Posted on 02/25/2012 1:20:13 PM PST by WPaCon
Wish I had a nickel for every conservative who confidently predicted that the Arizona debate would, of course, feature obnoxious questions about birth control and the devil aimed at Rick Santorum. As it turned out, CNN’s John King did not ask “gotcha” questions and, for the most part, conducted a fair and informative debate.
The debate moderated by King, along with other events of the past week, has resolved a question that has been swirling since the Missouri, Colorado, and Minnesota primaries: Why not Santorum?
There is much to like and admire about Rick Santorum. He did fine work enacting welfare reform in the 1990s. He was an eloquent and thoughtful advocate for the unborn. He has kept a weather eye on Iran for many years. He’s a dedicated family man. He was the first candidate to raise the issue of family structure in the context of discussions of poverty. And he had a solid, conservative voting record in Congress (with some exceptions — there are always exceptions).
But Santorum would make a poor Republican nominee.
Because he has phrased his socially conservative views in vivid terms, he is precisely the sort of candidate who will evoke a Pavlovian response from the press. Just as they were driven mad by Sarah Palin, they will be outraged by Rick Santorum. The campaign will be cluttered by the continual discovery of “controversial” Santorum quotes from the past three decades, and precious time will be lost as he explains, justifies, or withdraws his comments on women in the workforce, contraception, gay unions, Obama’s “theology” (by which he did not mean to question the president’s faith, something he’ll have to explain over and over), and so forth.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
In fact, Santorum’s sanctimonious style might put off even many religious voters. His intense 2008 warning about “the Father of Lies, Satan” having his “sights on the United States of America . . . attacking the great institutions of America — using those great vices of pride, vanity and sensuality as the root to attack all of the strong plants that [have] so deeply rooted in the American tradition” is not the sort of language most preachers, to say nothing of political figures, employ today. American religion these days is heavy on forgiveness and light on sin. We’ve long since left Jonathan Edwards behind. Anything other than comic references to Satan are likely to give people the creeps.
Ping.
Charen sounds like a few certain freepers.
Picking a real fiscal conservative is what I care about most.
So yeah, echoing the sentiment: Don’t pick Rick.
...isn't Mitt's Mona big on amnesty for illegal alien invaders?
So Mona thinks that the msm, ie, Commander Zero’s reelection committee, should select the Republican nominee. Well Mona, better to do right and lose than do wrong and win.
Of course any TRUE conservative with compassion running for office would NEVER dare go against what the fourth branch wants them to be! /MS
Only the MSM can decide who will be the greatest world leader!
What the hell is wrong with these so called "Conservatives" these days??
Let's nominate Obama, that way we won't offend anyone, and they'll become suspicious of their own candidate.
What Mona and the DC crew don't get is that this will be true of anyone and everyone we ever run. They took McCain out of it quickly, when months before he was their favorite Republican. Bush was the most affable, likable, fair guy we've seen in that office, and they turned him into Dr. Evil through media manipulation. Santorum could win, Mitt could win, Newt probably has the hardest road of the three because he would have to change a lot of minds already made up. The media will be in seek and destroy mode on anyone we run for President, VP, or a future rising star like Rubio or Ryan. They hate Republicans. They especially hate conservatives, and they defend the big govenrment, central controlling status quo.
After Saint Ricky has lost, he will, and moved on with his life, he could make a killing as a real televangelist.
Don’t pick Rick!!!!
** President Newt Gingrich-”Our beloved republic deserves nothing less.”
Everything from NRO needs a BARF alert. Everything.
You don’t have to get off on “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” to acknowledge the devil as a genuine malicious being, not a mere figure of speech. Evangelicals would largely agree with Santorum about that. It takes two to dance that tango of course: the devil to offer evil and mankind to accept the evil.
False, actually. McCain took himself out because he is a mental basket case.
Don’t pick Rick!!!!
This "Saint Ricky" circular firing squad stuff has to stop.
Doesn't it give you pause that you are attacking a candidate from the left and agreeing with an inside-the-beltway rino?
I disagree. There's still some good stuff mixed in with the RINO elitist garbage.
I subscribed to National Review for many years. I stopped renewing my subscription several years ago when I finally came to the conclusion that it had become a captive mouthpiece for the RNC. For similar reasons I didn’t renew my subscription to the Weekly Standard. While not as RINO-RNC friendly as National Review has become, the Weekly Standard still was annoying for its occasional “soft” attacks on some true conservatives.
For anybody who wants to stop Romney, I recommend a VOTE FOR RICK SANTORUM if you live in Michigan or Arizona.
Seems to me that the ones who scream the loudest about how nasty us Santorum supporters are always come running swinging the machete and it ain’t a defensive thing.
Another so-called conservative writer that is in the tank for Romney. I’m listening to Larry Kudlow right now and he is all in for Romney. Uhg..
What in the world has happened to Mona Charen?
There is much to like and admire about Rick Santorum. He did fine work enacting welfare reform in the 1990s. He was an eloquent and thoughtful advocate for the unborn. He has kept a weather eye on Iran for many years. He’s a dedicated family man. He was the first candidate to raise the issue of family structure in the context of discussions of poverty. And he had a solid, conservative voting record in Congress (with some exceptions — there are always exceptions).
...he is precisely the sort of candidate who will evoke a Pavlovian response from the press. Just as they were driven mad by Sarah Palin....
Go Rick!
I think Santorum will pull off a narrow win in Michigan. Even many Gingrich supporters here seem to be taking the pragmatic route and voting for Santorum while supporting Gingrich otherwise.
