We spent this day in both 2014, as well as in 2015 here at “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day featuring profiles of Rick Santorum, aka “The Frothy One” himself. We’re talking about a guy who demonizes the LGBT community, compares homosexuality to beastiality and relating his fight against marriage equality to the war on terror after 9/11. He also declared children conceived during rape to be “a blessing in disguise”, said JFK’s speech about his faith not excluding him from the presidency made him nearly “throw up in his mouth”, and a variety of other race-baiting lines about minorities on welfare that I’d just as soon let you click on the link back to that original profile than have to type again. His presence in the 2012 elections drove the GOP so hard right that candidates were falling all over themselves to compete with him to match his opposition to BIRTH CONTROL, in a day and age where 98-99% of Americans have no problem with it. Santorum was inexplicably the runner-up to Mitt Romney for the GOP nomination for the office of President of the United States in 2012, and has again thrown his hat into the ring as a presidential candidate in 2016, although, without the curiosity he inspired in a slightly less crowded field this time around. What could it be, that cut off his momentum?
Here’s our theory… in 2012, Rick Santorum ran a campaign with several quotes and policy statements that were not politically correct, and had no apologies for sounding bigoted, homophobic, or in any way racist. In 2016… he got one-upped by someone even more racist and bigoted who you may have heard of… Donald Trump. Yeah, Trump stole Santorum’s lane to success, is what it amounts to.
And as such, Rich Santorum hovererd around 1% in all the polls in a crowded GOP field, and struggled to even escape the “kids table” debates all through the primary. While Trump demonized Muslims and immigrants to court support, Santorum miscalculated and focused on stirring up homophobia with the GOP base, as polls already began to turn in favor of gay marriage with a lot of younger Republicans. No one batted much of an eye when Santorum said things like “accepting gay marriage is like changing the chemical formula for water”, or that if he was elected president, he would enforce the Defense of Marriage Act (in spite of the fact that it was declared unconstitutional three years ago. He couldn’t even move the meter with his old bag of tricks, as it had been pillaged and upgraded by a bigger intolerant prick.
Santorum became so thirsty for attention, so desperate, that he did the unthinkable… he went into the lion’s den that most conservatives dread to enter for fear of getting mauled for their hypocrisy… the Rachel Maddow Show, admitting he needed to in order to remain relevant in the 2016 election (the one God told him he’d win, again). Let’s just say that it did not go well, because Maddow had to give Santorum a civics lesson after he said Congress could overturn the Obergefell v. Hodges ruling by passing a law, and Maddow had to remind him that it would actually take a Constitutional Amendment, with a 2/3 majority.
He dropped out of the race in early February, and endorsed Ted Cruz for awhile because Donald Trump wasn’t Christian enough for his tastes. But once Trump locked up the nomination, Santorum started making noise about electing Trump anyway, because he’ll never see his dream of Roe v. Wade and Obergefell v. Hodges overturned by a Supreme Court if a Democratic president gets to replace Antonin Scalia with a liberal justice.
In summary, Rick Santorum still lives up to his name. Never forget that.