Santorum's Local Baggage
Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 1:33 pm
As I've said in the past, Rick Santorum's political life in Pennsylvania has been dogged by a series of nonsense issues that were raised and exploited by the Democrat majority here in Western Pennsylvania (supported by the dominant newspaper), and ultimately brought him down. The same thing is happening in his national campaign, but that's the subject of another thread. For anyone who is interested, here is a summary of the main issue that resulted in his shellacking by a generic, faceless democrat (Bob Casey) in his last senate campaign.
When Santorum first ran for the House, he was running against 6-time incumbent, Doug Walgren. Like most congresspersons, Walgren actually lived in (I think it was) McLean, VA, and maintained a rented "broom closet" in Pittsburgh as his legal residence. Santorum ran an inflammatory and effective ad that showed Doug Walgren, in a bathrobe and pajamas, coming out of his Virginia mansion to pick up the morning newspaper. He called Walgren a "Washington Insider," out of touch with the home district, and won a squeaker largely based on that attack.
Fast forward several years and Santorum is in the SENATE, with five school-age kids. Obviously, with a six-year term rather than 2, and with a litter of children, Santorum rightly sets up his primary residence with his family in Virginia. In maintaining is legal residence in Penn Hills (a working-class suburb of Pittsburgh), he maintains a house, pays income and real estate taxes, maintains the house, and spends his time in that house when he is, in fact, visiting Western Pennsylvania. He also maintains his Pennsylvania driver's license, voter's registration. Remember, however, he is not a Senator of Pittsburgh or of Penn Hills, but rather of the entire state of Pennsylvania, and he spends more time in the remainder of Pennsylvalia than he actually does in Penn Hills.
But in an effort to maintain as many ties as possible to Pennsylvania, he has his children enroll in the Pennsylvania "Cyber-School," an on-line program that, coupled with home schooling, can satisfy all of the legal requirements of education, while keeping his children enrolled in "Pennsylvania" schools.
A Democrat operative on the Penn Hills school board gets wind of the Santorum school situation, and makes a HUGE stink about Santorum's kids "costing the Penn Hills taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars a year" [Penn Hills School District has to pay the Cyber School, I think it was about $4,000 per student per year] while they actually live in Virginia.
Well, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ("Pittsburgh Pravda") goes ape-shit over this "news" and it spreads like wildfire all over the state, especially in the peoples' republic of Philadelphia. Even former supporters are unable to recognize the fundamental difference between Walgren's living in Virginia - Walgren serving a 2-year term and representing a tiny piece of the state, RENTING a broom closet on the South Side of Pittsburgh (or wherever) versus a Senator with a large family of children, serving a 6-year term, and doing his best to maintain local ties in spite of this.
In Pennsylvania, with its Democrat registration majority, everything has to fall in line for a Republican to win state-wide office, and with the Democrats dutifully enraged and the Republicans effectively un-engaged by this "scandal," Santorum got killed. The Democrats all hated him for his stands and statements on social issues, but they never would have voted for him anyway. It was the loss of Republican strong support and the indifference of Independents that cost him the election. Bob Casey could have literally been a mannequin with a D stencilled on its forehead, and would have won this senate seat. During the entire campaign, I never heard a single ad that hinted that he was qualified or would be a good senator. He had one asset - his father's name (former, beloved governor), but it was enough.
Santorum, like other recent presidential candidates, would have a difficult time carrying his home state of Pennsylvania in a general Presidential election, largely due to the remaining fallout from this completely vacuous "accusation." The idea that he would end up on the eventual nominee's ticket as the VP nominee, in the hope that it would guarantee Pennsylvania's electoral votes is just silly.
Santorum demonstrated in Pennsylvania that he is an outstanding candidate in debates and in forums where he can speak directly to people and answer their questions. But there really is no defense for massive media slander, because there is no forum (other than Fox News) where a Republican can get as much visibility for his responses as his attackers get with their accusations - no matter how distorted or false. The coming weeks will feature "shocking" stories of how he used his status as an ex-Senator to make a lot of money doing the things that every ex-senator (who is not yet independently wealthy) does when he is out of office. The "Gay Lobby" hates him with a passion because, in their fragile little minds, he once equated their "lifestyle choices" with incest and bestiality.
As a sports fan, my general desire is to see the better team win every game. I don't like to see fluke outcomes caused by a bad umpire's call, or a wierd bounce of the ball, or an extraordinarily lucky play. In politics, I like to see the candidates and their positions fully exposed, well understood, and the election won by the person who's character, positions, and abilities are most attractive to the majority. It pisses me off when elections turn on lies, intentional distortions, and voters misapprehending what politicians are trying to say and do. And it appears that both this primary and the general election are going to be determined by voters' reactions to nonsense claims, misunderstandings, and intentional distortions. Pity.
