Santorum 101: He’s More Complex Than We Think
On the Death Penalty: “I agree with the Pope that in the civilized world…the application of the death penalty should be limited. I would definitely agree with that. I would certainly suggest there probably should be some further limits on what we use it for.”
On his Economic Plan: “Supply-side economics for the workingman.”
On Jobs: “We are still innovating here in America, except we’re not producing what’s being innovated here. And that’s one reason why we see these Wall Street protestors and their concern that the middle of America is being hollowed out, that the wealth is being created by the innovators is not trickling down, if you will, to those who would make those products. So I have actually focused my tax plan on manufacturing.”
On Abortion: “The right approach is to accept this horribly created, in the sense of rape, but nevertheless gift…in a very broken way…the gift of human life and accept what God has given to you…as you know we have to do in lots of different aspects of our life.”
On Pornography: “Pornography is toxic to marriages and relationships. It contributes to misogyny and violence against women and is a contributing factor to prostitution and sex trafficking.”
On Embryonic Stem Cell Research: “We are going to say in respect to embryos in an IVF clinic that they are not people…Every one of these embryos was created because a couple wanted desperately to create human life and what we are going to say is that the life created is not a person- it doesn’t really exist from the standpoint of the Constitution. I think that it’s sort of hard for my mind to square that.”
On Birth Control: “I support Title X and have voted for contraception, although I don’t think it works. I think it’s harmful to women. I think it’s harmful to our society to have a society that says sex outside of marriage is something that should be encouraged or tolerated particularly among the young and I think it has, and we’ve seen, very very harmful long-term consequences to our country.”
On his Family: “This isn’t the Von Trapp family, we’re not going to sing.”
On College: “I understand why Barack Obama wants to send every kid to college, because of their indoctrination mills, absolutely …The indoctrination that is going on at the university level is a harm to our country.”
On Libertarianism: “I fight very strongly against libertarian influence within the Republican Party and the conservative movement.”
On the Tea Party: “Conservatives and tea partiers are not wings of the Republican Party, they are the Republican Party.”
On Conservatism: “Conservatism did not fail our country. Conservatives failed conservatism.”
In light of his views listed above, it’s safe to say that Santorum serves as the squarest of squares fighting for the American presidency. And amid political sea changes taking place today, a Santorum pick for President makes some sense. But the problem is that the Republican Party is no longer a party of squares. If anything, they are a set of exotic trapezoids.
