10 reasons to not vote for Santorum

I read today an article at CNN (why do I keep going to their site?) entitled: 10 Reasons Religious Conservatives Love Rick Santorum.

My comments are inserted in RED. (I used to grade a LOT of papers.)

1. Santorum’s a family man. “He’s got this big, vibrant family and he left the campaign trail last week to go back and be with his daughter in the hospital,” says Eli Bremer, chairman of Colorado's El Paso County Republican Party, centered around evangelical-heavy Colorado Springs. Santorum recently returned to Pennsylvania to respond to a health scare involving daughter Isabella – the youngest of his seven children – who suffers from a genetic disease. “I spent time with him last year, and he’s constantly thinking about his family,” Bremer says of Santorum. “It’s not just a political stunt.”

We've only had one president who was a bachelor - Franklin Pierce (the 15th . . . president, not the 15th Franklin Pierce). So, yeah, you're not going to get elected these days and not be a 'family man'. But what does that mean? Josh Powell was a family man. So were Robert Lynch, Bruce Sweazy, and Anthony Paul...they all killed their families. You elect a guy . . . not a family. Would it be possible for a single guy to be a good president? Of course so this item is a wash. There are good family guys and bad family guys and either way it's not a qualification for the presidency.

2. He’s not averse to getting politically incorrect when donning culture warrior chain mail. “So if the baby’s toe is in you can’t kill the baby – how about if the baby’s foot is in?” he famously asked U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California, in a 1999 debate over a rare, later term abortion procedure that anti-abortion groups call a "partial birth" abortion.

I'll step back a little on this one. I'm actually for being politically incorrect (you BITCH!) but I will say that whether a stranger has an abortion (and I might be against abortion in philosophy) will affect my world not one whit. The president of the United States frankly cannot rule on abortion. It's the law of the land and will take 2/3 of the states to change that. The president of the United States should focus on what really affects the working people of this country and unborn (or partially unborn) children do not. That's just a cold hard fact. This is an emotional issue and one where you obviously take the stand that is required by the votes you are trying to get. I get that.

3. Santorum’s a homeschooling dad. His wife, Karen, is homeschooling or has homeschooled their seven children, making them a poster family for a movement populated largely by evangelical Christians and other serious believers. “It matters because it shows he’s a real part of our movement rather than simply someone who is politically sympathetic,” says Michael Farris, an evangelical conservative who leads the Home School Legal Defense Association.

Home schooling is a way to keep your kids ignorant. It's stupid. It's a way to hide them from scary things like evolution (150 years old), global warming (it's real), and negros. You're raising defective children who cannot work with anyone who thinks or looks different from them. Shame on you.

4. He’s a devout cradle Catholic. As a kid in Pennsylvania, Santorum the altar boy would spend Sunday mornings pushing hospital patients in wheelchairs to Mass. As a U.S. senator, Santorum attended Mass at St. Joseph’s on Capitol Hill each day before work. That piety gets respect with religious voters, regardless of affiliation. “Evangelicals have made him an honorary evangelical,” said Richard Land, public policy chief for the Southern Baptist Convention.

Well now. . . ok. He believes in invisible spirits. Luckily we live in a land where you're free as free can be to believe whatever. But we're talking about running the country. How does this belief in magical beings help one run the country?

5. Santorum’s not Mitt Romney. Millions of socially conservative voters still distrust the former Massachusetts governor on the hot button issues – abortion and same-sex marriage. Some, though not all, are put off by Romney’s Mormonism.

The US is mired in debt. We are still hated by a great number of countries. China is building EVERYTHING we invent. The planet is heating up. THESE are issues. How in the fuck is abortion and same-sex marriage a button at all let alone a hot one?

6. Santorum’s not Newt Gingrich. Many social conservatives, particularly those of the female persuasion, continue to be turned off by Gingrich’s two failed marriages and his admissions of past marital infidelity.

Adolf Hitler, Adam Sandler, and the Queen of England are also not Newt Gingrich. Next!

7. Santorum doesn’t just talk about opposing abortion, he’s legislated on it. As a senator, he was an architect of the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003. He pushed the ban even in the1990s, when Bill Clinton was in the White House and the legislation stood nary a chance of a presidential signature. “He walked the walk,” Land says. “When no one else would carry our water in the Senate, he would.”

Just a quick reminder. . . does not affect your basic American o n e w h i t! This is posturing. This is taking a stand so that you can get votes from the mentally defective who pride themselves in liking babies. OK, who doesn't?! I like babies. I like puppies too! But it is not a day to day agenda item for the president of the United States. Get it?

8. Ditto on same-sex marriage. Santorum sponsored a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage at a time when many Republicans lawmakers didn’t want to touch such a hot potato.

Sigh. . . Let's say you're a conservative evangelical and you DO get the country to outlaw same-sex marriage. How will your life change? How will this be a better land? All you'll get is a way to add to that smugness you already carry around because you believe in invisible people. You'll wake up and get to say, SO THERE! Oh, and by the way, the president cannot make this happen for you.

9. Santorum’s big on compassionate conservatism. Though he gets the most ink for controversial stances on issues such as homosexuality, Santorum has also been a leading advocate for funding to fight AIDS in the Third World and has led conservative responses to poverty. “A lot of people have a hard time getting Rick Santorum because they’re used to a debate between liberalism and complete free-market approach and he’s not either of those things,” says Michael Gerson, a Washington Post columnist and former speechwriter for President George W. Bush.

I like pistachio nuts.

10. Santorum isn’t afraid to challenge science, questioning the theory of evolution and dismissing global warming as “a hoax.” The former senator “confirms (social conservatives’) view of science as being at odds with a Christian worldview,” tweets Warren Throckmorton, a psychology professor at Grove City College, an evangelical Christian school in Pennsylvania.

Ok, here we go. This is either ignorance or pure posturing and I suspect the later. There is NO controversy in the biological sciences about evolution. There is only 'controversy' that is created by assholes who want schools to teach religion which is what creationism is. There is no university you could attend and major in intelligent design. It is transparent as hell and courts have seen intelligent design for that and ruled accordingly.

As for global warm the verdict is in. Here's a link to some quick references that show why it is real and that we caused it. The really scary part is that his counter argument to the scientific evidence that supports global warming is that, wait for it. . . .IT'S A HOAX! Oh sure. A few million scientists got together and decided to create this most giant of hoaxes since the landing on the moon. Yeah that is a LOT more believable than the data supporting global warming itself. Again, the only reason to say such a thing is that you are a complete unread idiot or that you are just posturing to an obvious group to get votes.

I think I'm leaning toward NOT supporting Rick Santorum for any office and especially the presidency.