Monday, March 18, AD 2024 11:14pm

Santorum Suspends Campaign

Well, Mr. Inevitable is indeed inevitable now.

Kudos to Rick Santorum on a race well run.  It is amazing that he managed to accomplish what he did considering his financial resources and his standing at the outset of the race.  Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to overcome Mitt Romney’s considerable resources.  Santorum would have had to run a perfect campaign to win the nomination, and he didn’t.

It is unbelievable to me that Mitt Romney is going to be the Republican nominee.  After the remarkable victories in the 2010 mid-terms and the rise of the tea party movement, this is the best the Republicans can do.

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Paul W Primavera
Tuesday, April 10, AD 2012 2:47pm

Well, Gingrich is next to drop out.

Donald R. McClarey
Admin
Tuesday, April 10, AD 2012 3:05pm

Santorum came a lot closer to winning the primary contest than today indicates. If Gingrich had dropped out after Florida, the Weathervane might well have been the one tossing in the towel today.

Donald R. McClarey
Admin
Tuesday, April 10, AD 2012 3:08pm

Kyle Miller
Kyle Miller
Tuesday, April 10, AD 2012 3:27pm

This really is the bottom line of it all…
It is unbelievable to me that Mitt Romney is going to be the Republican nominee. After the remarkable victories in the 2010 mid-terms and the rise of the tea party movement, this is the best the Republicans can do.

I would add the train wreck that is the state of the nation the incumbent has created. They are being lobbed a ball, and the best they can do is hit a single?

daledog
daledog
Tuesday, April 10, AD 2012 3:45pm

I was a Santorum supporter, but I will now campaign hard for Mitt. Obama must go. I cannot wait to see the look on Hussein’s face when the moving trucks pull up.

Donald R. McClarey
Admin
Tuesday, April 10, AD 2012 3:54pm

“I cannot wait to see the look on Hussein’s face when the moving trucks pull up.”

Thank you for that image daledog! I will be working hard also to bring that about!

DJ Hesselius
DJ Hesselius
Tuesday, April 10, AD 2012 4:10pm

“…this is the best the Republicans can do.”

My father in law was once Mayor of our town. That was, oh gosh, quite possibly before I was born actually. He retired after two years, a kind of self-imposed “term-limit” way before the term was even invented. According to the well-yellowed news clipping we have, he said he wanted to make sure others had a chance to run and do the job, since he didn’t think city government was that big a deal (meaning, that hard or complicated) a job. The people needed to get involved.

As I said, that was way back when. Things have changed. I certainly lack the confidence
to run the town. And running for President is quite a bit different than running for city government (we have had the same group of people for quite some time now in our town), or for Representative (either State or Federal level) or for Senator (State of Federal.)

There ARE a lot of good, competent, smart people out there, who have no interest in having their lives savaged in the media in order to govern the country. I think Romney may be doing as well as he is doing in the GOP primaries is because people don’t see him as a politician or political insider as much, as say, Gingrich or Santorum. They see him as a business man. Does Romney have a “conservative core” (or any “core” for that matter)? From what I have seen in my own supposedly conservative town, it seems that a lot of people don’t really have a core, or aren’t even necessarily paying attention to what is going on. Some don’t even know who our elected representative is, and he has one of the more powerful governmental positions in DC.

anzlyne
anzlyne
Tuesday, April 10, AD 2012 4:14pm

I wish he would have stayed in. I hope he will be VP.
You can say that I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.

Dale Price
Dale Price
Tuesday, April 10, AD 2012 4:16pm

As I said in another forum, this allows me to view the rest of the cycle with a sense of bemused detachment.

I put Mitt’s chances at no better than 45%, assuming the economy continues to, at best, tread water.

The press assault on his LDS beliefs is underway. Of course, the elite media will be careful to couch it in terms of “educating the public” about “this mysterious and not well understood religion.” And not, say, as part of a smear job conducted on behalf of their boyfriend on Pennsylvania Avenue. But origins, polygamy, blacks in the priesthood, secret temple ceremonies–all will be played to the worst possible effect.

In short, it will be effective at turning off independents in the same way that Al Smith’s Catholicism was used against him in 1928. A damnable shame given how fundamentally decent and patriotic your average LDS is. Frankly, I’d take your average Mormon chosen at random from the closest LDS church in favor of Mitt, but…

All told, Mitt’s electability has always been more far more apparent than real.

Mark Noonan
Mark Noonan
Tuesday, April 10, AD 2012 4:18pm

It is too bad that Santorum couldn’t quite do it – but he does have a future in politics, if he’s so inclined.

