Thank you to CBS's Face the Nation and host Norah O’Donnell for finally looping Rick Santorum into the debate about "religious freedom" and anti-gay discrimination. What the nation really needs right now is Santorum's take on all of this -- the same zealot who said that same-sex marriage will lead to man-on-dog sex. It's sort of like asking Bill Cosby to weigh-in on the campus rape issue. Nothing helpful will be achieved and only ugliness will ensue.
And so it was with Santorum, whose concept of family values includes scamming the taxpayers of Penn Hills, Pennsylvania to finance a cyber charter school education for his kids, not to mention the fact that Santorum nearly ran on a "unity ticket" in 2012 with thrice-married adulterer Newt Gingrich in spite all the terrible biblical condemnations of divorce, debauchery and philandering. Santorum has also appeared on the Rush Limbaugh Show, even though Limbaugh has been married four times and was stopped at the airport with a stash of Viagra (not in his name) during a guys-only vacation to the Dominican Republic. After all, we've been told for the last week that the Bible forbids doing business with "sinners," but maybe there's an exception carved out for political expedience and residency scams.
Before we get into his awful remarks about the RFRA, Santorum was asked about the framework deal between the P5-plus-one nations and Iran on its nuclear development. Naturally, like most Republicans, Santorum crapped all over it. But Santorum, a devout Catholic, should probably rethink his views on the deal given how Pope Francis spoke in support of the deal on Sunday, saying, "At the same time, in hope we entrust to the merciful Lord the framework recently agreed to in Lausanne, that it may be a definitive step toward a more secure and fraternal world." He hopes the deal will work. Conversely, Santorum has no hope that it'll work, suggesting that it's going to lead to "more dangerous things." Oh, and by the way, Santorum vocally supports Israel even though it offers free abortions to women ages 20-33, which is not only contrary to his Catholicism but he also believes it's a genocide and against the unborn. Oops.
What does all this mean exactly? Clearly, Christians don't really have an issue with violating some of the tenets of their faith or against expressing an opinion that's the opposite of their Church's supreme leader -- unless, that is, it has to do with a topic that makes them feel all oogy. In that case, they trot out every cherrypicked line from the Bible as an excuse to justify their ooginess. There's something particularly sinister about unwaveringly adhering to one alleged rule but mostly ignoring others -- especially ones that are condemned by the Bible far more often than same-sex intercourse.
So, yes, Santorum was asked about the Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFA)... CONTINUE READING