Rick Santorum: "mainline Protestants aren't real Christians"

[Ibby]

look at the shape of mainline Protestantism in this country and it is in shambles, it is gone from the world of Christianity as I see it.

"gone from the world of Christianity as I see it" is not a way I would describe a wide swath of the christian electorate if I was running for office.

[richlevy]

Rick Santorum is the kind of guy, where if he were getting ready to burn a woman at the stake would quite seriously look up at her and say "I'm sorry if the ropes are too tight."

[SamIam]

Originally Posted by richlevy

Rick Santorum is the kind of guy, where if he were getting ready to burn a woman at the stake would quite seriously look up at her and say "I'm sorry if the ropes are too tight."

I'm waiting for Santorum to start speaking in tongues - oh wait! He does that already.

The Republican party seems to deteriorate more with the passing of each year. Santorium is running on a platform of right wing fundamentalism and outright bigotry. He wants to take away the rights that the women of this country have fought so hard to secure. We are not to use birth control - certainly not have abortions, and if a woman becomes pregnant due to a rape, she must thank god for the blessing he has bestowed upon her. Since families today do not require two incomes, women are not to enter the professions or the workforce, but rather should stay home, barefoot and pregnant and scrubbing the floors.

Santorium is surely one of the most odious if not THE most odious candidate the Republicans have ever come up with.

[BigV]

I think what you're ignoring in this calculation Ibram is "compared to". Everybody does this, even you. You've commented on your displeasure at some of President Obama's actions...but you continue to support him because COMPARED TO the alternatives, he's the best option.

For those voters that Santorum is courting when he speaks like this, he's saying to them, COMPARED TO Mitt Romney, or whomever, COMPARED TO them, I'm *more* of what you like, in this case protestant-y christian-y aspirant to power.

Of course this has no appeal to moderate voters, christian or otherwise, but he's not talking to them, and when COMPARED TO the other aspirants, this kind of noise is what they want to hear.

[Lamplighter]

I really despise calling names, so I find myself very frustrated with Rick Santorum.
His "rhetoric" is not political rhetoric in today's sense.
Instead it is the extreme religious theology of his church.

John Kennedy found it necessary during his campaign
to draw the line between his politics and his church.
But Santorum is not making any such attempt.

Instead he is using phrases to code the far-right's attempt to make Obama an outsider,
an outsider in his race, in his religion, in his politics, in his care for the well-being of others.
Santorum is being extremely parochial with respect to education, sex,
women's rights, minority rights, and most other issues he discusses.

So, I'm no longer willing to avoid the use of certain terms when it comes to Santorum.
It's just a matter of which term(s) to use...

An enthusiast displays an intense and eager interest in something
An extremist is a supporter of extreme doctrines or practices, particularly in a political context
A fanatic is not only intense and eager but possibly irrational in his or her enthusiasm;
A zealot exhibits not only extreme devotion but vehement activity in support of a cause or goal
A bigot exhibits obstinate and often blind devotion to his or her beliefs and opinions.
- Bigotry implies intolerance and contempt for those who do not agree

Today, any of these would describe Santorum, but religious "zealot"
seems to me to be the most appropriate, and "bigot" is running a close second.
Santorum is on a religious crusade, and makes no effort to separate
his doctrines from his intentions, should he become President.

I do feel badly in using such terms, but I'm at a loss for alternatives
that come close to describing my reaction to this man.

[richlevy]

Originally Posted by Lamplighter

Today, any of these would describe Santorum, but religious "zealot"
seems to me to be the most appropriate, and "bigot" is running a close second.
Santorum is on a religious crusade, and makes no effort to separate
his doctrines from his intentions, should he become President.

But...he wears a sweater vest. He must be safe.

It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis

Full text

[Griff]

His views presently hold sway in the Scranton diocese. There has been a hard push to the right over the last couple decades essentially telling people to submit or leave. I chose the door. What surprises me is that there are people outside the door willing to play this game.

[Lamplighter]

Wow ! ...if I'm reading you right... :

[Lamplighter]

Originally Posted by richlevy

But...he wears a sweater vest. He must be safe.
It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis
Full text

And it may be closer than we think with this GOP candidate...

