Then there were three - Image Salon.com
Rick Santorum won a decisive victory in Louisiana on Saturday besting Mitt Romney 49 to 26.7 percent, this compared to 2008, when Mike Huckabee narrowly beat John McCain 43.2 to 41.9% (NYT), gives credence to the Exit Polls from CNN that showed Santorum winning in demographics which are normally Romney territory – such as moderates and those who consider themselves “liberal”. In watching the returns, the conversations between John King and Wolf Blizter suggested that to be a “moderate” or “liberal” in Louisiana was far different than being a “moderate” in a different part of the country. However, the video posted on the CNN site, suggests a strictly Religious win with the report focusing on the Bible Belt CNN Video here. This may have been the case in the 1980’s, 1990’s, but with a fall in manufacturing in the Northeast and elsewhere, the migration has caused a shift in both political ideology and religious affiliation in that region. Both Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul made a hardly a dent in the contest. Next up in Wisconsin and tensions on the left and in the Romney campaign are running high as the April primary comes into play.
Although reports suggest that Rick Santorum gave a rather aggressive response to the Presidents treatment of the tragedy in Trayvon Martin shooting, the facts are that his response was in line with the Presidents’ and any other parents “There are a lot of people who have very perverted views of reality, and obviously have, as we see, people who do horrible things for seemingly senseless reasons. And I think it’s hard to generalize from one heinous act something that is, trying to make a bigger point out of it. And I think that’s probably what Newt was getting at, and to the president and to everyone that we need to be supportive for the family that’s going through this tragedy.” (Mediaite). In comments on the site Mediate in this article on this post notes: “twitter is exploding with comments about Santorum cursing at an NYT reporter. According to one of Mitt's operatives CBS has video.” (Mediaite Comments) – with Politico reporting Rick Santorum suggesting that a New York Time’s Reporters question was “bullshit” and a distortion of his remarks: “The notion that politicians don't swear is almost as entertaining as the faux shock whenever they do publicly. But, it never goes unnoticed, and it's not exactly common for recent presidential hopefuls.” Frankly, Rick Santorum, given the pounding he has taken from Romney, his being pigeonholed as a one-dimensional religious candidate (and perhaps through his inexperience on the GOP Presidential campaign trail giving some credence to that school of thought) it is amazing that is the only word he has uttered thus far. The language was a far cry from those others have used as far as being “crass”. This one remark should be filed under: “nothing to see move along here”, but chances are that it will make headlines for at least 24 hours – of course, there is competition in that regards.
A web video released by the Santorum Camping has news outlets from NPR to the LATimes in hysterics – from the LA Times S"antorum's 'Obamaville' ad links Ahmadinejad with Obama" [video] suggests that the Santorum Campaign directly compares the President with Iran’s Ahmadinejad, however, if one views the ad (see below) on can see that the focus is on policy – (See video below or link to You Tube here) the ad suggests the price of gas, the loss of jobs, fear of unemployment, small businesses closing down, and longer waits to see a doctor, before it goes into foreign policy, and the rise of the Iranian theocracy - The President is pictured in the video, but not in a comparative sense, it is an overview of predictions of the causes of President’s policies - all of them. One looking at this video entitled “Obamaville” might not consider it to be the best in cinematography, nor that much predictive of two years hence, especially when one considers that everything in the video, is happening now. However, it is the negatives spelled out regarding Obama that is the crux of the matter coming from one Rick Santorum. This is evidenced in the comments connected to the article and a distinct anti-Catholic tone.
Further, Obama spokesman has taken the bait referring to the GOP candidates in primary as a “clown show”, a la, the media and opposition to Ronald Reagan in 1979-1980. To take that a tad further, ”Santorum in Reagan Mold” compares the GOP Candidate to Ronald Reagan, suggesting that the GOP will lose in 2012 and come back to win in 2016 (Philadelphia Inquirer).
It is the media turning on its heels to protect the President by stretching reality to the extreme in some cases, and making a mountain out of a mole hill in others, all with a little help from the opposition team of “Mitt Romney”. It’s all fair in love and politics, and as the Romney attempts to “seal the deal” repeatedly and it now appears a solid two-man race with both campaigns (Romney and Santorum) suggesting math is one their side. In any event, the fact that the media is in such hysterics over former Senator Santorum’s every word, is a tad on the suspicious side and brings to bear the question of which candidate the President prefers not to run against. Alternately, it could be they are honestly afraid of the fact that someone who has religious convictions is somehow “dangerous”, which gives credence to the “dumping down of America” theory. Apparently, that did not bother Reagan, and has not slowed down Rick Santorum, who, when tired of the media “BS”, just lets them know they are out of line, in his opinion.
(Bloggers note: As a Catholic, it is not Santorum’s Catholic faith that initially won support, it was his understanding of domestic and foreign policy affairs, specifically the problem with Iran. It was perhaps, more so his economic policy, a zero percent tax on manufactures to fast track them back to the U.S. to create jobs. Unfortunately that message has been buried by the “religious aspect” pounded home day after day, from the media, as well as, at times, the campaign itself. It would be this opinion that the negative advertising needs to go – with a focus on the positive side of the campaign – that ad above, attempts to contrast Santorum’s policy with that of the President, but it is framed in such a way as to come off in a somewhat “cheesy” at best fashion.)
Santorum is in Wisconsin, a state that is not friendly to the GOP in general – it will be interesting to see how the next few primaries play out – with Romney and Santorum literally the last two standing (given how poorly the insistent Gingrich and Paul are performing and unlikely to improve).
Is the race still winnable for Santorum – yes: from the New York Times: total delegates needed to win 1144, delegates remaining 1258 – Romney has 568, Santorum 273 – therefore Romney needs 576 more delegates, while Santorum requires 871, or a difference of 295 delegates separate the two competitors. With the 1258 remaining, it is not impossible for either candidate to reach the magic 1144. This is perhaps, why the left and the Romney campaign are now ramping up the attacks, looking for every possible religious reference or gaff to play to the hilt.
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