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Santorum Savonarola

Rick Santorum appears to imply that Barack Obama is a crypto-Hitler who has bamboozled the masses into thinking that he’s not so bad after all. Good grief. The thing is, I don’t believe Santorum is cynical at all. I think he believes all of it. Noah Millman speaks to why even though I’m on the […]

Rick Santorum appears to imply that Barack Obama is a crypto-Hitler who has bamboozled the masses into thinking that he’s not so bad after all. Good grief. The thing is, I don’t believe Santorum is cynical at all. I think he believes all of it. Noah Millman speaks to why even though I’m on the same side as Rick Santorum on a number of social issues, the guy makes me nervous:

I find the highly ideological character of Santorum’s mind to be quite scary, much scarier than the specifics of his views.

I wouldn’t have said “scary,” but the milder “off-putting.” But it’s really off-putting. Santorum doesn’t so much hold views as grips them with white trembling knuckles. In him there is something of Savonarola: a righteous and religious man who spoke out courageously against the moral corruption of his age, but who got carried away when his pious rectitude turned into rigidity, and ultimately into fanaticism.

Pete Wehner, also a social conservative, gets it too:

It’s almost impossible to overstate how important tone and countenance are when it comes to social issues. There is a great deal to be said for those who care about the cultural condition of American society. But the arguments on behalf of moral truth need to be made in ways that are winsome, in a manner that is meant to persuade. What this means, in part, is the person making the arguments needs to radiate some measure of grace and tolerance rather than condemnation and zeal. What we’re talking about is using a light touch rather than a heavy hand. To understand the difference, think about how the language (and spirit) of the pro-life movement shifted from accusing people of being “baby killers” to asking Americans to join a movement in which every unborn child is protected in law and welcomed in life. Social conservatism, if it ever hopes to succeed, needs to be articulated in a way that is seen as promoting the human good and advancing human dignity, rather than declaring a series of forbidden acts that are leading us to Gomorrah.

UPDATE: Ross Douthat:

All things being equal, a populist style that’s at odds with the Acela corridor’s attitudes and values can often play well in the heartland. But no presidential candidate can succeed without a modicum of favorable media coverage, and so a successful populist needs to be able to disarm elite journalists (as Huckabee so expertly did, schmoozing on The Daily Show and elsewhere) as often as he alienates them. And nobody has ever used the word “disarming” to describe Rick Santorum’s approach to politics.

That’s because the former senator has the instincts of an activist, rather than of a president or statesman. Whether the topic is social issues or foreign policy, his zeal exceeds his prudence, and as a result his career is littered with debating society provocations (referencing “man-on-dog” sex in an argument about gay marriage, using his doomed 2006 Senate bid to educate Pennsylvanians on the evils of Hugo Chavez, etc.) that have won him far more enemies than friends. His passion for ideas and argument often does him credit, but in a national campaign it would probably do him in.

 

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