Rick Santorum: I Condemn The People Who Booed That Soldier

I still disagree with Rick Santorum’s position on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, but I’m glad he said this:

H/T: Talking Points Memo

FILED UNDER: 2012 Election, US Politics, , ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. legion says:

    Take a close look at the tape again, Doug. He not only _heard_ the boos – he visibly winces when they start – he deliberately waits for them to end before he starts speaking.

    Once again, you’ve given undeserved credence to a lying coward. When will you ever learn?

  2. PD Shaw says:

    @legion:I’m not interested enough to go watch, but doesn’t the guy have some sort of facial tick, that he seems to wince or squint a lot?

  3. superdestroyer says:

    The real question is why was a liberal homosexual getting to ask a question at a Republican primary debate. Do conservatives issues get covered at Democratic party debates? Do Republicans ever get to ask questions at Democratic debates.

    The Google debates has been the same in the past. Allow liberal Democrats to ask questions of Republicans but keep Democrats protected by only allowing members of core Democratic blocs to ask questions.

  4. legion says:

    @PD Shaw: He gets tetchy every time the subject of sex comes up in any context whatsoever. I think there’s something pathological there…

  5. Janis Gore says:

    @superdestroyer: Take it up with Stephen Hill. Santorum wouldn’t.

  6. Racehorse says:

    “That wasn’t good” (John Wayne, “Rio Bravo”)

  7. Fiona says:

    @superdestroyer:

    And you know that Sgt. Hill was liberal because he’s gay and all gays are ipso facto liberal? And no Republican could possibly support the repeal of DADT?

    Faux News was moderating the debate.They chose to air the question and to aim it first at Santorum. I’m guessing somebody at Faux got a real kick out of seeing him squirm.

  8. Anonne says:

    @superdestroyer: Right, as if being gay automatically makes him “liberal.” Not aware of a group called GOProud, are you?

  9. Gustopher says:

    It takes a lot of courage to stand there, do nothing, and only when the media start to notice that people were booing a service member while Santorum stood by and said nothing, only then condemn the people booing.

    Where I come from, we’ve got a word for cowardly filth like that — “Santorum”. And it’s spreading.

  10. superdestroyer says:

    @Fiona:

    Homosexuals voted overwhelmingly for President Obama in 2008 and are some of the biggest donors for the Democratic Party. The homosexual groups that claim to be conservatives always appear to have the intgerest of the Democratic Party ahead of any conservatives. Homosexuals claiming to be conservatives always seem to be motivated by a need to embarrass Republicans and help Democrats.

    The debates should be about helping Republicans choose who will be nominated as their candidates. Allowing Democratic activiist and members of some of the most powerful blocks in the Democratic Party does not help that at all.

    I doubt if anyone would ever get the chance of ask why President Obama sends his own children to a school with no children of illegal aliens while support open borders and unlimited immigration. Why not ask Democrats that if they believe in more taxes will make public schools better why they send their own children to private schools and private universities.

  11. An Interested Party says:

    Poor superdestroyer…so worried that a gay man or a Mexican is going to walk up to him and say, “Boo!” People like him are going to become more and more frightened as this century progresses…

  12. Fiona says:

    @Superdestroyer:

    I doubt if anyone would ever get the chance of ask why President Obama sends his own children to a school with no children of illegal aliens while support open borders and unlimited immigration.

    Open borders? Yet another conservative myth. Per Reuters: “The Obama administration had deported about 1.06 million as of September 12, against 1.57 million in Bush’s two full presidential terms.”

    http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/20/us-obama-immigration-idUSTRE78J05720110920

    Why not ask Democrats that if they believe in more taxes will make public schools better why they send their own children to private schools and private universities.

    They should be asked such questions. It’s fair game. You’re acting as if the question itself wasn’t legitimate. But, given that DADT has been repealed and most of the Republican candidates opposed the repeal, some vehemently, it’s perfectly legitimate to ask them whether they’d let the repeal stand or try to reinstate previous policy. If it makes them squirm, so be it. The repeal has support, even among Republicans.

  13. superdestroyer says:

    @Fiona:

    The point is no one is every going to ask a Democrat about why their children attend elite, very white private schools because no Democratic party voter cares about the performance of public schools. All the Democrats care about is using the public schools for jobs programs, contracting opportunities, and for social engineering experiments. Thus, Democratic Party primary candidates are always asked more spending, no standards, and no questions about performance.

    Thus, once again, why are Democrats always getting the chance of ask Republican candidates questions meant to embarrass Republicans but Republicans never get the chance.

