Powerful: Santorum’s Personal Story About A Sick Kid And Pro-Life Politics
Abortion and other social issues aren’t the animating factors in this election cycle, and because of that this is the wrong year for Rick Santorum to run for president.
Between that fact and Santorum’s resume – this is a guy who lost his last election by 18 points, after all – it’s no surprise that he’s a blip in the polls.
But while he’s not likely to win, Santorum does have his moments on the campaign trail. This was one of them.
It came at Frank Luntz’ debate over the weekend, which was called the Iowa Thanksgiving Family Forum – as you might imagine, it focused on social issues. And it came when Santorum was asked about abortion. He was always a militant pro-life guy, but when he told the story about his youngest daughter Bella and her struggle with Trisonomy-18, he really delivered the message.
Anecdotes usually aren’t the best means by which to govern. But in this case, it’s tough not to be convinced by Santorum’s words that we’re a better country if we stand up for kids like Bella whenever we can.
I watched the entire forum a few times. Santurom is a good guy, and does show some spiritual (not just church) roots. However, his constant one upping everyone else does not work well at all in winning people over to him.
Santorum is not an also-ran in the race because he lost by so many points; he’s an also-ran because he supported Arlen Specter for re-election against Pat Toomey in 2004. When there was a real chance to remove the worst RINO in the Senate, Santorum stood with Specter, and Toomey lost by less than 2%. It’s fair to say that Santorum made the difference in that race.