That said, it is time to rally ’round Romney – certainly, not the best possible candidate, but someone who, as the campaign has unfolded, has shown an ever clearer understanding of what is at stake. I still have grave doubts that he understands the revolution which is needed to fix our country, but it could be that events will force him in to a revolutionary path once he takes office – and you can rely on it, Romney will be sworn in on January 20th, 2013. Obama is doomed – don’t believe the stories in the MSM as they are all in the tank for Obama and will just keep churning out the “Obama is going to win” stories until November 2nd or 3rd, when they’ll start to allow a few bits of reality to be quietly reported so they can claim they reported the truth all along.

Joe Green
Joe Green
Tuesday, April 10, AD 2012 4:57pm

Mitt doesn’t have a prayer no matter who he picks as VP. This will be a rerun of McCain-Obama 2008. Santorum, who has no choice but to back Romney, will find his earlier criticisms used in Obama ads over and over. No matter how hard he tries, Mr. Etch-a-Sketch cannot erase his past.

Donald R. McClarey
Admin
Tuesday, April 10, AD 2012 5:04pm

“All told, Mitt’s electability has always been more far more apparent than real.”

There we will have to agree to disagree Dale. I expect Romney, or almost any other Republican for that matter, to cream Obama around 54-46. I expect the appeal to religious bigotry will be in the Obama arsenal and will be as futile as the other smear tactics that the Southside Messiah will bring to the fore as he flees from his record.

Mary De Voe
Tuesday, April 10, AD 2012 6:02pm

D.J. Hesselius: A statesman is imbued with our founding principles and lives for them. A politician learns where the people are vulnerable (abortion, contraception, healthcare) and takes advantage of the people and the situation. (Never let a good crisis go to waste.) The young are intimidated and fear being ridiculed by a militant evil, an atheism that will suffocate freedom in the public square, and with freedom will go Justice. Never before has such evil eliminated our freedoms. Intolerance of evil has become a hate-crime. Disguised as freedom, vice has supplanted virtue, revelry has replaced reverence, pseudo-sophistication has replaced common sense. It is the administration that has become corrupt and is using our freedom to enslave us. If 79 people could foment the Bolshevic Revolt in Russia, 79 good people on the ground level in America can restore constitutional and principled government. We do not need to support golf-playing princes on the backs of our children. We need patriots and statesmen .

G-Veg
G-Veg
Tuesday, April 10, AD 2012 6:31pm

What makes me so darned mad is that another Primary season passes with Pennsylvania’s views meaning nothing. Perhaps we wouldn’t be in the political mess we are in if our national contests were decided nationally rather than by far Left midget states inYankee land and rural towns in Iowa.

Michael P
Michael P
Tuesday, April 10, AD 2012 6:43pm

AMEN G-Veg…seems that when it comes to May and the Primaries we sit back doing something with our thumbs, twiddling specifically. This is a real disappointment. I am almost discouraged enough with the field of candidates and what appears to be the final choice that has been dropped on us Pennsylvanians to NOT vote…yes that’s what I said. HOWEVER I have a moral and civic duty to vote for the best candidate. Oh how I dread the lines to pull this lever for Mitt “Mr Wrong” Romney!!!

TommyAquinas
TommyAquinas
Tuesday, April 10, AD 2012 6:49pm

It’s times like these I wish I was able to leave the US (if this is the best we can do…)

anzlyne
anzlyne
Tuesday, April 10, AD 2012 6:51pm

G-Veg What are you talking about?—-are you looking for some national format for primaries? or just for Pennsylvania to be moved up–
I wish he would have stayed in and PA had voted for him– I think there was a concern that PA was going to go for Romney. I think if he could have stayed in for Texas things could be a lot different.
I believe the idea of taking our time and going to lots of different states over time to air out the issues is still a good idea.
If Iowa really had decided the national nominee, Santorum would be the candidate. Another concern for me is that it seems some Powers That Be wanted Romney no matter what the rural towns of Iowa or Pennsylvania want or would want..

G-Veg
G-Veg
Tuesday, April 10, AD 2012 7:05pm

What I’m not saying is that the race should be decided by PA or any other state alone or in concert with a few. What I am saying is that the flow of the GOP primary has been all wrong for some time and we had better fox it or we’ll continue to select nominees under the “electability” mantra that are as comfortable in the Democratic camp as ours. The center is a losing position if it is already held by a proclaimed centrist.

Francodrummer
Francodrummer
Tuesday, April 10, AD 2012 7:08pm

The reason you all are so dang disappointed with Romney and the abismal choice of him or The President is that there is no viable 3rd party and of course because $ dictates. I work hard to be a true centrist and love the definition of statesman Mary De Voe provided.
We cannot expect much from either side if all we hear as voters is the hatred, anger and immature rhetoric uttered to the other side by everyone not on your side.
I was for and still am for Ron Paul. I hope his son is more appealing in looks and voice.
I also hope that we get more statesmen/women instead of politicians to represent us.

