Rick Santorum

The National Review's Kathryn Jean Lopez has posted a letter from Rick Santorum in which he declares that he is "actively considering" making a run for President in 2012:

I’m convinced that conservatives need a candidate who will not only stand up for our views, but who can articulate a conservative vision for our country’s future.

And right now, I just don’t see anyone stepping up to the plate.

...

Our country needs a President who will stand up for the family and for the traditional values Americans hold dear.

Not someone obsessed with forcing taxpayers to fund unthinkable “abortion mandates” and who claims America “is no longer a Christian nation.”

And that’s why I’m actively considering the 2012 race.

...

Let me be very clear, just as I recently told a Washington Post columnist, I have no great burning desire to be president, but I have a burning desire to have a different president of the United States.

So you can count on me to make certain that whoever is the Republican nominee for President in 2012 is someone who shares our values and will fight for them as President – and who can ultimately defeat Obama.

It seems like Rick Santorum shares the view that Sen. Ted Kennedy did not deserve a Catholic funeral:

In addition to his announcement that he is considering a run for President in 2012, former US Senator Rick Santorum gave his assessment of the controversy around the Ted Kennedy funeral during his speech to the Catholic Leadership Conference last week. Santorum's talk focused on rejuvenating the Catholic Church in the United States.

During his speech Santorum lamented "what the Church allowed to happen" with the Kennedy funeral, referring to it as a "deification" of Kennedy. "The damage done" to the Church, he said, "is profound."

"We have Catholic politicians who have led this country astray, have led generations of Catholics astray," said Santorum.

He noted that there was no personal grievance between himself and Kennedy. "I knew Ted Kennedy very, very well, I got along with Teddy. Everybody got along with Teddy. He's was a nice, affable guy," he said.

In answer to those who would protest that "the Church is all about forgiveness," Santorum said: "Yes, God blessed Teddy with a year of knowing he was going to die."

"We all prayed that that year was a productive one for him and his relationship with our Savior," he added. "I prayed for that. I sent him a note. I told him that. I prayed for him every day."

Santorum made particular note of the Vatican letter read by former Washington Cardinal Theodore McCarrick at the internment. And while he said he understood the motivation for such a presentation, he nevertheless concluded that "there is no excuse" for it. "It will harm us, it will hurt the rejuvenation of our Church," he said.

For the future rejuvenation of the Church, "getting it right with Catholic politicians is going to be huge," he warned. "We keep sending the message that it's okay to dissent, okay to do all the things that almost every Catholic politician in the United States does," he said.

There are few politicians in office today that can rival Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s willingness to publicly associate himself with the Religious Right – and not just the “mainstream” groups like the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family, but with fringe, B-list figures like David Barton and Kelly Shackelford and groups like the Texas Restoration Project.

To this ever-growing list we can now add people like Rick Scarborough of Vision America and groups such as the US Pastor Council:

Today, Perry will continue his appeal to evangelicals at a closed-door session with Texas pastors in Austin. That event is being sponsored by the US Pastor Council, which wants to get preachers more involved in politics.

Headlining the event will be East Texas evangelist Rick Scarborough, an outspoken opponent of gay marriage and abortion. Scarborough is backing Perry and has denounced Hutchison, who supports the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

It's exactly the kind of group that Perry has been trying to woo in advance of next year's GOP primary. Four years ago, when Hutchison was making noise about challenging him, Perry actively helped the Texas Restoration Project, another network of evangelical ministers that the governor's political team saw as potentially helpful.

Scarborough’s support for Perry is rooted largely in his opposition to the primary challenge being mounted by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and, considering that Perry’s chances of beating her are looking a little questionable, this appears to be part of his effort to do all he can to sew up support from the Religious Right heading into the primary.

Still, it is rather remarkable that anyone running for public office would willingly associate themselves with the likes of Scarborough – did he learn nothing from Mike Huckabee?

Scarborough, a self-described “Christocrat” heads Vision America and, when he’s not out palling around with Alan Keys, has a penchant for suggesting that evangelical leaders are dying off because the nation has turned its back on God, suggesting that Christians will have "the blood of martyrs on [their] hands"if they don't oppose hate crimes legislation, blaming "the church" for just standing by and allowing the election of "unrighteous leaders" in 2006, saying that opponents of the War in Iraq are committing treason, organizing conferences designed to highlight the “War on Christians and Values Voters,” and penning books entitled “Liberalism Kills Kids” among other things.

But if Perry is going to associate himself with people like Barton and Scarborough, it only makes sense that he’d willingly affiliate himself with the US Pastor Council as well – maybe he’ll even sign their “Pastors’ Declaration of Godly Citizenship” [PDF]:

I believe that all authorities are subordinate to God, including family, church and government authorities, therefore the actions and decisions of each will be accountable to Him.

I believe that the church has a unique and sacred role in proclaiming God’s principles to leaders of a city, state and nation, with government limited to its Biblical and Constitutional purpose.

I believe that all innocent life from conception to natural death must be protected and valued by the people and our government to the fullest extent of the law as the highest priority of government.

I believe that marriage is a God-created relationship as the lifetime union of one natural man and one natural woman for the blessing of both, the good of the people and the foundation of the family for legitimate procreation.

I believe that the traditional, nuclear family of a married father and mother raising their children in a nurturing and protective environment is the essential building block of a stable community and a nation; it therefore must be promoted and protected by both church and state.

Most politicians seeking re-election wouldn’t be caught dead rubbing shoulders with these types of fringe right-wing groups, but Rick Perry does so openly and willingly – and not because he is pandering and merely seeking their support, but because he is a true believer who actually shares their agenda.

Rick Santorum filled in for Bill Bennett last Friday and got a bit carried away singing the praises of conservative talk radio.

Air America is “just a bunch of liberal, emotional sop,” he claimed. Whereas conservative radio has facts and reason and intellect.

But Michael from LA made quick work of that theory:

Santorum:

Talk radio has succeeded because talk radio engages the mind…

 

That is why they want to quash talk radio. It appeals to the reason within us, and that’s like conservatism, which is seen by the American left as anti-intellectual, is in fact the intellectual argument for policy here in America.

 

So that leads me to our caller, who again has been kind enough to hang on for quite some time, Michael from Los Angeles…

Michael:

There’s a way that we Catholics as Catholics can defeat the left [and] I laid it out to your staff…

After 6 six years of theological research with a friend of mine…we found out that Catholic laymen who were confirmed can do exorcisms.

I have been doing them since 1990…on leftist politicians.

Santorum:

So the answer is, we have to do exorcisms on…who?

Michael:

Politicians.

[Thanks to Mike Stark for recording the segment.]