# Rick Santorum: We will never have the elite, smart people on our side. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 16, 2012, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-we-will-never-have-the-elite-smart-people-on-our-side/634833 "2012-09-16T00:21:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-we-will-never-have-the-elite-smart-people-on-our-side/634833/1 "2012-09-16T00:21:17Z")
Santorum today at the “Values” Voters Summit: > [@](#): > > We will never have the media on our side, ever, in this country. We will never have the elite, smart people on our side. Yeah, because intelligence is all faggy and shit. I guess Idiocracy really is a documentary. Can’t wait til the swearing in of President Camacho. [http://gawker.com/5943560/rick-santorum-on-being-conservative-we-will-never-have-the-elite-smart-people-on-our-side](http://gawker.com/5943560/rick-santorum-on-being-conservative-we-will-never-have-the-elite-smart-people-on-our-side) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-we-will-never-have-the-elite-smart-people-on-our-side/634833/2 "2012-09-16T00:24:24Z")
So he just told his supporters they’re common and stupid? Brilliant! ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-we-will-never-have-the-elite-smart-people-on-our-side/634833/3 "2012-09-16T00:32:59Z")
Yeah, and they eat that right up. _People like us Gonna make it because We don’t want freedom We don’t want justice We just want someone to love_ ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-we-will-never-have-the-elite-smart-people-on-our-side/634833/4 "2012-09-16T00:35:38Z")
They might get the media on their side if they’d, you know, stop acting like douche bags. ---
**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:** [September 16, 2012, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-we-will-never-have-the-elite-smart-people-on-our-side/634833/5 "2012-09-16T00:54:49Z")
That was not a very, uhm… smart thing to say. 🙂 If we give him the benefit of the doubt, we can read that as the elite smart people, as in a subset of the smart people who make up the elite. Other smart people, who are not part of “the elite”, might be on his side. But that’s certainly not the first thing that comes to mind when you hear or read those words. And what makes one smart person a part of “the elite” and another smart person not? Maybe a grammarian can check in with the difference between “the elite, smart people” and “the elite smart people”. It was the latter that appears in the transcript. Santorum is one scary type of conservative. I see him doing, on the conservative side of things, exactly what he says “the elite” on the other side wants to do-- tell us what we can and can’t do. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-we-will-never-have-the-elite-smart-people-on-our-side/634833/6 "2012-09-16T01:00:06Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > That was not a very, uhm… smart thing to say. 🙂 I guess that just proves his point then. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-we-will-never-have-the-elite-smart-people-on-our-side/634833/7 "2012-09-16T01:28:01Z")
I can say, for perhaps the first time in my life, that I agree 100% with Rick Santorum. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-we-will-never-have-the-elite-smart-people-on-our-side/634833/8 "2012-09-16T07:35:17Z")
If he really was using the terms sarcastically, he really should’ve had a better politician’s sense for sound bite-ism, especially when his party is stereotyped as trying to attract the, uh, low information voter. Just putting the phrase “so-called” in front would’ve done wonders for clarity. ---
**Author:** ![ClintO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5ac83/32.png) [@ClintO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ClintO)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-we-will-never-have-the-elite-smart-people-on-our-side/634833/9 "2012-09-16T12:16:50Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Yeah, and they eat that right up. > > _People like us > Gonna make it because > We don’t want freedom > We don’t want justice > We just want someone to love_ I f-ing love that movie… John Goodman singing it is the best ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-we-will-never-have-the-elite-smart-people-on-our-side/634833/10 "2012-09-16T15:17:26Z")
The Republicans nominate a man who is in the 1% of the 1%, and whose father was Governor of Michigan and CEO of American Motors and then try to claim that they are not the party of elitists. Good one! ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-we-will-never-have-the-elite-smart-people-on-our-side/634833/11 "2012-09-16T15:25:02Z")
And he’s a piker compared to their previous standard-bearer who was educated at Harvard and Yale and who’s father was the fucking President. Non-elite my ass. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-we-will-never-have-the-elite-smart-people-on-our-side/634833/12 "2012-09-16T16:16:11Z")
He _attended_ Harvard and Yale, yes. Has received degrees, this much is incontrovertible. Evidence of actual education appears to be lacking. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-we-will-never-have-the-elite-smart-people-on-our-side/634833/13 "2012-09-17T03:24:14Z")
At least the guy practices the stupidity that he preaches. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-we-will-never-have-the-elite-smart-people-on-our-side/634833/14 "2012-09-17T03:30:15Z")
Hey, if they get enough dumb people with guns on their side, it won’t matter, because we’ll have ourselves a good old fashioned police state based on torture and murder. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-santorum-we-will-never-have-the-elite-smart-people-on-our-side/634833/15 "2012-09-18T15:12:55Z")
Great bit from the Colbert Report last night. > **[Comedy Central Shows & Movies - Watch on Paramount+](https://www.paramountplus.com/brands/comedy-central/)** > > Watch the Comedy Central shows, including The Daily Show, Chappelle's Show, Strangers with Candy, RENO 911!, Drawn Together, and more. > [@](#): > > It is high time that conservatives stop trying to appeal to smart people, and letting Rick Santorum in front of a microphone is a great place to start.