Lest you doubt that we’re headed for the most vicious election year in memory, consider the determined effort, within ten minutes of his triumph in Iowa, to weirdify Rick Santorum. Discussing the surging senator on Fox News, Alan Colmes mused on some of the “crazy things” he’s said and done.
Santorum has certainly said and done many crazy things, as have most members of America’s political class, but the “crazy thing” Colmes chose to focus on was Santorum’s “taking his two-hour-old baby when it died right after childbirth home,” whereupon he “played with it.” My National Review colleague Rich Lowry rightly slapped down Alan on air, and Colmes subsequently apologized, though not before Mrs. Santorum had been reduced to tears by his remarks. Undeterred, Eugene Robinson, the Pulitzer Prize–winning Washington Post columnist, doubled down on stupid and insisted that Deadbabygate demonstrated how Santorum is “not a little weird, he’s really weird.”
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The short life of Gabriel Santorum would seem a curious priority for political discourse at a time when the Brokest Nation in History is hurtling toward its rendezvous with destiny. But needs must, and victory by any means necessary. In 2008, the Left gleefully mocked Sarah Palin’s live baby. It was only a matter of time before they moved on to a dead one.
Not many of us will ever know what it’s like to have a child who lives only a few hours. That alone should occasion a certain modesty about presuming to know what are “weird” and unweird reactions to such an event.
In 1996, the Santorums were told during the pregnancy that their baby had a fatal birth defect and would not survive more than a few hours outside the womb. So Gabriel was born, his parents bundled him, and held him, and baptized him. And two hours later he died. They decided to take his body back to the home he would never know. Weirdly enough, this crazy weird behavior is in line with the advice of the American Pregnancy Association, which says that “it is important for your family members to spend time with the baby” and “help them come to terms with their loss.”
Would I do it? Dunno. Hope I never have to find out. Many years ago, a friend of mine discovered in the final hours of labor that her child was dead but that she would still have to deliver him. I went round to visit her shortly after, not relishing the prospect but feeling that it was one of those things one was bound to do. I ditched the baby gift I’d bought a few days earlier but kept the flowers and chocolate. My friend had photographs of the dead newborn. What do you say? Oh, he’s got your face?
I was a callow pup in my early twenties, with no paternal instincts and no great empathetic capacity. But I understood that I was in the presence of someone who had undergone a profound and harrowing experience, one which it would be insanely arrogant for those of us not so ill-starred to judge.
There but for the grace of God go I, as we used to say.
There is something telling about what Peter Wehner at Commentary rightly called the “casual cruelty” of Eugene Robinson. The Left endlessly trumpets its “empathy.” President Obama, for example, has said that what he looks for in his judges is “the depth and breadth of one’s empathy.” As he told his pro-abortion pals at Planned Parenthood, “we need somebody who’s got the heart — the empathy — to recognize what it’s like to be a young teenage mom.” Empathy, empathy, empathy: You barely heard the word outside clinical circles until the liberals decided it was one of those accessories no self-proclaimed caring progressive should be without.
Just like having Trig defines Sarah Palin's pro-life values, this sad incident shows Mr Santorum's respect for all human life. I am much happier with him as a candidate, even with his large government tendencies, knowing this. And as so often happens at the intersection between life and death (Giffords, Trig Palin, Gosnell, ad infinitum) the reaction of the left to this matter shows their utter lack of morality and class.
"My friend had photographs of the dead newborn. What do you say?" You could try, "What a lovely child. He had your face. I'm so sorry he's died. How can I help you?"
Barely a year ago, family friends lost a much anticipated and wanted child in the same manner. They had a viewing of their tiny, tiny child. Having never seen anything so sad, it reaffirmed the humanity and goodness in most people. We loved the parents and grieved with them over the loss of their son, who had a name, a face, fingers, grandparents and friends who very much wanted him to be a part of our lives. That is an experience I will NEVER forget, as well as holding my own healthy newborn grandson a few months later a little tighter, grateful that he here, safe and sound for however long his life is.
I appreciate your last comment. You have to understand that many of us (speaking for myself) do not have good social skills when dealing with friends suffering emotional pain.
Whatever problems "genuine conservatives" might have with Santorum, I think it's hard to dispute that this man has backbone and has good values. The nation and the world is desperate for such qualities in a leader.
The problem with Romney is that no one really knows what he believes. Maybe he is the best candidate, but his history and his guarded approach make it impossible to clearly judge him.
