Bill Press writes a great column today on Rick's book and how it shows off exactly the kind of "family values" that Rick believes in. Press' piece is appropriately titled "Family values, Santorum-style."
Here's a little taste for you:
Santorum first laments that the rest of the country is not like the U.S. Senate, with only one black member. America started falling apart, according to Santorum's myopic world view, when "sometime in the 1980s, universities began to champion the importance of 'diversity' as a central education value." Shocking! How dare universities reflect the general population?
And, besides, who needs a college education, anyway? Certainly, not single women trying to better themselves. Argues Santorum: "The notion that college education is a cost-effective way to help poor, low-skill, unmarried mothers with high school diplomas ... move up the economic ladder is just wrong." Santorum doesn't suggest what a better route out of poverty might be. Flipping burgers? Taking in laundry? Selling their bodies?
If he has little room for universities, Santorum has less room for public schools. The ideal form of education, he insists, is home schooling. Otherwise, kids risk being exposed to – God forbid! – kids who are different. "Never before and never again after their years of mass education will any person live and work in such a radically narrow, age-segregated environment," Santorum laments. He continues: "It's amazing that so many kids turn out to be fairly normal, considering the weird socialization they get in public schools." The truth, in fact, is just the opposite: Imagine how abnormal and socially unfit most kids would turn out if they didn't go to public school!
But Santorum reserves his most outrageous comments for working moms. According to the second-most powerful man in the Senate, most mothers working outside the home do so not because they have to, but because they want to. If only they were honest, Santorum argues, parents with young children "might confess that both of them really don't need to ... work as much as they do. And for some parents, the purported need to provide things for their children simply provides a convenient rationalization for pursuing a gratifying career outside the home." In other words, women who say they're working to help feed their kids are lying. They're really saving up for the big Paris vacation.
Spoken like a man totally divorced from reality. And guess what? As a United States senator – with two homes, car and driver, annual salary of $165,200 and full benefits and pension – he is divorced from reality!
Santorum has no idea what it's like for most families where both parents work because they have to and, even then, can't pay their bills at the end of the month. But what do you expect from a man who once defended his opposition to childcare tax credits with the observation: "Making people struggle a little bit is not necessarily the worst thing."
So, women of America, at last you know what the Republican Party has in store for you. Take it from Rick Santorum: no college education, no job, no career, no dignity, no self-worth. Stay home, change diapers, cook meals, scrub the floor, wash and iron your husband's boxer shorts. And, if you have any time left, watch Fox News. You may call it demeaning. He calls it "family values."
Fix THAT problem and all the subsequent problems cease to exist.
On another point: It's ironic that Santorum refers to the Constitution only when it suits him. I recently sent him a copy of Amendment 6 (the Constitution is found at www.house.gov) which expressly states that all elected and appointed government officials at all levels (state, local, and federal) and in all branches MUST NOT be subjected to a religious test. I haven't received a reply yet. Another time I registered an opinion about an issue his staffer (or he) twisted my comment around to serve his own position. It's really useless to register any opinions with him, even though he is my Senator and that's what I'm supposed to do.
There is a "to" missing as in "failed to use his position as a U.S. Senator to improve the lives of most Americans".
Cheers and keep up the great work.
Santorum states that schools are not mentioned in the Constitution and writes that he believes America's founders agreed that education would be best accomplished by the family and voluntary associations rather than the state.
Ricky was just bitching about how making 160k a year isn't enough for his family,and he is worried about college costs!
Maybe he should home college his brood!
Anyway when he gets voted out, he can go work on K street for a couple of million a year............
I think little Ricky needs to talk some mothers who've worked their way up and out of poverty. My mother who never had a college degree and came from grinding poverty knew how important having a college education was for her daughters.
Little Ricky's views need to get spread around the collar counties of Philadelphia. I dont think moderate Republicans here in these swing counties would care too much for them.
Maybe he should go LIVE with an impoverished family for a while and see what it's like when the uneducated try to work their way out of it. The first thing he'll see is people wishing for more education for themselves and for their children -- if only they could afford it, and could find the time for it.
Santorum is obviously wearing blinders of his own making. He's not living in the real world.
Have you seen this video of Rick saying he wants to raise the Social Security retirement age to above 70 years old (it's on our video page)?
http://santorumexposed.com/video/santorum94ss.wmv
Also, I hope you'll take a look at our issues page on Social Security:
http://santorumexposed.com/pages/issues/issues-socsec.php
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This was a statement made in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette by Mr. Brabender, Rick's media strategist. I disagree. Rick wasn't voted into office to pursue his own political agenda. He was voted in to representthe views of his constituents, and he just has never understood that. Plus, I don't find his views refreshing. I find them to be a step back in time -- the comments of a person who has lost touch with reality.