Mr. Consistent
David Atkins
The Times pens yet another tribute to Rick Santorum's consistency:
He objected to Mitt Romney’s insistence that the tenets of Mormonism are not in conflict with traditional Christianity. He said there was good reason to doubt the theory of evolution and argued that intelligent design should be taught in schools. And when critics questioned Rick Santorum on even the most innocuous matters, like his support for stronger federal oversight of pet stores, he fired back.
Over the last decade, Mr. Santorum has been a prolific writer of op-ed articles, letters to the editor and guest columns in some of the country’s largest and most influential newspapers. All the while he displayed many of the traits that define him as a presidential candidate today: a deep and unwavering Catholic faith, a suspicion of secularism and a conviction that the country was on a path toward cultural ruin.
A review of his columns and letters going back 10 years reveals a striking consistency in his conservative political views and spiritual guiding principles. He could be harsh, as when he mocked President Obama’s mantra of hope and change as “pathetically counterfeit.” He could throw out scientific terms whenever topics like genetics were involved. “Scientists who are pushing for embryonic stem-cell research are seeking pluripotent stem cells.” And there was even a brief turn as a film critic. “Any movie titled ‘Knocked Up’ isn’t going to win any awards for decorum, and this one doesn’t disappoint.”
He wrote in national newspapers like USA Today, Washington-centric publications like The Hill and Roll Call, religious ones like Catholic Online, and metropolitan dailies in Pennsylvania like The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Philadelphia Inquirer, which paid him as a columnist for more than two years after he was voted out of office in 2006. The column had the cheeky title “The Elephant in the Room.”
His writings were often sprinkled with Biblical and religious references. On global warming, he said, “Climate change’s Pharisees reassure us that the global-warming science is still settled.” On the reaction in Congress to his amendment on teaching evolution in schools, he wrote, “The High Priests of Darwinism went berserk.”
As Digby noted a few days ago, it's hard to see why Rick Santorum should get credit for this. I could run for office for twenty years running on a platform of eliminating NASA's budget in favor of studying flat-earth topography, penning op-eds decrying the Pharisees of heliocentrism and the High Priests of Copernicus. It wouldn't be an admirable character trait. It would make me stubbornly wrong, and crazy to boot.
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