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Thursday, July 14, 2005

Santorum is Latin for Fool*

To paraphrase Leon Trotsky, the Moose acknowledges that Senator Santorum has the right to be stupid, but he is clearly abusing the privilege.

The Moose is referring, of course, to Santorum's charge that Boston liberalism and its alleged libertine academic environment was responsible for the Catholic Church's child sex abuse scandal. He wrote,

"Priests, like all of us, are affected by culture," Santorum wrote in a July 12, 2002 article for the Web site Catholic Online. "When the culture is sick, every element in it becomes infected. While it is no excuse for this scandal, it is no surprise that Boston, a seat of academic, political and cultural liberalism in America, lies at the center of the storm."

However, as the Washington Post points out,

"Since Santorum wrote those words, the scandal has spread from Boston to almost every diocese in the country, has forced three bishops to declare bankruptcy and has cost the church close to $1 billion. In a study for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the John Jay College of Criminal Justice reported last year that 4,392 priests had been accused since 1950 of abusing more than 10,600 children."

You have to give Santorum credit. You really have to put your mind to it to be this clueless. If there was a Nobel Prize for ignorance, Santorum would be the hands down winner. If there was a Super Bowl of Stupidity, Santorum would win the trophy. If there was an Oscar for being dumb, Santorum would get the statue. If there was a book about Santorum's intellect, it would be titled the "Unbearable Lightness of Being."

Perhaps, it was not Boston that was the culprit in undermining sexual values. It could have been the sexual behavior of Santorum's former Republican colleagues by the names of Gingrich, Packwood and Livingston. If Santorum was looking for an academic institution that promoted libertine values, rather than Harvard,he could have considered that conservative bastion of Hillsdale College that had a bit of a scandal a few years ago. From Wikipedia,

"In the late 1990's Hillsdale community was roused by the suspicious death of the daughter-in-law of then-president George Roche III. Her body was discovered in the college's arboretum. It was alleged that she had admitted to having an affair with George Roche III. Controversy still rages over whether she committed suicide or was murdered, and a book was written on the tragedy. Roche no longer works for Hillsdale College. Despite the shame brought by the incident, his labors to improve the college remain respected, and the college's sports complex, built during his presidency, bears his name."

The Moose tips his antlers to the distinguished Senator - even the stupid deserve representation - and you're doing one heck of a job!

* - A Bob Kerrey comment about Santorum a few years back provided the inspiration for this title.
-- Posted at 8:57 AM | Link to this post | Email this post