What Happened to Rick Santorum?
We admire Rick Santorum. According to an article in National Review (Nov. 6, 2006), his wife, Karen, “became pregnant with a child who was diagnosed in the womb with a fatal condition. The couple refused to consider abortion. Their son, Gabriel, died two hours after delivery.” He has six children, who are homeschooled, and he is a daily communicant at Mass.
We also admire Santorum’s style. Santorum says of himself: “I’m a passionate guy. I’m tough. I’m a fighter.”
On the other hand, Bob Casey Jr. (Santorum’s opponent in the Senate race in Pennsylvania in Nov. 2006) is colorless, dull, lackluster, a moderate Democrat, a moderate Catholic, and, as The Wall Street Journal observed (Aug. 24, 2006), Casey has “bobbed and weaved on Iraq.”
Casey supports the morning-after pill (Plan B); Santorum opposes it. Casey favors same-sex civil unions; Santorum opposes them. Santorum supports a constitutional amendment outlawing “gay marriage”; Casey opposes it. On all these issues, Santorum is right.
According to National Review (Nov. 6, 2006), “In a September poll, 54 percent said that they respect Santorum for sticking to his principles.” Well, mostly.
Santorum “won a House seat in 1990 with a campaign that lambasted the Democratic incumbent for living in Virginia” (The New York Times, Oct. 31, 2006). Now Santorum’s family lives mostly in Virginia. Hmmm.
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