Santorum More Visible Than Ever
By Kevin Roeten (07/17/07)
Many remember Rick Santorum's loss to Bob Casey(D) in the last senatorial election in Pennsylvania(59-41%). Santorum was castigated for his stance on homosexual marriage, abstinence, abortion, and especially for his pro-active stance on the Iraq war. It might even be remembered that three weeks into Bob Kerry's term in congress, Kerry made the statement "Santorum - that's Latin for 'a-hole'." It's not likely this is the first time someone has been grossly misjudged.
Casey(Catholic) won handily--possibly due to his ‘pro-life’ sticker on his sleeve. But if one checks closely, they will see that Casey supported the ‘morning after’ pill, contraception, and extending benefits for domestic partnerships. None of these issues are remotely supported(hence non-negotiable) by the Catholic Church. In fact, of the five non-negotiables(abortion euthanasia, same-sex marriage, cloning, and embryonic stem cell research), Casey fails on four.
In CRISIS, Santorum was quoted by Hadley Arkes(Jurisprudence/Amherst) as being described by one aide “Santorum is the one guy who is willing to pull the trigger. Other people talk about it, but he does it.” Once dubbed as the political piñata, Santorum experienced partisan broadsides few Republican senators were willing to provoke.
Certainly people remember Santorum being in the “Gang of 7” that founded the Republican Revolution in 1994, and exposed the scandal at the House Bank. More heated subjects Santorum jumped into was Boston’s clerical abuse scandal, the Terri Schaivo bill he shepherded(3/05), working mothers, same-sex marriage—all issues that most politicians shy away from because of controversy. Democrats continually attacked Santorum as an “ideological misfit”.
But the biggest noose around Santorum’s neck seemed to be his support of the Iraqi War. Surprisingly, Santorum had been fully briefed on all the radical Islamic attacks that led up to 9/11—Iran Embassy(1979); Beirut(1983); Lebanon Marines(1983); Lockerbie Pan-Am flight(1988); first World Trade Center attack((1993); Dharan/Kobar Towers(1996); Kenya/US Embassy(1998); Tanzania/US Embassy(1998); Yemen/US Cole(2000); World Trade Center(2001); and the Pentagon(2001). Since then, major terrorist attacks have hit Spain, England, Scotland, and other sites—but not the US.
As a result of that information, and the many thwarted Islamic terrorist attacks in the US, Santorum became highly concerned with the growing threat to US national security. In fact, Santorum argued that “…this[Iraq] war is as serious a war as we have ever fought, and we have the politics of today trying to blow this off as some sort of creation of a bunch of people in the White House.”
As of late, Iran’s role in fomenting Islamic extremism seems to have been a theme that has surfaced repeatedly. All outlined in a recent speech(The Gathering Storm), he discussed Iran’s increasingly open efforts to arm Iraqi terrorists with deadly IED’s, as well as it’s ongoing production of uranium.
Santorum was willing to make decisions that were counter to his own self-interest, but beneficial to the common good. In 2004, he made a difficult decision to endorse Arlen Specter([R]/pro-choice) who was the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, over pro-life Pat Toomey. Specter could win in a general election. Toomey could not. As it turned out, Specter won, Bush was able to nominate pro-life judges, and several were confirmed. The bottom line of pro-life prevailed, with Specter’s election only a means to an end.
Correspondingly, his senate career(CRISIS) was the most productive in the entire pro-life movement, where Santorum played a crucial role in the passage of several highly important pro-life bills: The Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, The Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act(authored), and The Unborn Victims of Violence Act.
Provocatively, many ask the question “Where are Christ’s apostles today?” A few names surface(John Paul, Theresa, Benedict) as well as several others. These apostles follow One that many years ago was criticized for His views, accused of blasphemy, disagreed with the status quo, started the Catholic Church, and was even put to death for His views. But that was only the start.
Santorum’s views on the five Catholic ‘non-negotiables’ angered thousands, his efforts on behalf of “life” caused many to hate his guts, his resiliency to insults from political enemies angered many, his willingness to make choices that conflicted with his personal self-interest, his recent political death in the Pennsylvania senatorial election, praying for his opponent(Casey) at Mass before and after the election—all sound like an authentic apostle.
But for Santorum, politics was never the ‘ultimate’. After the election, he immediately accepted an offer from the Ethics and Public Policy Center(DC). One friend thinks that this may be a tough mission for Santorum, and that he may suffer greatly because of the assignment. What’s most worrisome is that all of the apostles(except for John) suffered horrible martyred deaths. But it looks like we’ll know who the modern-day Pharisees are as well.
Kevin Roeten
http://kevinroeten.us./
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