# Rick Santorum for POTUS 2016 thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 27, 2015, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-for-potus-2016-thread/720963 "2015-05-27T16:54:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-for-potus-2016-thread/720963/1 "2015-05-27T16:54:05Z")
[Yep, the ol’ Anal Leaker is back on the campaign trail](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GOP_2016_SANTORUM?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-27-11-16-46)! From the linked article, it seems as if his main selling point is “I came in 2nd once”. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-for-potus-2016-thread/720963/2 "2015-05-27T17:18:47Z")
Well, the chances of one of the Republican candidates saying something awesomely stupid during the campaign went from 97.6% to 99.35%. You heard it here first…😉 Now, if Rick Perry will officially enter the race (we’ll find out in June), I think we can get it to 99.9%… ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-for-potus-2016-thread/720963/3 "2015-05-27T19:08:00Z")
This is a waste of a thread. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-for-potus-2016-thread/720963/4 "2015-05-27T21:24:13Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > [Yep, the ol’ Anal Leaker is back on the campaign trail](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GOP_2016_SANTORUM?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-27-11-16-46)! > > From the linked article, it seems as if his main selling point is “I came in 2nd once”. So…[Santorum](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campaign_for_%22santorum%22_neologism) was “number 2?” ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-for-potus-2016-thread/720963/5 "2015-05-27T21:32:07Z")
> [@jasg](#): > > This is a waste of a thread. What??? Think of all the well-considered policy positions; the inspiring, patriotic snippets from the speeches he will make; the thoughtful, nuanced positions on social and cultural issues… How can you say that Rick Santorum will give us nothing to talk about during this campaign? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-for-potus-2016-thread/720963/6 "2015-05-27T21:55:52Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > What??? Think of all the well-considered policy positions; the inspiring, patriotic snippets from the speeches he will make; the thoughtful, nuanced positions on social and cultural issues… How can you say that Rick Santorum will give us nothing to talk about during this campaign? 😕 He’s actually quite a bit of a policy wonk. You might not agree with him, but he’s no Sarah Palin. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-for-potus-2016-thread/720963/7 "2015-05-27T22:38:12Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > He’s actually quite a bit of a policy wonk. You might not agree with him, but he’s no Sarah Palin. This. He’s been pretty serious at least in rhetorical terms about being supportive of the working-class in a conservative way. I certainly don’t plan on voting for Santorum, but he’s not the worst the GOP could nominate this election cycle. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-for-potus-2016-thread/720963/8 "2015-05-27T22:48:18Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > He’s actually quite a bit of a policy wonk. You might not agree with him, but he’s no Sarah Palin. Santorum’s positions on contraception, homosexuals, women’s rights are all, um, interesting. [ > [@Rick Santorum](#): > > One of the things I will talk about, that no president has talked about before, is I think the dangers of contraception in this country… Many of the Christian faith have said, well, that’s okay, contraception is okay. It’s not okay. It’s a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be. > [@Rick Santorum](#): > > If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual [gay] sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything. Does that undermine the fabric of our society? I would argue yes, it does. … That’s not to pick on homosexuality. It’s not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be. It is one thing. > [@Rick Santorum](#): > > In far too many families with young children, both parents are working, when, if they really took an honest look at the budget, they might find they don’t both need to. … What happened in America so that mothers and fathers who leave their children in the care of someone else — or worse yet, home alone after school between three and six in the afternoon — find themselves more affirmed by society? Here, we can thank the influence of radical feminism. ]([9 controversial Rick Santorum quotes | The Week](http://theweek.com/articles/479083/9-controversial-rick-santorum-quotes)) ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-for-potus-2016-thread/720963/9 "2015-05-28T11:18:23Z")
All of which is irrelevant to Mace’s point. Disagree with him all you want. But you won’t find Santorum unprepared or incapable of making an argument. I’m as lefty as they come and I actually find I like Santorum. Get me, I don’t want him to be President, but he has the balls to be who he is and say it. Many other candidates I get the impression that they’re empty suits for whom positioning is more important than beliefs. I don’t get that buzz from Santorum. At least I’d know exactly who I was voting against. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-for-potus-2016-thread/720963/10 "2015-05-28T11:20:20Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > All of which is irrelevant to Mace’s point. Disagree with him all you want. But you won’t find Santorum unprepared or incapable of making an argument. > > I’m as lefty as they come and I actually find I like Santorum. Get me, I don’t want him to be President, but he has the balls to be who he is and say it. Many other candidates I get the impression that they’re empty suits for whom positioning is more important than beliefs. I don’t get that buzz from Santorum. At least I’d know exactly who I was voting against. I think he’s a true believer, but that doesn’t make him more attractive to me than a charlatan spouting the same rhetoric. I might even prefer a charlatan with a better grasp of the real world. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-for-potus-2016-thread/720963/11 "2015-05-28T11:28:58Z")