When Santorum first ran for the House, he was running against 6-time incumbent, Doug Walgren. Like most congresspersons, Walgren actually lived in (I think it was) McLean, VA, and maintained a rented "broom closet" in Pittsburgh as his legal residence. Santorum ran an inflammatory and effective ad that showed Doug Walgren, in a bathrobe and pajamas, coming out of his Virginia mansion to pick up the morning newspaper. He called Walgren a "Washington Insider," out of touch with the home district, and won a squeaker largely based on that attack.
Fast forward several years and Santorum is in the SENATE, with five school-age kids. Obviously, with a six-year term rather than 2, and with a litter of children, Santorum rightly sets up his primary residence with his family in Virginia. In maintaining is legal residence in Penn Hills (a working-class suburb of Pittsburgh), he maintains a house, pays income and real estate taxes, maintains the house, and spends his time in that house when he is, in fact, visiting Western Pennsylvania. He also maintains his Pennsylvania driver's license, voter's registration. Remember, however, he is not a Senator of Pittsburgh or of Penn Hills, but rather of the entire state of Pennsylvania, and he spends more time in the remainder of Pennsylvalia than he actually does in Penn Hills.
But in an effort to maintain as many ties as possible to Pennsylvania, he has his children enroll in the Pennsylvania "Cyber-School," an on-line program that, coupled with home schooling, can satisfy all of the legal requirements of education, while keeping his children enrolled in "Pennsylvania" schools.
A Democrat operative on the Penn Hills school board gets wind of the Santorum school situation, and makes a HUGE stink about Santorum's kids "costing the Penn Hills taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars a year" [Penn Hills School District has to pay the Cyber School, I think it was about $4,000 per student per year] while they actually live in Virginia.
Well, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ("Pittsburgh Pravda") goes ape-shit over this "news" and it spreads like wildfire all over the state, especially in the peoples' republic of Philadelphia. Even former supporters are unable to recognize the fundamental difference between Walgren's living in Virginia - Walgren serving a 2-year term and representing a tiny piece of the state, RENTING a broom closet on the South Side of Pittsburgh (or wherever) versus a Senator with a large family of children, serving a 6-year term, and doing his best to maintain local ties in spite of this.
In Pennsylvania, with its Democrat registration majority, everything has to fall in line for a Republican to win state-wide office, and with the Democrats dutifully enraged and the Republicans effectively un-engaged by this "scandal," Santorum got killed. The Democrats all hated him for his stands and statements on social issues, but they never would have voted for him anyway. It was the loss of Republican strong support and the indifference of Independents that cost him the election. Bob Casey could have literally been a mannequin with a D stencilled on its forehead, and would have won this senate seat. During the entire campaign, I never heard a single ad that hinted that he was qualified or would be a good senator. He had one asset - his father's name (former, beloved governor), but it was enough.
Santorum, like other recent presidential candidates, would have a difficult time carrying his home state of Pennsylvania in a general Presidential election, largely due to the remaining fallout from this completely vacuous "accusation." The idea that he would end up on the eventual nominee's ticket as the VP nominee, in the hope that it would guarantee Pennsylvania's electoral votes is just silly.
Santorum demonstrated in Pennsylvania that he is an outstanding candidate in debates and in forums where he can speak directly to people and answer their questions. But there really is no defense for massive media slander, because there is no forum (other than Fox News) where a Republican can get as much visibility for his responses as his attackers get with their accusations - no matter how distorted or false. The coming weeks will feature "shocking" stories of how he used his status as an ex-Senator to make a lot of money doing the things that every ex-senator (who is not yet independently wealthy) does when he is out of office. The "Gay Lobby" hates him with a passion because, in their fragile little minds, he once equated their "lifestyle choices" with incest and bestiality.
As a sports fan, my general desire is to see the better team win every game. I don't like to see fluke outcomes caused by a bad umpire's call, or a wierd bounce of the ball, or an extraordinarily lucky play. In politics, I like to see the candidates and their positions fully exposed, well understood, and the election won by the person who's character, positions, and abilities are most attractive to the majority. It pisses me off when elections turn on lies, intentional distortions, and voters misapprehending what politicians are trying to say and do. And it appears that both this primary and the general election are going to be determined by voters' reactions to nonsense claims, misunderstandings, and intentional distortions. Pity.
