Asher Bertrand

Without revealing too much, I'll just come clean this much: I work for Democrats. I don't mean a business owner who is a Democrat, I mean - I work for Democrats.

So today, when my normally dour boss came bouncing into the office with a smile, we wondered what was up. "I just voted absentee," he said. Michigan's primary contest is on Tuesday. "And I just voted for the guy who wants to take us back to the 17th century."

Obviously, he meant Santorum.

Now, it's easy to see why an avowed Democrat is salivating at the thought of a Santorum nomination. The Republicans will have their base secure, but what moderate in their right mind would end up pulling the lever for a guy who sounds more like he's running for office in 1812 than 2012? Not many. It would be an easy Obama win.

But there's another reason I really, truly, sincerely want Santorum to get the nomination: I want the religious right to lose, and I want them to lose in Biblical proportions.

I want the religious right to lose so resoundingly that the Republicans will finally be able to distance themselves from the self-proclaimed moral majority, which everyone has known since 1980 is neither. I want the Republicans to regain some sense of sanity, quit devaluing intellectualism as elitist and to stop acting like science is the enemy. I want the religious right to come out of this looking like a joke and ending up a funny footnote in history.

As much as a Democrat as I am, I want a (mentally) healthy opposition party, because I truly do believe that everyone benefits when there is a sounding board for ideas, rather than an echo chamber.

So, absolutely. Go Santorum. The nation needs you to lose. Big time.

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Free Xue

AMEN!

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Single people should be allowed the right to marry[/controversial!]

Cajsa Lilliehook

I totally agree that the GOP has to finally run a candidate that they cannot possibly pretend was not "a real conservative" and lose and lose big. That tail has wagged the dog too long and the moderates have been driven from the party or into hiding. They certainly don't speak up.

However, I am more concerned that the constant repetition of his idiocy mainstreams it - that having the Republican nominee actually argue that Satan is attacking America, that there are no liberal Christians, that a vote for his opposition is a vote for Hitler and all the rest of his extremist rhetoric merely brings extremism more into the mainstream and shift the goal posts to the right some more.

Take for example, Romney's attacks on Santorum for being a big labor candidate. Excuse me? Santorum has voted against increasing the minimum wage, for free-trade agreements without labor protection, against funding for NLRB, and favors a national right-to-work. If that is defined in the media as pro-labor, someone supporting card-check will appear to be painted as a raving "pinko" who wants to turn us in Union of Socialist America.

Yes, I want a sane opposition, but I am tired of the center being shifted right - even when we win.

The QuietOne

I actually feel bad for some people in the Republican party, a lot of the decent people have left, hell my dad (the son of a small business owner from small-town Indiana) is now a Democrat and cannot even find any moderate Republicans that resonate with him anymore, as most he liked have left in disgust, been voted out by the Tea Party or just have gone away.

There's honestly part of me that believes that if Santorum gets the nomination and he does lose resoundingly that the far right wing won't take it as that he wasn't still conservative enough (which many do believe on his fiscal history).

They'll push next time for someone with the social conservatism of Santorum, in the bedroom of Wall Street like Romney, and libertarianism of Paul.

*shudders*

bronxelf

Paul isn't a libertarian. It's a lie that keeps being repeated. Paul is *just another social conservative.* He's just another free market economist.

He just happens to be a more *consistent* one than Romney. At best, he's a constitutionalist. But he's not a libertarian.

His social policy sinks that notion to the ground, forever.

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Bard Jameson

I could go along with this, Asher, If I was as certain as others that he would lose.I'm not. A lot can happen between now and November - some of which could hurt Obama, some of which could boost The Frothy One.

The Man on the White Horse factor can come in many guises.

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Eris

Gasoline hits five bucks a gallon by September and say hello to President Frothy.

Asher Bertrand

I have a coworker who says this, too. But ... no ... really? Just how bad would things have to be for 50 percent of the voting public +1 to vote for that guy? I just can't even imagine it.

Asher Bertrand

Because the Republicans do anything to combat gas prices? Heck, they're best friends with oil executives, when they're not busy BEING oil executives. I don't think Republicans offer a safe harbor for people worried about energy prices.

bronxelf

I only wish I couldn't imagine it.

I mean that. I *can* imagine it, and it HORRIFIES me.

Asher Bertrand

The conditions that would lead to the majority of voters going for Santorum? Illustrate the picture for me. What would it take?

Eris

If the economy goes into the tank (spiking fuel prices will do that), the incumbent takes the blame.

Marie Reynaud

five votes, out of a total of nine.

its happened before.

bronxelf

Social conservatives behave like insects. You put out enough sugar at the polls? They go for it.

ETA: Not only that, it's coupled with measures to keep anyone who would vote against them away from the polls. ID laws, vote tampering.

We already know we never should have had Bush the first time- that election was negotiated, not won. As a woman? The thought of a Santorum presidency is an all too real threat.

Asher Bertrand

Maybe.

We've certainly been in the tank long enough. We're climbing out. That terrifies the Republicans. And that's why we're hearing about birth control now instead of GDP and employment figures.

Republicans have tried to make the economy tank for four years, and in spite of their best efforts, it's still getting better.

I'm not even sure a collapse in Europe would do it. It might just make America look stronger in comparison.

Asher Bertrand

If it's Santorum, though, they won't even need to. That's his base. The problem is, who else can he get? He's doing a fine job scaring off everyone all on his own.

And to make sure the circus never ends, Trump is threatening to "do something" if (R-Money) doesn't get the nom.

Sonja Aeghin

The problem, Asher, is that the kind of self-reflection you hope for does not really exist in today's GOP. The party will either split down the social-economic divide or lose the pro-business coalition altogether, who don't care for the televangelicals as sin is quite profitable. I can imagine John Hagee himself taking up a presidential bid in order to force his apocalyptic bullshit to actually come true. Think the current crop are nutjobs? You haven't seen anything yet. Bobby Jindal, Jeb Bush and to lesser degree Chris Christie are wisely sitting this one out. They know the writing's on the wall.

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bronxelf

Racists (and goodness knows theres TONS). Sexists. (TONS.) Anyone for whom the mantra is ABO (anyone but Obama.)

Really, there's more than you think.

bronxelf

Asher you are right that *ASIDE* from his social conservative platform, Santorum doesn't have a candidacy. I said that weeks ago. The game now is to distract from that long enough for it to matter.

Lloyd Newman

Nope, not even that.

Electoral college, remember? Popular vote doesn't have much to do with it.

$5/gal gas in CALIFORNIA would be enough.

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Sonja Aeghin

That won't take long. California will be there before spring turns to summer, if current trends continue.

Void

and why couldn't that happen by him getting slaughtered at the nomination? this is looking like dousing ourselves in gasoline and having a cigarette just to prove a point....

and in the end it's not going to make a difference, because the backlash will just be against "extreme" fundamentalism, which will just be redefined however they want.

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Asher Bertrand

Humm. Seems some people want to expect the worst.

Well, carry on. But I won't get on that train.

Eunoli Rain

The Democrats need to run just -constant- ads of nothing more than Santorum speaking. Just let him speak and then print things like "Do you want this person representing you to the world?" or "Santorum - taking us back to less enlightened times" at the bottom.

A "swift boat" type campaign comparing the hard core right to the Taliban wouldn't hurt, either.

Perphides

This is why I want Santorum to get the nomination