Rick Santorum throws in the towel; ends presidential bid

By Juanita Bratcher

My Two-Cents Worth

 

Yesterday, Rick Santorum left a race he never should have been in in the first place. He was never a real contender for the presidency because he was totally out of his league, unelectable with no erstwhile credentials in the least bit to lead this country. He was unelectable. Period. And his off-the-wall-talk was certainly out of the confines of mainstream America.

Santorum’s candidacy for president was a shaky one, a misplaced journey to nowhere. He didn’t have the minimal qualifications to be president. And he failed to realize that it takes more than conservative voters and Tea Partiers to elect a president.

During his run, Santorum made some impressive victories. But when taking a close-up look at those victories it was obvious that they were more a rejection of presidential contender Mitt Romney than a strong bump in his efforts to become president.

Santorum’s persona is that of an “angry man”, an extremist with very extreme views (which I will talk about later on in this article). He was part of an 8-ring circus that now has been tremendously dislodged by dropouts, leaving a dire hard flip flopper who thinks he can buy the country, a jokester who’s in it just for the ride, and a sideshow candidate who has had very few winnings in the Republican presidential contest. The circus never stops; it’s just that there are fewer characters in the running. And they all have one goal in mind, as they strongly declare: To defeat President Barack Obama, to make him a one-term president, and that “Any of the Republican candidates would be better than Obama.” That’s their prerogative. This is America, the greatest country in the world, where competition has always been part of the political landscape.

Santorum suspended his campaign, but he did not endorse front-runner Romney. Maybe that will come later. But how will he backtrack all the ugly things he said about his Republican colleague?

During his campaign he declared that Romney wasn’t conservative enough, that his record is identical to President Obama’s on key issues, specifically mandated health coverage.

“Pick any other Republican in the country. He is the worst Republican in the country to put up against Barack Obama,” said Santorum on the campaign trail.

During a campaign stop in San Antonio, Santorum said it would be better to re-elect Obama than Romney, which he later tried to back pedal.

“You win by giving people a choice. You win by giving people the opportunity to see a different vision for our country, not someone who’s just going to be a little different than the person in there. If you’re going to be a little different, we might as well stay with what we have instead of taking a risk with what may be the Etch A Sketch candidate of the future.”

Santorum had a run-in with a New York Times Reporter. Of that heated encounter, he said, “If you haven’t cursed out a New York Times reporter during the course of a campaign, you’re not really a real Republican.”

In 2008, Santorum made comments about Satan attacking the United States, which came back to haunt him in 2012 because of a replay of reports in the media. His mouth (remarks) had damaged him so much in primary elections that he would have had a tough row to hoe in the general election if he had ended up the Republican nominee for president.

Santorum called Obama “a snob” for saying every American child should be able to go to college. Obama’s remarks were taken out of context.

He claimed that Obama’s agenda was based on “some phony theology. Not a theology based on the Bible. A different theology.” The Obama campaign responded that Santorum’s comments were “the latest low in a Republican primary campaign that has been fueled by distortions, ugliness, and searing pessimism and negativity.”

Santorum is one that always keeps his foot in his mouth. In a campaign stop in Sioux City, Iowa, when talking about entitlements, he told a mostly-white audience that he didn’t want to “make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money.” Afterwards, he said he didn’t say black but “blah.” Right.

In Tacoma, Washington Santorum told his supporters that the Occupy movement represents “true intolerance”, that “it’s really important for you to understand what this radical element represents. Because what they represent is true intolerance.”

Santorum also accused President Obama for dividing the country (his misguided opinion) and described Obama’s fiscal 2013 budget proposal “another tax-the-rich scheme.”

Although Santorum has thrown in the towel, he vowed that “we are not done fighting.”

With Santorum throwing in the towel, hopefully, his off-the-wall talk will fade from the political landscape for now.

Juanita Bratcher is the Publisher of www.copylinemagazine.com, the author of several books, songwriter and poet. She has been a Journalist for more than 35 years covering politics, education and a wide-range of other topics.