Rick Santorum: "A Very Radical Right-Wing Candidate for President"

In the closest Iowa Republican caucus in history, Mitt Romney narrowly beat Rick Santorum (left) by just eight votes yesterday for the GOP presidential nomination. Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, who won the Iowa straw poll in August, placed sixth with just five percent of the vote. Earlier today she announced she was ending her presidential bid. Good riddance.

With his meteoric rise and success in Iowa, Santorum has been very much in the news – and, thankfully, under scrutiny (see here and here). Turns out he's not the uncompromising "full-spectrum conservative," that some make him out to be. He's still a disturbing and dangerous figure, however. This was brought home to me yesterday morning when, on the car radio, I heard Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman discussing Santorum with John Nichols, correspondent for The Nation. Here's a little of their conversation.

Amy Goodman: In 2003, a controversy arose over Rick Santorum’s statements about homosexuality and the right to privacy. In an interview with the Associated Press, Santorum said he believed mutually consenting adults do not have a constitutional right to privacy with respect to sexual acts. During the interview, he made comments that shocked many, saying, "In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. [Perhaps Santorum should read this] That’s not to pick on homosexuality. It’s not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be." Those, the words of Rick Santorum, comparing homosexuality to bestiality in 2003. Are these issues being raised, John Nichols?

John Nichols: Not directly, but you went to the heart of the matter there, Amy. Rick Santorum’s appeal, his core appeal, is to the hard-right social conservatives, often referred to as evangelicals, but also a very conservative Catholic base, particularly in the eastern part of the state. [Many other Catholics, the majority I would say, are very much opposed to Santorum and his agenda.] Santorum has reached out to these voters, attracting endorsements from pastors, as well as from people involved in anti-gay-rights campaigning in Iowa. And there’s been a lot of that. Remember, Iowa was one of the first states to allow for same-sex marriage, and there’s been real battles on the ground here. Santorum has positioned himself on the anti-gay-rights side.

I do think it’s also significant, Amy, that you point out Santorum’s disregard for right to privacy. One of the less noted aspects of the Santorum campaign is his passion for amending the U.S. Constitution. He wants to amend it to ban abortion. He wants to amend it to restrict same-sex marriage and gay rights. He wants to put in a balanced budget amendment that is designed mainly to shift funding toward faith-based programs. He wants to shut down the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals out in California and the western part of the United States, because he sees it as a liberal court. This is really a very radical candidate for president, a very radical right-wing candidate. And that has appeal to a portion of the Iowa electorate, but it’s really a very small portion. And I think as people become more aware of this, Santorum is going to have an awful lot of questions asked about his stances, not just in the past, but right now.

To read the transcript of this entire conversation, click here.


Recommended Off-site Links:
Three-Quarters of Iowa GOP Voters Reject Romney, as Santorum Surges – John Nichols (Common Dreams, January 4, 2011).
Santorum’s Emergence Signals Divided GOP Base While Paul Gains from Dems’ Disenchantment with Obama – Democracy Now (January 4, 2012).
Iowa: The Meaningless Sideshow Begins – Matt Taibbi (Rolling Stone, January 3, 2012).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
Amy Goodman and the “Sacred Responsibility” of Listening
Explaining Michele Bachmann to the Brits