someone who lives in a district, but doesn’t attend public schools. In fact, the Santorum family lived year-round in a 7,000 square foot Leesburg, Virginia house. That’s where five of his kids were cyber schooled, not Penn Hills. The Pennsylvania address claimed by Santorum was a small 2 BR house reportedly occupied by his niece and her husband. So Pennsylvanians paid for the cyber schooling while the Santorum clan lived in the lap of Leesburg, Virginia luxury.
I also doubt there was much home schooling taking place, given that there were already certified Cyber teachers on board and the requirement that students interact with other students as part of their grade.
The Flaming Heterosexual’s congressional career came to a halt when he was challenged in 2006 for his Senate seat by the possessor of an iconic Pennsylvania political name, Robert Casey Jr
Trialing badly in early polling, Santorum, reverting to type, dispatched a number of supporters to finance an effort to get a Green Party candidate on the ballot to dilute the Democratic vote. It didn’t happen and Santorum was soundly defeated.
I must mention in closing the irresponsibility of impregnating his 48-year-old wife, Karen, when it is a well-documented fact that mothers face a much higher risk of having children with birth defects after age 35. At 48 that risk skyrockets. Belle Santorum is sad proof of that fact, being born with a deadly condition called Trisomy 18. With six kids already, why would Santorum take that chance?
It is clear that as much as the right loves him, Santorum is not a worthy challenger for the White House.
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