I think Santorum has a valid case to be the nominee- it’s his turn. Had his Iowa win in 2012 been known at the time, it could have been him last time. But he won more states than anyone but Romney, so like Reagan, McCain, and Romney before him he can lay claim to the nomination by virtue of the silver medal in the previous cycle. True Believers like this guy so there isn’t a lot of room to go on his right and there aren’t many primary voters on his left. I still think it’s Jeb’s to lose but Santorum has the potential to be the nominee. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-for-potus-2016-thread/720963/12 "2015-05-28T11:34:10Z")
Being of the female persuasion, I find his opinions on many things to be deeply troubling. I sincerely hope that most of the US agrees with me that Santorum is NOT the way of the future. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-for-potus-2016-thread/720963/13 "2015-05-28T12:25:10Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I think Santorum has a valid case to be the nominee- it’s his turn. Had his Iowa win in 2012 been known at the time, it could have been him last time. But he won more states than anyone but Romney, so like Reagan, McCain, and Romney before him he can lay claim to the nomination by virtue of the silver medal in the previous cycle. True Believers like this guy so there isn’t a lot of room to go on his right and there aren’t many primary voters on his left. I still think it’s Jeb’s to lose but Santorum has the potential to be the nominee. Whose “turn” was it in 2000? That is, who came in second to Dole in the 1996 GOP race? ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-for-potus-2016-thread/720963/14 "2015-05-28T12:33:38Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Whose “turn” was it in 2000? That is, who came in second to Dole in the 1996 GOP race? Pat Buchanan, who had left the Republican Party by then. He ran as the Reform Party candidate in 2000, was entitled to the ballot access and federal campaign funds inherited from Perot’s showing, and led it to 0.4% of the vote. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-for-potus-2016-thread/720963/15 "2015-05-28T13:50:52Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Whose “turn” was it in 2000? That is, who came in second to Dole in the 1996 GOP race? There are some aberrations to be sure. The thing was that in 2000, the money went to Bush early on and stayed with him. He was anointed and there was no way that they would go with Buchanan. The moneyed class may have a similar aversion to Santorum so his silver medal may count for less this time out. But those darn primary voters may not agree with the elite and vote Santorum in regardless. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-for-potus-2016-thread/720963/16 "2015-05-28T14:58:07Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > There are some aberrations to be sure. The thing was that in 2000, the money went to Bush early on and stayed with him. He was anointed and there was no way that they would go with Buchanan. The moneyed class may have a similar aversion to Santorum so his silver medal may count for less this time out. But those darn primary voters may not agree with the elite and vote Santorum in regardless. To quote the illustrious DFH Bard of Nipples, MN: “Universe, I know I haven’t always been the best pantheist…” ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-for-potus-2016-thread/720963/17 "2015-05-28T16:47:26Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I think Santorum has a valid case to be the nominee- it’s his turn. Had his Iowa win in 2012 been known at the time, it could have been him last time. But he won more states than anyone but Romney, so like Reagan, McCain, and Romney before him he can lay claim to the nomination by virtue of the silver medal in the previous cycle. True Believers like this guy so there isn’t a lot of room to go on his right and there aren’t many primary voters on his left. I still think it’s Jeb’s to lose but Santorum has the potential to be the nominee. The thing is that the 2012 primary was different from the historical one. In most of the other “Next in line” candidates, of the past, the previous primary was really a two man race long before the primaries. In 2012 there was a series of non-Romney candidates who would have a sudden rise to the top as conservatives thought they had found their “great white hope”, only to fall as soon as too much light was shed on them. Santorum was just the one that was lucky enough to have his rise to prominence coincide with the opening of primary season. If the primaries had been earlier, Bachmann, Perry, or god forbid Herman Cain could have been “next in line”. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-for-potus-2016-thread/720963/18 "2015-05-28T20:04:28Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **kaylasdad99** : > > To quote the illustrious DFH Bard of Nipples, MN: I know whom you’re quoting, of course, but… DFH? Is that “Democrat Farm Hippie”? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-for-potus-2016-thread/720963/19 "2015-05-28T20:12:44Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > From the linked article, it seems as if his main selling point is “I came in 2nd once”. That ain’t what **she** said! ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2015, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-for-potus-2016-thread/720963/20 "2015-05-29T00:55:01Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > …Is that “Democrat Farm Hippie”? Democrat? Couldn’t think of something to say about my Mamma? Wimp-ass spineless _menshevik_ pencil neck Broder-bait take too long to type? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-for-potus-2016-thread/720963.md?page=2)