So the nuttiest of the nutty all gathered in Texas this past week to anoint their preferred uber-evangelical alternative to former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.
So more than 150 ultra religious conservatives met at a Texas ranch this past Friday and Saturday. Among the bigger names: Tony Perkins of Family Research Council; Gary Bauer, a former presidential candidate; James Dobson, who used to head Focus on the Family; and Don Wildmon, who once ran American Family Association.
The mission of this "emergency meeting" was to unite behind someone who they feel is a true-blue religious conservative for the Republican nomination. This group is desperate to defeat President Obama, but they distrust Romney on key issues such as their desire to ban reproductive rights and marriage equality. In addition, many of them feel Mormonism is not a true Christian religion, and as a result, Romney isn't "one of them".
Add to this the problem that despite his best efforts to run from his pro-gay rights past, Romney's past statements in favor of basic civil equality for Gays and Lesbians, are regularly coming back to haunt him as he has sought to woo social conservatives.
Tony Perkins, the head of the ridiculously misnamed Family Research Council. (A group the Southern Poverty Law Center has certified as a Hate Group), tried to lower expectations going in to the meeting down in Texas this past week. Perkins claimed that the meeting was not "anti-Romney" but rather pro-issues that mattered to social conservatives.
Yet earlier today Perkins triumphantly tweeted the Texas bigotfest has crowned former Pennsylvania Senator and gay sex obsessed nut job Rick Santorum as their preferred choice for replacing President Obama and thus bring their brand of Sharia law to the country starting on January 20, 2013.
Which is actually pretty funny given what Rick Santorum's name is a euphemism for.
For those of you who are not aware of the definition of word "Santorum", you can google it. It stems from the former Senators personal obsession, (and yes that is the right word,) with gay sex. Rick Santorum is consumed by thoughts about gay sex. It is what he talks most about.
So now we have Senator Frothy Mix as the official "not Romney" candidate of the American Taliban. What is most interesting about all of this, is not the crazy stuff Santorum regularly says, or even the entertaining spectacle of Mitt Romney desperately trying to run from every position he ever held prior to 2004.
The real story here is how at least on the front end of the GOP primary process, the 2012 Presidential race is largely a bizarre repeat of what happened at this point in 2008. (cue Rachel).
The Republican Party faces a tough choice. Go with Romney and face a campaign that from an electoral standpoint would be a replay of 2008, and risk alienating the only real core constituency they have left. Or, go with Santorum and be saddled with a candidate and a campaign that is completely removed from the issues the vast majority of Americans actually do care about. Namely, jobs and the economy, which would take a far back seat to Santorum's preferred crusade to ban birth control and forcibly divorce thousands of American couples currently married under state laws in places like New York, Iowa and Connecticut.
I say the GOP should follow their hearts, embrace the bigotry and start uh.... spreading the Santorum message!
I have made no secret of my disappointment with President Obama. I have found him to be an ineffective centrist corporate apologist, rather than a bold progressive leader. But what is now crystal clear, is that while President Obama may be largely ineffectual, he is not, like ALL of his potential Republican challengers, completely insane.
One of the problems of living in a digital age, if you happen to be Mitt Romney, is that his pro-gay rights past keeps cropping up in archived footage and flyers. Which makes it kinda awkward when you are trying to show the American Taliban base of the GOP that you hate Gay Americans, and love Jeebus as much as they do. (Cue Rachel Maddow with the details...)
Yet earlier today Perkins triumphantly tweeted the Texas bigotfest has crowned former Pennsylvania Senator and gay sex obsessed nut job Rick Santorum as their preferred choice for replacing President Obama and thus bring their brand of Sharia law to the country starting on January 20, 2013.Which is actually pretty funny given what Rick Santorum's name is a euphemism for.
For those of you who are not aware of the definition of word "Santorum", you can google it. It stems from the former Senators personal obsession, (and yes that is the right word,) with gay sex. Rick Santorum is consumed by thoughts about gay sex. It is what he talks most about.
Jobs? National Security? The environment? Nope, none of those issues even come close to being what turns Rick Santorum's crank the fastest. Seattle advice columnist and activist Dan Savage is responsible for the former Senator's name taking on a new meaning...
So now we have Senator Frothy Mix as the official "not Romney" candidate of the American Taliban. What is most interesting about all of this, is not the crazy stuff Santorum regularly says, or even the entertaining spectacle of Mitt Romney desperately trying to run from every position he ever held prior to 2004.
The real story here is how at least on the front end of the GOP primary process, the 2012 Presidential race is largely a bizarre repeat of what happened at this point in 2008. (cue Rachel).
The Republican Party faces a tough choice. Go with Romney and face a campaign that from an electoral standpoint would be a replay of 2008, and risk alienating the only real core constituency they have left. Or, go with Santorum and be saddled with a candidate and a campaign that is completely removed from the issues the vast majority of Americans actually do care about. Namely, jobs and the economy, which would take a far back seat to Santorum's preferred crusade to ban birth control and forcibly divorce thousands of American couples currently married under state laws in places like New York, Iowa and Connecticut.
I say the GOP should follow their hearts, embrace the bigotry and start uh.... spreading the Santorum message!
I have made no secret of my disappointment with President Obama. I have found him to be an ineffective centrist corporate apologist, rather than a bold progressive leader. But what is now crystal clear, is that while President Obama may be largely ineffectual, he is not, like ALL of his potential Republican challengers, completely insane.
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