10/26/00 2:35 p.m.
Klink’s Klunker
Sen. Rick Santorum’s Dem opponent has a Mike Tyson moment.

By Sean Duffy, president of the Commonwealth Foundation

osing in every poll, including in his own liberal base in the Philadelphia region, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania finally had his Mike Tyson moment.

Just like the heavyweight boxer who chomped off a bit of his opponent's ear when he started to lose a championship bout, Congressman Ron Klink has tried to take a rhetorical chunk out of incumbent Republican Sen. Rick Santorum. And he used Santorum's five children as the appetizer.

Here's the story.

Santorum, in an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer, made a comment that would seem all-too-familiar to protective parents in today's society. In discussing how he and his wife came to the decision to home-school their children, Santorum said, "I hate to say this, but we get to pick who their friends are. We see the difference when they are hanging out with their friends from church and when they are going out in the neighborhood — a little bit different values."

Klink bit down hard. "I grew up in the United States of America when Catholics weren't supposed to play with Jews and Jews weren't supposed to play with Protestants and Catholics," he said, occasionally wagging a finger in Santorum's direction.

Ouch. Let's let the referee step in.

One of the biggest refuges that the pro-teacher-union Left seeks for the widespread failure of public education in Pennsylvania and elsewhere is the "lack of parental involvement." American students would soar to the top of international comparisons, they claim, if states would only create mandatory parental involvement programs and conduct government-managed parental training to teach Americans how to love their kids.

Remember, too, that the Santorums' five children are young — and are at an age when, liberals say, adults should focus most intently on child development.

Given those facts, Klink should be applauding the Santorums for focusing so much care and attention on their kids, rather than accusing them of religious bigotry. Even the left-wing editorial page of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette took Klink over their knee and gave him a spanking.

Despite the backfire of this charge, Klink persisted in chewing on the Santorum kids' social lives right through the last debate the two held Tuesday night.

Rick and Karen Santorum, apparently, have managed to figure out a way to raise good kids and transmit their values to their children. Given his cheap conduct as his campaign goes down for the count, it's clear that Ron Klink's parents didn't do as good a job.