A Requiem for Rick

Rick Santorum's biggest foe wound up being Rick Santorum.

He couldn't overcome all the negative images and the negativity he'd created over twelve years as Senator.  Pennsylvanians had made up their minds and they either loved or hated him.  On election day we got the numbers:  59% hated him and only 38% loved him.   What's amazing is how poorly he ran in the "T," the ultra conservative section of the state.  Santorum won less than half the counties.  A Democrat can win statewide here with only 10-12 counties but a Republican must sweep the T or close to it.

I find myself lamenting the fact we could have won this contest with a real Democrat, a real progressive.  Santorum was so vulnerable.  People were tired of his act and wanted change.  We could have changed to a progressive. 

Tricky Ricky was his own worst enemy and he wasn't able to defeat his own negative image burned into voter's minds.  Twelve years of extremism, insensitivity, a lack of respect for our democratic institutions, an arrogance and sense of hubris toward Pennsylvanians forced to pay for his children's education in Virginia and the whole residency issue combined to make him extremely vulnerable.

The books were the final straw.  "It Takes a Family" slammed working mothers and working families.  "Letters to Gabriel" reminded voters the Santorums actually brought the dead fetus of their stillborn baby home for their young children to see.  How absolutely bat shit crazy do you have to be to subject your children to something like that?  Then they wrote a book about the experience!

I learned an awfully lot about Rick Santorum doing opposition research for Chuck Pennacchio.  I began on the campaign as just another volunteer.  Chuck had his office piled with old newspapers full of articles about the Senator's latest outrageous comment or vote.  You wouldn't believe the effort it took to finally get them hauled out by an intern.  It did illustrate how extreme our Junior Senator had been over twelve years.  Piles of papers detailing his latest escapade, stacked up in corners.

The beginning of the end for Rick Santorum was his infamous Associated Press interview about the Supreme Court Lawrence v. Texas sodomy case.  Right before the Justices announced their decision Rick became famous for his "Man on Dog Sex" line.  From then on he became the subject of ridicule nationwide.  Sites like spreadingsantorum and Santorum Exposed began popping up.  As he became the subject of such ridicule Pennsylvanians became increasingly embarrassed to be represented by him.

Then 2005 came around, the campaign began and Rick Santorum literally became the caricature websites were making him out to be.  The residency issue, the charter school/Penn Hills controversy, his statewide tour to privatize Social Security, his rants to radio shows, all combined to reinforce the image of a crazy Senator who was out of touch.

I was especially proud of the video clip we at Chuck's campaign got at one of his first Social Security forums.  It put us "on the map" so to speak.  I've uploaded it to YouTube if you missed it. 

As we say goodbye to Tricky Ricky I'm a bit sentimental because I'll be losing one of my favorite whipping boys.  Santorum has provided so much blogging material I'm not sure who can step up and replace him as a source for inspiration.   I won't miss Tricky Ricky however.  His brand of political discourse is negative for the state and negative for the country.  He doesn't believe in democracy, privacy rights, or decency.

One of my proudest moments was seeing him take the podium for his concession speech.  Knowing I played a small role in bringing that moment to fruition, as did everyone who got involved the past two years, made it worth savoring. 

Did you see the reactions of his kids?  Have you ever seen such repressed looking children?  The picture of his teen son flipping off the country underlines everything that was bad about Rick Santorum and his ilk.  If he insists on running for President we'll make this picture one of the most widely viewed in the country.

Comments

[Bruce J. Holt]

Didn't Rick teach his children proper manners? Seriously, these photos illustrate some major emotional issues there.

[DeeDeeB]

Listen, you need to grow some CHOPS.

You may have disagreed with his politics and professional intentions.
But a cheap-shot harping on a child they delivered who died at no fault of their own, is pure sick.

You should be ashamed of yourself.

Until you've walked in those shoes as a MAN -- seeing your wife deliver a dead child -- keep you mouth shut.

I know what it's like, having done so as a mother. And bringing your family into that situation is a personal decision.

You think the man is mental or his family is emotionally unstable because he wanted to honor his family, his wife and dead child, by allowing his kids to see their sibling?

It's obvious you don't have children, have never never lost a child, nor comprehend the grieving process.

[Rick Hater]

It isn't nice to make fun of people's kids but, his kids are funny looking in the imbred sort of way. The reasons the kids are crying is they realize that their loser father will now be home all the time since he has no job to go to. I'd be crying too.

[John Morgan]

They brought the dead fetus home for their other children to hold. That's SICK. I can't think of much that's more disgusting than that. It borders on child abuse.

[Brenna Lorenz]

A poll in the CDT about a month ago said it all. The approval rating for Santorum was 31% and for Casey was 33%. Yet 51% said they would vote for Casey. What a shame we didn't have a real choice. I am so glad we got rid of Santorum. I am so unhappy we're stuck with Casey.

[Brenna Lorenz]

I just watched that footage of Ricky's concession speech, and as much as I despise the guy and what he stands for, I gotta say that I don't think his son was flipping off to the camera... he was just adjusting his glasses with an injudicious choice of finger.

[John Morgan]

I won't even begin to surmise how many times I've used that technique to subtley flip someone off. This is similar to the technique Rumsfeld used in his press conference the other day. The boy knew very well what he was doing and the cameras caught him.