G-Veg
G-Veg
Tuesday, April 10, AD 2012 7:09pm

And by “fox it” I mean “fix it,” not whatever “fox it” might mean. (I don’t do well with the I-Pad hunt and peck.)

anzlyne
anzlyne
Tuesday, April 10, AD 2012 7:22pm

I agree with you about the flow of the GOP primary– but I don’t think it is structural– or the order of the states primaries as much as it is the seeming unwillingness of Republicans to be positive and supportive and cheerleading for their own candidates– We RUIN OUR OWN FLOW our own mojo, our own momentum… why can’t Republicans just be enthusiastic once!!– always so sour dour pickle face about GOP candidates –and the pickle face that starts in the GOP makes it easy for the D’s . We shoot holes in our own guys constantly saying things like “is this the best we can do?” well that really helps.
These are actually smart stalwart good men and woman running and we always knuckle under the Ridicule used by the D’s- that is what they are good at and we are vulnerable to.. let’s find the way out of that pattern-or lose.

anzlyne
anzlyne
Tuesday, April 10, AD 2012 7:30pm

I kind of liked your “fox” it because I’m still miffed at FOX’s systemic support of Romney

G-Veg
G-Veg
Tuesday, April 10, AD 2012 7:33pm

We loved Palin. We loved Santorum. We love Rubio and Jindal. We are quite enthusiastic about candidates calling us to great things. We just can’t seem to get one of them into the White House.

I think we are properly cynical and milktoast in our support for candidates that are shoved down ur throats by those claiming great electoral wisdom. I’ll vote for Romney this time with a sour face. Who knows, he might be as conservative as the President is Socialist when he gets in office. If so, I promise to enthusiastically support a second Romney term.

Michael P
Michael P
Tuesday, April 10, AD 2012 7:36pm

I for one am Catholic and tired of being R, D, I or whatever. Romney seems like an elitist and one of the establishment.neither of which I want anymore of. If I don’t like someone I will not be forced to like them even if they (on paper) stand for what we all as Catholics are looking for in a candidate…and no I don’t want Barabas either.

TommyAquinas
TommyAquinas
Tuesday, April 10, AD 2012 7:39pm

OK, longer post.

Since Perry bowed out and Gingrinch went moon-crazy, I was really hoping (against hope?) for Santorum to come up from behind and get the GOP nomination. (If, hypothetically, Newt dropped out and endorsed Rick, would the Pennsylvanian be able to beat “The Weathervane”?) His current campaign suspension is due primarily to his daughter getting ill, which is perfectly human and understandable.

Of course, this leaves the nation with two main options for leadership:

Obama, under whose second term things will be as bad, if not, worse, than his first. An unapologetic liberal whose spending habits, by most accounts, will cause the US economy to cease to exist sometime in the 2020s. As someone who will probably still be alive by that time period, I really, really don’t want that to happen.

Romney, a.k.a. “The Etch-A-Sketch” and “The Weathervane,” whose primary talent is telling the audience what they want to hear, no matter what that is. On social issues he’s wiffle-waffly at best, a pro-choice liberal at worst. I can count on one hand what might be his (politically) redeeming features – he might be willing to respect the conscience rights of non-liberal types (I think the “taxpayer-supported abortion” part of Romney care was passed by the legislature after he vetoed it), he might try and prevent all of Europe east of Germany and Austria from falling under Russian domimation again (something which Obama, it seems, is all too willing to let happen) and the Pacific Ocean becoming a Red Chinese lake, and maybe, just maybe, he could actually cut the government spending enough so that the US still has an economy while I still live. However, given his support for an ObamaCare-style health plan on the state level back in Mass., I’m still skeptical on that last point.

Sigh … I really don’t look forward to the 2012 elections now … anyway we can legally, morally work that “line of succession” to get Speaker Boehner in the White House? 😉

anzlyne
anzlyne
Tuesday, April 10, AD 2012 7:53pm

sorry about all my huffing and puffing– I am just really sad and upset about this
I don’t think I can come up with any enthusiasm for Romney, and I have never knowingly voted for a pro-abort, which I am afraid he really is….
I’m the pickle face now

G-Veg
G-Veg
Tuesday, April 10, AD 2012 7:54pm

Our Republic survived the Depression and FDR’s administration. We really will be OK?

The President seems more and more like Mad King George every day. He is utterly delusional. His Justice Department is getting spanked again and again. The Pine case is just the latest, but by no means the last beating, Holder will suffer. His signature legislation is coming apart and the far lefties are jumping ship like stoned rats. The Quakers want us out of Afghanistan, the law schools want Guantanamo closed, and California will settle for nothing less than full immigration amnesty.

