Santorum's Dirty Little Secret

A quick google search of "santorum" or "rick santorum" will yield some strange and unexpected results that, thus far, have garnered relatively little attention. 

The internet attack began almost a decade ago during Santorum's senate career when he made anti-gay comments in an interview with the Associated Press.

Discussing a recent United States Supreme Court decision striking down an anti-sodomy law, Santorum said:

"If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything… It all comes from, I would argue, this right to privacy that doesn't exist in my opinion in the United States Constitution.... You say, well, it's my individual freedom. Yes, but it destroys the basic unit of our society because it condones behavior that's antithetical to strong healthy families.... In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. That's not to pick on homosexuality. It's not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be. It is one thing."

Here's a guy arguing that sodomy laws, which have been historically touchy (pun intended) subjects even in the most conservative states, are perfectly reasonable exercises of authority. I would argue that Mr. Santorum did not really articulate his position well in the interview, but that's a rather moot point given the reaction that ensued.


The moral of the story: be careful which groups you piss off. Google's search algorithms are no secret, and a few tech savvy members of the gay community can really ruin your day. Or week. Or month. Or presidential ambitions.

Here's a Fox News opinion article condemning the e-identity hijacking:
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/01/09/google-and-others-embrace-vile-attack-on-santorum/

And a screen shot of a Google search:

You can see that Rick Santorum's main campaign website doesn't even appear in the top 5 results. Bummer.

  

Another One Bites The Dust

Jon Huntsman made the decision to pull the plug on his presidential campaign this Monday and immediately endorsed current GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney.

“I believe it is now time for our party to unite around the candidate best equipped to defeat Barack Obama. Despite our differences and the space between us on some issues, I believe that candidate is Gov. Mitt Romney,” Huntsman told supporters at the convention center on Monday.

This will only be the beginning of a string of dropouts as primary results in S.C. and onwards continue solidify the lead of Mitt Romney. Like him or not, Mitt will probably be the man to take on Barack Obama in November. The next question becomes this: Who does he call upon to serve as his V.P?

I liked this particular Jon Huntsman ad. I've done a lot of work with political advertising, and I found this this ad spot particularly compelling. He hammers home the "congress is broken" point by labeling it a "trust deficit". To say that Americans have lost faith in some of the country's biggest institutions (Congress, Banks, Etc.) would not necessarily be off target from reality.

So, another one bites the dust. But does he make a cameo V.P. appearance? If Mitt has trouble connecting with moderates and independents, Huntsman's endorsement of Mitt may have just bought him a trip to the White House.

Chris Christie for Vice President?

When he was elected in 2009 to be governor of a state with a historic Democratic-lean, Christie quickly became YouTube sensation and bulldog of the Republican party for his blunt style. He dealt the NJEA and its supporters numerous public blows, berating them for abusing the system and holding political office holders hostage. His style quick brought about pressure for him to run for the White House in 2012. He briefly considered changing his mind against running this fall, but didn’t and instead endorsed Mitt Romney, whom he has been campaigning hard for ever since.

During an interview that is scheduled to air on Oprah Winfrey's OWN Network this Sunday, Winfrey, (who endorsed President Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential election), asked Christie what advice Christie he had for the President and what he thought about Obama’s chances for re-election.

Surprisingly, Christie warned that those who underestimate Obama as a campaigner do so at their own peril. In my mind, he was being just being honest. “He is as good a politician as I’ve ever seen … he’s really good at it. And I think he’s very charismatic. And I think he’s genuine. I think what he says he believes he believes. That’s a very dangerous politician.”

But Christie was quick to say that Obama was weak in governing, and needed to work on his relationships with adversaries — something Christie has credited with helping him pass major changes to New Jersey’s pension and health benefits systems. “If he had asked me a year ago, I would have said, “So, Mr. President, make John Boehner your best friend in the whole world. Have him over for dinner. Have him for golf regularly. Call him on the phone talk, to him, charm him, make him your pal.”

So why didn’t he run for the White House himself? Christie said he wasn’t sure that his “true compass” thought he was ready. “Is that compass telling you that you may be ready four years from now?” Winfrey asked. “Who knows? It depends on who wins. Is the president re-elected? Does a Republican win? I don’t know,” Christie said. “But in terms of me, I’ll be much more ready four years from now than I am now.”