National Journal’s Reid Wilson and Politico’s Alex Burns point out that Rick Perry is describing Rick Santorum specifically as a Catholic on the campaign trail. They wonder if he’s using the designation to scare away South Carolina’s Protestants from the former Pennsylvania senator. Here’s the quotation that’s getting the most attention:
“Rick Santorum is a good man. He is a good father. He is a good Catholic. But he hasn’t always been a good conservative. And I make exceptions with his vote for Sonya Sotomayor as a for instance. That is a really liberal jurist that he helped put on track to become a Supreme Court jurist back when he voted to allow her to be on the Appellate Court. I mean, she is pro-abortion, would be my estimation of that. I mean, Obama is a very liberal president and she is reflective of his philosophy. So, I mean, there were 29 conservatives that voted against her. People like Strom Thurmond and Rick voted for her. So the idea that, you know, he is a pure social conservative, this flies right in the face of it … On the fiscal side, Rick, he has a horrid record when it comes to earmarks and defending spending. The idea that you can vote for all those earmarks and call yourself a fiscal conservative is just ludicrous on its face. That is why we have a tea party today. … So like I said, good man, good father and husband, good Catholic, but not always a good conservative.”
If you're pondering the significance of this to the election, add this factoid into your matrix:
Of the nine sitting Justices on the Supreme Court of the United States, six are Catholic (Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, Roberts, Alito, Sotomayor); five of those were appointed by Republican presidents. The remaining three (Ginsburg, Breyer, and Kagan) are Jewish; all were appointed by Democrats.
Amount of controversy this is causing in the United States on a day-to-day basis: Essentially none.
Number of people who even bothered to notice it when yet another Catholic, Justice Sotomayor, was nominated: Not very many.
Attention the religious affiliation of the SCOTUS members is getting in the current GOP presidential campaign: None.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAn old but effective trick. Earl Long used the same "good man, good Catholic" line when campaigning against deLesseps Morrison in Protestant North Louisiana 50 years ago.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbusePathetic. But not unexpected from the same nasty fella who tried to play the anti-Mormon card at the Values Voters summit to peel off a few votes from Mitt at the straw poll there.
In case you missed it, that was the SoCon confab last Oct.in D.C. where, happily, the Rev. Robert Jeffress' appeals to religious bigotry on Perry's behalf and obviously at his behest were judged by many evangelical attendees there as the decidedly unChristian act of desperation it was and Rick P came in second to last.
Now, at 10%, South Carolina is probably the most un-Catholic state in the union - 74% identifying as Protestants - so it's a safe bet that the good Guv isn't trying to win brownie points out on the stump for his good friend Santorum by repeatedly calling him out as such a good, faithful papist there this week.
Yeesh. As a Texan, I've voted for Rick Perry more times than I care to admit but, as God as my witness, I'll never, ever, ever EVER make that mistake again.
I'm for sure not Mormon and those nice little ladies from the religious order who educated me would all probably agree that, unlike Rick Santorum, not even a very good Catholic.
But the cynically divisive BS that Perry is dog whistling again to protestants over there in SC is straight out of the Orthodox Canon of the First Church of Satan and I'm sorry, that's where I draw the line.
Call me a religious bigot if you have to, but I'd feel really creeped out voting again for Rick Perry now that I know his real higher power is the guy who made Linda Blair's head spin around on her neck.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSpecifically mentioning that Rick Santorum was a Catholic in South Carolina was no coincidence, Perry played this game with Pastor Jeffress and Romney's Mormonism.
Does Perry no longer have any shame? You would at least think he could leave with a little class.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI was under the impression that Christian ethics encourage us to give people the benefit of the doubt -- not just Perry in this case, but the people of South Carolina as well.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbusePerry is simply too dense not to fall into an obvious trap of his own making.
It's true that Santorum voted to put pro-abortion Sotomayor on the Appellete Court--ditto endorsed pro-abortion Arlen Spector (senator) & Christine Todd Whitman (governor) over pro-life GOP candidates.
Perry, quote: "So the idea that, you know, he is a pure social conservative, this flies right in the face of it."
Precisely.
Perry also targeted Romney's "purity", arbitrating that voters couldn't trust a Republican in the White House who "changed from election to election"--and who hadn't been 100% consistent on abortion & guns. (Reagan?)
Unfortunately for Perry's argument he isn't exactly 100% pure, either. Perry changed from Al Gore Democrat to dismantle the Reagan revolution in 1988--to Karl Rove Republican to win elections in 1989. Ditto Perry's candidates of choice for president were pro-abortion Al Gore in 1998--and gun control pro-abortion Rudy Guiliani during the last GOP presidential primary in 2008.