I am sick of so-called conservatives who continue to surrender to, and run scared from, the scumbag Democrat “mainstream” newsrooms. There’s a reason Newt gets standing ovations at debates, and it’s because he is ready, willing, and able to bitch-slap the Democrat “mainstream” newsroom hacks who pose ridiculous questions.
Since you can’t fight it, Mona, you may as well go ahead and try to enjoy yourself.
Where were you and the other Santorum folks, when Newt was/is under attack?
Don’t pick Rick!!
** President Newt Gingrich-”Our beloved republic deserves nothing less.”
Everyone’s gone to the moon??
Yes.
I don’t really have much of a preference between him and Newt, but the attacks on Santorum should stop. No one was criticizing Newt in the way Santorum is being criticized. I think a bunch of the Santorum haters may actually prefer Romney but are forced to express that support for him in criticisms of Santorum.
I will if I want to, Mona. What are you going to do about - vote for Zero?
“Let’s nominate Obama, that way we won’t offend anyone, and they’ll become suspicious of their own candidate.”
LOL! I like the way you think!
I’m not even a Santorum supporter, really.
Just a supporter of the conservative most likely to win.
Since his campaign gained steam, I’ve never seen Newt attacked on this site the way Santorum gets attacked.
Actually I think a fair number of the Santorum attackers are Paulbots. You might have noticed that they’ve become virtually invisible around here lately.
I’m not even getting any Ron Paul FReepmail spam.
You do realize you sound like a child. I have been supporting Newt but because of the childish and nasty behavior of a lot of Newt supporters, I’m seriously rethinking my support.
It is unbelievable to me that some supposed adults around here can’t support their candidate without name calling another good candidate.
You also do realize that you’re the one behaving like you have bestowed sainthood on Newt.
Because Newt brought up the President's record on infanticide. Newt's comment was EXTREME. Yet no followup from King. Curious wasn't it. Did anyone hear it replayed in the news segments in the following hours and days. No. If the press wants to bring up Santorums so-called impolite and unpalatable views on social issues, they sure seemed to be nervous about pursuing it once they opened that line of questioning during the debate.
Newt was unpopular here for a while before his presidential campaign started picking up. Since then, I have not seen much criticism of Gingrich at all on this site.
In my opinion, thread titles that rip Rick Santorum should be minimized before the MI primary. If FR wants to save the nation from the Rominee, we MUST be a pro-Santorum site at least until Wednesday. I know the official candidate for FR is Newt Gingrich. But we NEED to stop the momentum Romney would get if he wins Michigan. Do you want him to have Big Mo for Super Tuesday??????
A single not unpleasant Romney supporter was just banned on a thread. His pro-Romney statements were buried in a thread and most people would not have seen them. Blatant anti-Santorum titles before Tuesday will have FAR MORE EFFECT on helping Romney than one lone Romney fan who didn’t sound very convincing, inside of threads. Headlines catch people’s attention, and on mobile devices sometimes people waiting for things in their lives will ONLY SEE the headlines on FR.
Just a suggestion.
That does make sense, since the Santorum critics are most critical about his stances on social issues.
Maybe I should have put a barf alert next to the title.
I decided not to because Charen’s views seems to be shared by a large contingency of posters here, and I did not find the article extreme enough to warrant a barf alert.
I thought I’d just voice my displeasure in the comments section.
I don’t know about you, but to paraphrase an old quote, the only thing we have to fear is liberals being “driven mad” with fear of Sarah Palin (or Rick Santorum). Errr.... why is that such a bad thing again?
Santorum’s going to insure 4 more years of Obama. I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t think I am.
Once Willard goes back to Michigan (or Massachusetts), Rick & Newt can slug it out for the nomination.
Honestly, I don’t see any of our candidates taking out Obama.
It’s a shame we can’t field a candidate that’s been in office since early 2007. And, yeah, I’m not counting Paul.
Where are the current Republican governors or senators? Too bad Perry’s campaign fizzled.
Holy mackerel. Is everyone at NRO jumping on Rick at the same time? That’s two posted here this afternoon.
I don’t bother to visit NRO any more. It’s really gotten pretty worthless. Why bother to read the rest of the article when you know exactly what they’re going to say, and the whole thing is nothing but axe grinding for some RINO insider like Romney.
News flash to Romney pimps - the press will do just that to anyone who wins the GOP nomination.
“...a Pavlovian response from the press.” At least Mona is correct in her comparison of the MSM to drooling dogs.
It seems so simple, doesn’t it?
Please pick Rick Santorum. He is the only viable choice.
If we allowed the press to decide the best presidential candidate we might as well put Obama on the ticket for both parties and be done with it.
Wait, you mean you don't want to nominate a candidate who thinks it is his job to lecture us all about the evils of contraception as President?
Because, you know, it is such an election winner of a message and all:
“One of the things that I will talk about that no president has talked about before is, I think, the dangers of contraception in this country.”
Oh Rick droned on and informs us all that contraception is "not okay".
Now this is not just something he said in a church somewhere. This IS Rick Santorum. He believes it is his role as a President to give the country a good lecture on contraception. And people are taking this guy seriously? Come on, there was a reason no one paid attention to him just a few months ago - he isn't electable in a general election. The only reason he is still around at all is because he was such an afterthought that no one bothered attacking him till recently.
Newt is really our only serious alternative to Romney.
“Honestly, I don’t see any of our candidates taking out Obama.
It’s a shame we can’t field a candidate that’s been in office since early 2007. And, yeah, I’m not counting Paul.
Where are the current Republican governors or senators? Too bad Perry’s campaign fizzled.”
I hope you are not correct but if the election is remotely close in favor of the Republican there will be Democrat court challenges up to and including the Supreme Court.
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