Santorum's Local Baggage

[Liberty1]

And in lily white Iowa, playing the race card sure doesn't hurt him, either.

Keep drinkin that koolaid.

FYI all politics are national these days, it can't be escaped.

[Rick]

I thought Iowa bled yellow...

[Scooter]

Keep drinkin that koolaid.

And keep pretending Santorum is too stupid to know what audience he is playing to.

And I don't know, neither do I care, who Andrea Mitchell is, but since she's obviously managed to get under your skin, I'll have to find out because she must have something going for her.

[Joe Guy]

So quad now agrees that a voter registration card is not proof of citizenship.

I guess that's as close to an admission to being wrong about something that I'll ever see from him.

I'm moving the subject to another thread.

Please go here if you have any interest in that subject.

[Long Run]

As to the original post, there is a reason politics is referred to as a blood sport. Finding an issue that hits a nerve and motivates people is a big part of any election (and most political talk radio programs). A candidate has to be able to find a way to deflect the BS attacks, or better, make them reflect badly on the opponent (e.g., Reagan's "there you go again" to Carter). If a candidate can't do that, then he is not up for the office.

[Scooter]

Case in point - Santorum's attempts at attacking Casey in that same election went nowhere because they were easily seen as having no substance.

[dgs49]

Long Run, I totally reject your point. Does James Carville qualify to be President? Karl Rove? They are both great at that game.

And an ability to play that irrelevant, distractive game should not be a qualification for high office.

We are talking about grossly unethical gamesmanship here.

The criticism of Doug Walgren was a valid one. A member of the House represents a small geographical district for a short period of time (24 months - less 6 months for re-election campaigning). He has an obligation to remain close to the district, even if he does not actually commute home every weekend. Walgren had grown out of touch, as demonstrated by numerous positions he took on legislation during his last terms. I went to see him speak at business meetings a few times, and it was like he was visiting from another planet.

Being a Senator is an entirely different proposition, particularly for a person with a large family of school-age children. It is not logical or feasible to expect a father of 6 to keep his primary residence "someplace in Pennsylvania," or live away from his wife and children, when his term of office is six years long. He did an admirable job of trying to maintain close ties with not only Pennsylvania but his home community of Penn Hills.

How, exactly, would you have him manage his personal and professional lives - given the fact that a Senator works about 80 hours a week in any event?

This was a bullshit accusation, intended to appeal to people who were too dimwitted or disinterested to give the matter any real thought.

[Liberty1]

How, exactly, would you have him manage his personal and professional lives

Easy, limit Congress' time in DC that they can screw things up more, to 2 or 3 months a year, just like they do in many states.

[Long Run]

And an ability to play that irrelevant, distractive game should not be a qualification for high office.

I too would prefer that we elected our politicians in a completely objective manner, and evaluated their performance in the same way. However, that is not the real world. A president/senator/etc. has to be able to deflect crapola thrown at him because a lot will be hurled their way. When Santorum got shellacked in his reelection bid, he should have been able to effectively point out the distinction you made. Heck, look at his opponent in this primary: Romney has had to distinguish his current and former positions on a host of issues, not the least of which is the Mass. healthcare reform he helped enact and his opposition to the very similar national healthcare reform from Obama.

[dgs49]

Rick made that distinction hundreds of times, but his explanations never gained any traction - largely because it is easy to accept the cynical explanation of "He's a lying, phony politician, just like the rest of them." When your personal integrity is a large part of the reason why people voted for you in the first place - which was the case for Santorum - it was a huge blow.

This was the main, but hardly the only, negative that caused the landslide against him.

I was just pointing out that historically, he has been victimized by nonsense charges more than most.