Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Race to Watch: Pennsylvania
The race in Penn State will undoubtately be the one to have the nation's attention come November 7th. This will be primarily because of the nature of the Republican incumbant, Junior Senator Rick Santorum, and of the extremely close race that the polls are predicting
The fate of Rick Santorum is important not just because of his senior party position in the Senate (chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, number 3 behind Leader and Majority Whip) and also not just for his celebrity and controversial nature. The greater underlying issue is in my mind the extent to which Santorum exemplifies "Bushism", an as such, in his defeat or re-election we can draw wider conclusions about the President, the direction of the nation since 2000, and the makeup of the Republican Party itself.
Santorum, like Bush, is known for his arch social conservatism, his ardent support for the War in Iraq and the response of the federal government to terrorism, and his somewhat slack and uncommitted approach to the limited govt - or libertarian - cause. (To get an idea of his social conservatism: ee called the Defence of Marriage Amendment - marriage is between one man and one woman - the "ultimate national security", wrote in the New York Times that Intelligent Design is a "legitimate scientific theory", and has opposed the idea that the Constitution contains a 'right to privacy', even to the extent that homosexual acts in private are not protected)
The race becomes even more interesting when one learns that Bob Casey, Santorum's Democratic challenger, is also Pro-Life. The subsequent worry is that the great Pro-Life juggernaut will concentrate its energies elsewhere, and the mass of support Santorum may have expected otherwise will be split between him and his challenger. However, as National Review has pointed out, Santorum's Pro-Life record is more solid than Casey's)
I would contend that, as it stands most las a referendum on the compassionate conservatism than any other race movement, this is the race to watch
The fate of Rick Santorum is important not just because of his senior party position in the Senate (chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, number 3 behind Leader and Majority Whip) and also not just for his celebrity and controversial nature. The greater underlying issue is in my mind the extent to which Santorum exemplifies "Bushism", an as such, in his defeat or re-election we can draw wider conclusions about the President, the direction of the nation since 2000, and the makeup of the Republican Party itself.
Santorum, like Bush, is known for his arch social conservatism, his ardent support for the War in Iraq and the response of the federal government to terrorism, and his somewhat slack and uncommitted approach to the limited govt - or libertarian - cause. (To get an idea of his social conservatism: ee called the Defence of Marriage Amendment - marriage is between one man and one woman - the "ultimate national security", wrote in the New York Times that Intelligent Design is a "legitimate scientific theory", and has opposed the idea that the Constitution contains a 'right to privacy', even to the extent that homosexual acts in private are not protected)
The race becomes even more interesting when one learns that Bob Casey, Santorum's Democratic challenger, is also Pro-Life. The subsequent worry is that the great Pro-Life juggernaut will concentrate its energies elsewhere, and the mass of support Santorum may have expected otherwise will be split between him and his challenger. However, as National Review has pointed out, Santorum's Pro-Life record is more solid than Casey's)
I would contend that, as it stands most las a referendum on the compassionate conservatism than any other race movement, this is the race to watch
# posted by Chris Hughes @ 10:49 am 