Perry is right about Santorum's fiscal policies. A self indentified "Compassionate Conservative" Santorum has dissed the Tea Party's "small government" agenda & his history of promoting Big Gov't programs, earmarks & spending is a matter of record.
But "No Government Bailouts" Perry's fiscal record doesn't rate conservative, either. For ten years Perry has enforced a Sanctuary State, doubled his state's debt load, voted for & signed into law the two greatest tax hikes (1987 & 2006) in Texas history, sponged 17.4 billion off Obama's Stimulus to bailout his last two deficits, jacked a 27 billion deficit shortfall for 2012-13,--& has the highest rate of uninsured in the nation subsidized by the federal government.
When Perry was sworn into office in 2000 Texas' unemployment rate was 4.2%. Ten years later the unemployment rate is at 8.1% in Perry's "Texas Miracle".
No surprise Perry is bring Santorum's Catholic relgion to the attention of Evangelical voters. Similarily he targeted Romney's religion when he approved that known sectarian bigot Jeffress introduce him at the "Values Voter Summit" and publicly stated that the Rev.'s "don't vote for Mormons" rant "hit it out of the park".
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseCorrection-- Democrat Perry endorsed pro-abortion Al Gore for president in 1988.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuseman are you ever factually challenged!! the population of texas has grown by over 5million since perry took office and more keep coming, could that possibly be the reason unemployment is higher and we still have created more jobs than the rest of the country down here. perry has NOT enforced a sanctuary state and in fact tried to get the legislature to pass a law outlawing sanctuary cities. as for tax hikes, in 1987 perry wasnt governor, and in 2006 it was a shift in the tax burden, putting more of it on companies. as for taking fed money, well 25million texans contribute to that pot and until its shrunk we should be able to pull from it as well. as for the uninsured in texas are you really on a conservative site faulting a conservative governor for not providing govt insurance to citizens?? oh, and rick has been a republican longer than reagan was when he ran for president.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseGreat post!
Also, nobody cares about Santorum's Catholicism.
"I'd walk through a wall to support someone's Catholicism!" <--- words never said by people voting for President.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI haven't followed Sen. Santorum enough to know the answer to this question, but what I'd want to know is whether Santorum has on occasion used his Catholicism - or fidelity to Catholicism - as a basis of or an explanation for his political views or as grounds for his being a strong candidate or a man of good character, etc.
If he uses his Catholicism in his favor, then I don't see the problem in someone using it against him.
I know that there's a certain bipartisan politically correct sensibility that says that candidates may not use religion, race, ethnicity, marital status, familial relations, etc. against other candidates, but in addition to the fact that people can vote for or against a candidate on any ground they please (including race, religion or not liking them because they find them annoying), I'm not sure why one can use his status in these respects in his favor and yet rationally muster outrage when that status - or his failure to maintain that status - is used against him.
Harsh, I suppose, but not particularly so in light of our nation's history of freely using against almost all Presidential candidates whatever anyone happened to what to use against that person at any time.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbusePerry is too dumb to be this subtle.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSuppose Perry had simply said that Santorum was "a good religious man." That could just as easily be seen as a dog whistle, since he didn't say which religion.
Suppose Perry had said that Santorum was "a good Christian man." That ALSO could just as easily be seen as a dog whistle about ROMNEY, raising the question of whether Perry was implying that he thinks the Catholic Santorum is a Christian, but not the Mormon Romney.
Of course, Perry could have avoided the subject altogether, and is that not really the goal of conservatives everywhere? To make religion such a taboo that you cannot bring it up without your every word being parsed?
For myself, I see a few reasons why referring to Santorum as a good Catholic is not NECESSARILY insidious, shameless, classless, bigoted, and whatever else you want to say.
1) It's universally accepted as true, by friend and foe alike, including those who dislike Santorum and those who reject Catholicism for whatever reason. There are Protestants who believe that Catholics aren't Christians, and referring to Santorum's specifically Catholic faith avoids that debate entirely -- another trap to add to the ones listed above.
2) It's politically relevant. Santorum's compassionate conservatism and opposition to the use of contraception (though not its legality) are both rooted in his religious faith.
Is it possible that Perry meant something nefarious with the term? Sure, but how many Texas Republicans are we going to sneer at for being simultaneously devious and simple-minded? Isn't that the sort of incoherent either-way-you-lose mentality that ought to be limited to the groupthink on the Left?