[Start thread-drift]
Newt Gingrich's official web site
Bringing the Courts Back Under the Constitution
NEWT 2012 Position Paper Supporting Item No. 9
of the 21st Century Contract with America:

<snip>This NEWT 2012 campaign document serves as political notice to the public and to the
legislative and judicial branches that a Gingrich administration will reject the theory of judicial
supremacy and will reject passivity as a response to Supreme Court rulings that ignore executive
and legislative concerns and which seek to institute policy changes that more properly rest with
Congress.

A Gingrich administration will use any appropriate executive branch powers, by itself
and acting in coordination with the legislative branch, to check and balance any Supreme Court
decision it believes to be fundamentally unconstitutional and to rein in any federal judge(s)
whose rulings exhibit a disregard for the Constitution.
<snip>
In areas of law in which the executive branch believes that the judicial branch has made
decisions that exceeded its constitutional powers, the President can direct the Solicitor General to
join litigation challenging the existing jurisprudence believed to be unconstitutional.<snip>

[/End thread-drift]

[Sheldonrs]

Whatever his beliefs in regard to religeon, he supports banning birth control. That alone should make him anathema to most Americans.

Hell, even God used birth control. He only had the one kid.

[Clodfobble]

Saw a video that mentioned something I hadn't heard before--he's not just against employers/government having to pay for birth control, he's also against having to pay for a prenatal test known as amniocentesis, where a large needle is inserted into the placenta in order to collect a sample and do a direct DNA test on the baby. Pretty much the only reason this is ever done is to confirm a suspected genetic disability the baby may carry, and the procedure itself carries a risk of causing a miscarriage. So since the only reason one would really need to know this information before the child's birth is if one were planning to abort the baby if a severe disability is confirmed, he wants to disallow it.

On the other hand, at least he's not a hypocrite: he has one child with Trisomy 18, and another baby that had something else wrong that only lived 2 hours after being born.

[Ibby]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

Saw a video that mentioned something I hadn't heard before--he's not just against employers/government having to pay for birth control, he's also against having to pay for a prenatal test known as amniocentesis, where a large needle is inserted into the placenta in order to collect a sample and do a direct DNA test on the baby. Pretty much the only reason this is ever done is to confirm a suspected genetic disability the baby may carry, and the procedure itself carries a risk of causing a miscarriage. So since the only reason one would really need to know this information before the child's birth is if one were planning to abort the baby if a severe disability is confirmed, he wants to disallow it.

On the other hand, at least he's not a hypocrite: he has one child with Trisomy 18, and another baby that had something else wrong that only lived 2 hours after being born.

Except that his wife has had a medically-induced miscarriage to save her life in 1996. Oops. I'd call that hypocrisy. While I obviously not only fully support her right to make the decision, and believe that it SHOULDN'T be our business WHAT sorts of medical procedures she's had, the "Frank Rule" - that anti-LGBT politicians' closeted sex lives become public business, when closeted gay politicians fight against LGBT rights - also applies here: if you believe that women DO NOT have the right to medical privacy, you don't have that same right to privacy as a public figure.

[Griff]

Originally Posted by Ibram

Except that his wife has had a medically-induced miscarriage to save her life in 1996. Oops. I'd call that hypocrisy. While I obviously not only fully support her right to make the decision, and believe that it SHOULDN'T be our business WHAT sorts of medical procedures she's had, the "Frank Rule" - that anti-LGBT politicians' closeted sex lives become public business, when closeted gay politicians fight against LGBT rights - also applies here: if you believe that women DO NOT have the right to medical privacy, you don't have that same right to privacy as a public figure.

Can we get a legit source on that... of course that would ironically enough not respect her privacy.

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by Griff

Can we get a legit source on that... of course that would ironically enough not respect her privacy.

I read it, years ago, in Reader's digest. Reader's digest and me - how much more legit can you get?

[Spexxvet]

http://www.examiner.com/progressive-...ve-an-abortion

Numerous sources report Santorum’s wife Karen had a second trimester abortion in October 1996. The Santorum’s, however, don’t like to describe it as an abortion. Instead, they call it a medically induced miscarriage. Yet for many, this is a distinction without a difference.

In 1996 Santorum’s wife, Karen, became severely ill while pregnant and had to be rushed to the hospital. There, she and her husband Rick were told that if she did not induce her labor, she and the baby would more than likely die. The decision was made to induce labor, and abort the fetus


Continue reading on Examiner.com Did Rick Santorum’s wife have an abortion? - Portland Progressive | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/progressive-...#ixzz1mxh2JB87