Sen. Santorum’s Campaign is Weakened

by Deborah Kay Corey

Yesterday was a weird day politically, this writer never heard the word “satan” used so many times in the political world. But after, the audio of Rick Santorum saying the U.S.A. had been targeted by the evil one back in ‘ 08 surfaced within the last few days. The word was all over this blogger’s Facebook pages.

The audio taken from a speech at Ave Maria University in ’08 was disturbing to listen to for a variety of reasons. On one hand it sounded no different than what any bible bound evangelical preacher might say to a church audience. On the other hand it sounded no different than what any bible bound evangelical preacher might say to a church audience. Get it?

His phrasing was not that of a moderate preacher, nor even a more scholarly one and worse the audio clip hit the web hard. IF you haven’t heard the audio by now or read about it, you’ve been under a rock. No doubt some liberal found the audio and got it passed around. But the reality is that Americans, even Christian Americans get a little bit nervous when they hear someone who is running for office speak in that sort of language.

And more importantly, Sen. Rick Santorum has yet to prove that he understands and will implement sound economic policy which is the most important element in this election. People are tired, underemployed, unemployed, pushed to the limit at work or just sick of having family members who are in those situations at this time. And the rising cost of gas as well as many other issues related to the economy like inflation are at the forefront of voter’s minds.

Sweeping speeches on God, our founders and religion are nice for some but they don’t get to the issues at hand. They do not address whether he can fight Obama in a debate, responsibly represent the party or whether he really understands fiscal conservatism. And they certainly don’t prove whether he can be a competent administrator. Most Libertarians are convinced at this point that he is anti-Libertarian and many Republicans blame him for a variety of errors while in the U.S. Senate which showed he was not very conservative.

If you look at the numbers in this article from U.S. News and World Report it shows that only 22 percent of Americans are pleased with Obama. That is only slightly higher than Jimmy Carter and one point higher than George H.W. Bush’s lowest approval ratings. The seed of discontent is the economy for most voters.

Sen. Rick Santorum seems like a nice christian guy, but that does not encompass the issues and it is only one part of a much bigger conservative pie. It’s not about him being Catholic or pro-life.

For that matter, the wily Ron Paul has put out an attack ad on Sen. Santorum which alleges that he actually brokered a deal that gave money to planned parenthood.

All of this of course provides some lovely material for tonight’s debate.

Deborah Kay Corey lives in the Washington, DC area. She has been published in Human Events, The Washington Examiner and National Review Online -she is also a former member of The Washington Times Editorial Board. She is the Blog Director for GOP Rockstars of the DCYRs.  She runs her own blog site at www.deborahcorey.com . You may contact her at deborah.corey@gmail.com. Deborah Corey is currently consulting and looking for a regular full time position.