And on the subject of the Left's lunacy, don't they look for sinister codewords in conservatives' political speech enough without any of us adding gasoline to an already blazing fire?
And do we really need to emulate their hair trigger when it comes to accusing people of bigotry merely for not falling into absolute lockstep with what's politically correct?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI can't believe someone actually posted this nonsense at The Corner. This is the type of thing I would expect to see on MSNBC not on a major conservative website.
During the last debate Perry defended the Catholic church against attacks from the Obama administration.
I mean really? Pointing out that Santorum is devout Catholic and a lousy conservative is factual. Is there really any doubt that the reason so many writers at the The National Review are predisposed to like Santorum because he's Catholic? It's the only thing I can think of that explains why so many here are dismissing his big government past.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbusePerry clearly used 'Catholic' as a compliment, not a put-down; and to me at least (as an Anglo-Catholic, who is not in either 'camp' - if there even *are* camps any more) Perry is less prejudiced than those who love Santorum because he *is* a strong Catholic. I liked Santorum too - a lot - when he was in the Senate, but his strong religious faith was just an added bonus, not the main reason I liked him.
All other things being equal, I, as most conservatives, would vote for any strong Catholic (or Evangelical Protestant, or Latter Day Saint or religiously-observant Jew) who sincerely believed and practiced their traditional faith over anyone (of whatever denomination) whose religion was a mere political convenience and charade. I believe that Rick Perry would, too.
This was a really cheap shot at Perry.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseGimme a break. Did Perry mean to draw attention to Rick Santorum's religion? So? I would very much like to know what has shaped my president's views. In fact I can't think of a better thing to know about a presidential candidate. Maybe people in SC hate Catholics. I doubt it, but if that's the case then why is it wrong for SC voters to know this? Is it wrong because SC voters are these knuckle draggers, and therefore a responsible candidate should never speak down to their level because at their core the voters of SC are just bad people? Is that the argument? Idiots.
I'll bet that Santorum finishes ahead of Perry in SC. Anyone wanna put down some money on this? By the way, I support the very flawed Santorum over the other remaining candidates.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseUh, well, here's a post from Ron Paul's web site that rather gets to the heart of the matter in a more direct sense:
External Link
And here's none other than Rick Santorum drawing attention to Rick Santorum's Catholic faith:
External Link
Oh well, I guess we have to call off today's Holy War.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIf that's his strategy I doubt it will work. I'm someone who takes my religion (Protestant Christian) very seriously but when it comes to politics I'm more concerned with the politician's stand on the issues versus his religion. If he agrees with me on the issues, then his religion doesn't matter much.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseGive credit where it's due. Perry was a bit more subtle this time.
How many Catholic candidates have charactized their opposition repeatedly in a eastern liberal Catholic state, qoute "So like I said, good man, good father...good Evangelical Protestant, but not always a good conservative."?
It's hard to give Perry the benefit of doubt. Perry played the same (not so subtle) sectarian card with Romney during the "Values Voter Summit" when he approved known religious bigot Rev. Jeffrees to introduce him and then publicly proclaimed that Jeffress' "Don't Vote For A Mormon" tirade had "hit it out of the park".
Jeffress, quote "Voting for Romney would give credibility to a cult"---"The Mormon religion is a heresy from the pit of hell."
Jeffress on the Catholic Church, quote "A counterfeit..Baby-lonian mystery religion..the genius of satan."
Why would GOP candidate Perry give a public forum at a "Values Voter Summit" to a high profile religious hate mongerer like Jeffress? Perry subsequently refused to disavow or denounce Rev. Jeffress.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseJust to be clear, do you believe that one has a moral duty to embrace as Christian any belief system that claims to be Christian, and that doing anything less is a form of hatred and bigotry?
Would that include the theologically radical, post-modern view that denies the bodily resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth? And the even more radical view that Jesus wasn't even an actual living, breathing figure of history?
Jeffress' comments are certainly provocative, but it's the mark of leftists to bring out the serious charge of hatemongering for daring to draw a line over theological doctrine.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseUm ... what about the REALLY dumb comment in this piece?
"People like Strom Thurmond and Rick voted for her."
If there was EVER a "dog whistle" to make South Carolinians vote FOR somebody, it's saying they voted the same way as Strom.
Age (and, as a result, death) is the only reason Strom hasn't been re-elected twice more since his retirement. Particularly when compared with his replacement Miss Lindsey, I imagine a lot of SCers would be more than happy to vote for his remains.
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