Whatever problems "genuine conservatives" might have with Santorum, I think it's hard to dispute that this man has backbone and has good values. The nation and the world is desperate for such qualities in a leader.
The problem with Romney is that no one really knows what he believes. Maybe he is the best candidate, but his history and his guarded approach make it impossible to clearly judge him.
I have been a counselor for a support group for parents who are expecting a tragic outcome from a pregnancy.
It is very important that the parents and the other family members remember a little one, even though he/she did not survive for a long time. Those memories will always be there, and what Santorum did was actually well in line with what most counselors would recommend.
Thank you, Mr. Steyn and Chad R. I also saw the exchange between Mr. Lowry and Mr. Colmes. It was encouraging to see Mr. Lowry's very strong rebuke. And, the right time to interrupt and maintain a stern demeanor. Has Colmes no understanding of loss and grief? How about shepherding a family through that devastation?
Colmes is a beady-eyed reptile whose profound ignorance is exceeded only by his unfortunate appearance. My disgust for this piece of human detritus knows no bounds. Yet, I find in him evidence of a Divine Creator, for it is only through divine intervention that such a worthless, insufferable, talentless, and repulsive form of life could achieve any measure of success...
'round here we call him The Snakehead or simply Snake. He is not welcome nor has been for a long, long time. If it weren't for Hannity he would be invisible and inaudible. I'm not sure what is going on there. Loyalty, I guess, which would never be reciprocated.
And here we see, yet again, what people are capable of once they discard any sense of shame.
I sincerly doubt that Mr Robinson has evena twinge of gulit about his words. The left talks about empathy but repeatedly demonstrates smarmy self righteousness. Mr Robinson clearly believes that he is the measure of all things. In Mr Robinson's neighborhood Mr Santorum is weird simply because Mr Robinson says so.
Like a lot of folks on the right I had my difficulties with Santorum. Listening to him on Bill Bennett's show I got the impression that he was very much a DC insider.
But I am also a practicing catholic and I want to thank the lefties for bringing this incident to my attention. Note that they had their baby baptized. That means that they had thought about and planned for this tragedy. I try to imagine what anguish and grief they must have felt and I believe that their faith sustained them.
Now I have to take a long hard look at Mr Santorum. I have to think about supporting a man who lives his faith, and being a catholic ain't always easy, to such a degree. It would be great to have a person in the white house who had a strong sense of right and wrong as opposed to a strong sense of the political winds. I just don't see how that could hurt us.
We, on the right, have to act. We have to stand up and say something to Mr Robinson. I am no Rich Lowry fan but his cuffing of Alan Colmes was exactly what Mr Robinson needs. Let us see if Eugene has a conscience.
Our politics would be a lot better in this country if what Mark wrote about the left was not so spot on. The hypocrisy angle also came soon to my mind upon hearing about the reaction of these moral degenerates on the left (Colmes and Robinson).
A liberal's preferred action would have been an abortion long before the defect was detected -- especially since the Santorums irresponsibly already had too many kids poised to despoil the planet. Yet if the Santorums aborted Gabriel, even for a medical reason, that would have opened them up to excoriation for being hypocrites -- the deadliest of all sins, according to the left. One can imagine the political ads taken out by Planned Parenthood: "When the health of his own wife is at stake, Rick Santorum is pro-choice, but he wants the rest of us women to die for the sake of his extreme, right-wing views ..."
But when the Santorums make a very painful choice that is in line with their values ... The left hits them even more cruelly for being "weird." As Santorum knows well, you just can't win with these politically obsessed jerks on the left. But it is not often that the fact is so plainly demonstrated -- and in a way that is this low and ugly.
The Left's blindness to its own entrenched biases is both troublesome and creepy. There is always an air of holier than thou social morality mixed with the subtlety of individual passive aggressive throat slitting. The trumpeting of moral superiority in public policy, whilst trampling those who disagree is the very face of smiley faced tyranny. I'd rather have to deal directly with overt traditional prejudice than learn to roll with covert politically correct tribal witch hunts.
Too right Mark, I spent 22 years of my life in an organization that existed to kill people and break things (US Military). They are still the nicest, most giving people I know. Conversely the meanest SOBs I have ever met generally have a COEXIST bumper sticker or have been in some sort of public sector union. In college they told me it would be the other way around.
Eugene Robinson is an affirmative action columnist. His stuff is just plain derivative. He gets his talking points and his outline directly from his betters at the dnc and the White House.
The only reason this clown is employed at the Washington Post is because of the color of his skin. He fits a predetermined slot for "diversity". If he was white, he wouldn't be there - period.
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