  14. superdestroyer says:

    @An Interested Party:

    The question is not whether people are going to become more frightened but what actions will the take as they become more frightened. You may want to ask the City of Detroit or Baltimore Maryland what happens when all of the middle class white people become too scared to live some place.

    Also, you want want to ask yourself what happens when a country has an economic system that the population cannot support.

  15. Lew says:

    Santorum under pressure to answer the question but the self righteous “others” on the platform to include the moderators didn’t have the temerity to chasten the audience.
    Not convinced now that the Conservatives are any more Patriotic then anyone else.
    Especially since I am willing to bet there is nobody in their family in harms way.
    The other thing of interest is that there are gays on FOX’s staff and silence I would think was a slap in the face to them too.

  16. Just nutha ig'rant cracker says:

    While I agree with you, Doug, Santorum’s response is a day late and a dollar short. To whit, a colleague of mine my previous school post has been an outspoken critic of US policy–both Democrat and Republican for as long as I have known him. I suspect that he may be the last remaining true Marxist that I know and was sanctioned by the schools administration for his vocal opposition to the Iraq War. He has never once failed to say “thank you for your service to this country” to any military person he has ever met, even changing the subject and interrupting his own thoughts to do so.

    Rick Santorum and the rest of those loons and chicken hawks up on the stage need to cultivate the same quality. Thank the soldier first, then answer the question with your bigoted homophobic rant. Order of response is everything!

  17. Rick Almeida says:

    @superdestroyer:

    The debates should be about helping Republicans choose who will be nominated as their candidates.

    Since most states are open primary states, it would probably behoove any candidate to be able to field questions from all across the political spectrum.

  18. Fiona says:

    @superdestroyer:

    I guess it’s much easier to resort to ridiculous generalizations about liberals and gays than to argue a point with some level of nuance. Given that the debate was moderated by Republican-friendly Faux News, I think the point you’re trying to make is moot. In this case, Republicans were embarrassing their own.

  19. superdestroyer says:

    @Rick Almeida:

    But the point of the question was to embarrass the candidates and score points for the Democrats. It has nothing to go with helping conservatives choose their own candidates.

    Once again, where are the questions from conservatives during any Democratic Party primary debate.

  20. superdestroyer says:

    @Fiona:

    There is no generalizations. Look at Senator Brown from Mass. He has been consistent in supporting special rights for homosexuals, yet all of the donations are doing to do to Democratic opponent, all of the support from the homosexual community will go to Brown’s Democratic opponents and my guess is the GOProud will find a way to embarrass Brown in order to help the Democrats.

    Homosexuals are just natural liberals who want to tell others how to live, want to mandate all sorts of social engineering programs, and want the government to be as large as possible because homosexuals see themselves as the order givers and not order takers.

  21. Scott O. says:

    @superdestroyer:
    Has anyone told you lately that you’re insane?

  22. Janis Gore says:

    The point was to draw attention to Megan Kelly’s new haircut, which I think is better and very attractive.

  23. Fiona says:

    @superdestroyer:

    Homosexuals are just natural liberals who want to tell others how to live, want to mandate all sorts of social engineering programs, and want the government to be as large as possible because homosexuals see themselves as the order givers and not order takers.

    I think you’re proving my point about ridiculous generalizations. I won’t even bother pointing out the homophobia inherent in your remarks. Good grief!

  24. Trumwill says:

    Do a google of gay vote and there will be a Huffington Post articles with links to exit polls suggesting between 1 in 5 and 1 in 3 gays vote Republican*. That means there is a non-trivial chance that the guy, a military guy at a Republican debate, was indeed a Republican voter.

    * – I’d include them, but they put my last comment in moderation.

  25. superdestroyer says:

    @Trumwill:

    Trying to do exit polls on a group that makes up a couple of percent of the population and the exist polls are asking individuals to self-identify.

    A better way to see if to look at districts that have a larger concentration of homosexuals and see how the Republicans are doing in those districts. In you look at places like San Francisco http://www.city-data.com/top2/c11.html, it is easy to see that the Republicans. The Republicans are complete failures in such communities.

    Once again, why did someone let a Democratic Party activist ask a question during a Republican primary debate?

  26. Bleev K says:

    Once again, why did someone let a Democratic Party activist ask a question during a Republican primary debate?

    Please, apply this to yourself and go “discuss” with people of your own, in a cave with two bears, a monkey, a broken TV and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

  27. Jaxebadt says:

    By superdestroyer’s standards, Herman Cain is probably a liberal Democrat as well… after all, statistics say he should be, and statistics predict everything!