President Nero isin deep trouble.

Even if he wins reelection, he will be so badly damaged that he will have to tinker at the edges of Democracy. So Santorum isn’t the guy… Let’s hold our collective noses, vote Romney, and, win or lose, turn our attention to a GOP landslide at the next mid-term.

Michael P
Michael P
Tuesday, April 10, AD 2012 9:09pm

Paul Ryan/Marco Rubio 2016…Hey why wait?!

Foxfier
Admin
Tuesday, April 10, AD 2012 9:13pm

And by “fox it” I mean “fix it,” not whatever “fox it” might mean. (I don’t do well with the I-Pad hunt and peck.)

A “foxed” book is one that’s worn on the edges, bent binding, etc. I’d say that things have been quite solidly foxed already….

trackback
Wednesday, April 11, AD 2012 12:02am

[…] Santorum Suspends Campaign – Paul Zummo, The American Catholic […]

Bill G.
Bill G.
Wednesday, April 11, AD 2012 3:02am

I held my nose and voted for Bush.

I stuck my finger down my throat and voted for McCain.

What will I have to do to vote for Romney? I don’t want to know.

I am done with the whole Lucy and Charlie Brown football game with the elephant party. At least with King Barry, the country gets destroyed quick, and we can rebuild. The elephants are slowly killing us instead.

G-Veg
G-Veg
Wednesday, April 11, AD 2012 3:51am

I am convinced that Ryan and Rubio sat this one out solely because conventional wisdom holds that a sitting president is nearly unbeatable. I’m sure they are kicking themselves now.

Tom Geiger
Tom Geiger
Wednesday, April 11, AD 2012 7:09am

Well, the Republican party did it, and now we will all suffer for it. I, like many people I have talked to, will not vote for Mitt Romney. Since the Republican Party manipulated the primaries and purchased this ticket for Romney against the wishes of the people, they will get what they justly deserve — a brutal beat down. I can’t in good conscience vote for Obama, either. So, I will stay home this November. May God have mercy on us all.

Pedro Erik
Wednesday, April 11, AD 2012 7:54am

How the world is going to survive to another four years of Obama?

I will pray.

Romney depends on the economy. He does not have charisma and conservative record. If the employment continue to improve even that gradually, Romney is finished.

ABO is not enough to win.

anzlyne
anzlyne
Wednesday, April 11, AD 2012 11:05am

I don’t know that much about the System– but is there any way the unrest among R’s can grow enough before summer that Santorum could still be tapped for the nomination?

I do not have as good a feeling about Rubio as some of you apparently do…

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Wednesday, April 11, AD 2012 12:25pm

“Whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.”

If we poor, exiled children of Eve are happy in this vail of tears, we might not be happy in the Hereafter.

Bill G: You may have it correct. One may defy the “Gods of the Copy Book Headings” only in the short term. In the long term, we are all dead.

Obama will use the (open mike) flexibility to finish the job – destroy the American Dream to control we the serfs.

The main hope is the GOP takes the Senate and keeps the House majority.

Paul W Primavera
Wednesday, April 11, AD 2012 1:01pm

Folks,

There is good commentary on Romney at the Crisis Magazine web site:

http://www.crisismagazine.com/2012/romneys-good-enough

Hey, Romney IS better (or less bad) than Obama (can’t believe I wrote that, but it’s true).

Anzlyne
Anzlyne
Wednesday, April 11, AD 2012 7:47pm

here’s Tony Perkins take on Santorum’s suspension of his campaign –

http://www.frcaction.org/get.cfm?i=MD12D02

Bill G.
Bill G.
Wednesday, April 11, AD 2012 11:12pm

“And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return! “

Paul D.
Paul D.
Thursday, April 12, AD 2012 7:57am

Excellent recap and basic analysis of the Santorum campaign by Mr. Bill O’Reilly. There are a number of lessons to be had from Santorum’s run:

http://fxn.ws/IGNpGp

anzlyne
anzlyne
Thursday, April 12, AD 2012 10:57pm

Mr. Bill O’Reilly’s idea that Santorum failed because Santorum answered questions only go so far- Santorum could have joked the questions off a few times and the press would have mocked that– for not answering.
Whatever he answered would have been wrong according to them.
O’Reilly, in effect, piled on by blaming Santorum.
O’Reilly repeatedly said that most of the candidates should get off the stage. After people complained about lack of respect and recognition of the other candidates he included Santorum and Gingrich just barely– His look-down-his-nose attitude about Santorum continued though, even when he was obligated to cover him after Santorum had some success (even without FOX kingmakers)
He smiles genially while letting the whole audience know that Santorum is really not quite Big Time, explaining to us about the rookie mistakes, generously adding that he Himself has also made rookie mistakes.

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