# Santorum, don't worry we don't kill off our oldies! **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [February 20, 2012, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorum-dont-worry-we-dont-kill-off-our-oldies/613388 "2012-02-20T02:34:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorum-dont-worry-we-dont-kill-off-our-oldies/613388/21 "2012-02-20T14:06:04Z")
This weekend, at a Christian Alliance luncheon in Columbus, he said that government shouldn’t make health care providers fully cover prenatal tests like amniocentesis. I believe he is also opposed to birth control pills being “free” or as it is known in the real world, ‘a covered benefit’. “One of the mandates is they require free prenatal testing in every insurance policy in America. Why? Because it saves money in health care. Why? Because free prenatal testing ends up in more abortions and therefore less care that has to be done, because we cull the ranks of the disabled in our society.” He added that the requirement was “another hidden message as to what President Obama thinks of those who are less able.” This is just so strange. First, prenatal testing in not “free”. Insurance is not “free”. Second, prenatal testing **could** lead to someone choosing to terminate a pregnancy, but it also leads to not having an ‘unpleasant surprise’ at delivery. Lots of intrauterine problems can be managed and even treated during the pregnancy. Other problems may require that special staff be present at delivery- say a pediatric cardiologist, etc. That’s the point of prenatal testing- to determine if there is a problem that need attention. Third, what does Obama have to do with any of this? Now, Santorum has a child with Trisomy 18. It was probably detected through prenatal testing and his family chose to continue the pregnancy and care for their ill daughter. More power to 'em. They also have the money and resources to do so comfortably and I do wonder if the Santorums use any government benefits to cover her care since most desperately ill babies qualify for Medicaid and sometime SS benefits. In any case, I would support any family that chooses this path and would also support any family that chooses any other path- that is their private decision. But I though he presents himself as one of those ‘small government’, ‘freedom from government tyranny’ types. Why does he continue to try to intrude upon and micromanage my private reproductive decisions? ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorum-dont-worry-we-dont-kill-off-our-oldies/613388/22 "2012-02-20T14:23:04Z")
This just in: 10% of all calls come from INSIDE THE HOUSE! ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorum-dont-worry-we-dont-kill-off-our-oldies/613388/23 "2012-02-20T14:29:53Z")
> [@Ca3799](#): > > They also have the money and resources to do so comfortably and I do wonder if the Santorums use any government benefits to cover her care since most desperately ill babies qualify for Medicaid and sometime SS benefits. Well, we know for a fact that at one point he was using government benefits and receiving free government health care (when he was in Congress). Yes, they were employee benefits, but he still suckling at the government teat. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorum-dont-worry-we-dont-kill-off-our-oldies/613388/24 "2012-02-20T14:36:14Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > I personally have no problem at all believing Santorum himself is that stupid. Is there any evidence to believe otherwise? Keep it in perspective. Remember whatsisname, Green, the unknown Dem who ran for Senate in SC? **That’s** stupid – or, rather, perhaps, just an average American shlub, but that’s still stupider than Sarah Palin or Dan Quayle, stupider than any pol who has risen to Santorum’s level **can** be. Politician-stupid is still pretty damned smart. Even dumbass W had degrees from Yale and Harvard. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorum-dont-worry-we-dont-kill-off-our-oldies/613388/25 "2012-02-20T15:03:11Z")
> [@emcee2k](#): > > He didn’t make it up. According to the linked article it was an existing urban myth. He probably heard it from someone who got it in an email forward. As was discussed in the case of the _Onion_ “Abortionplex” story, this is something that so fits the worldview of the voters his strategists want to attract, something that those voters _expect_ to be a fact of a “godless” society, that they’re willing to throw it out so it sticks. See also: Death Panels. And that’s giving him credit for being a manipulative cynic. The alternative is that he IS one of those people who indeed DO lend credibility to any claim of the absolute worst about any liberal-dominated society (e.g. that the purpose of insurance coverage for prenatal testing is to maximize abortions) and he DOES believe that euthanasia must be rampant in the Netherlands because, _“that IS what godless liberals WOULD do! Isn’t it?”_ Which is not “stupid”, it’s delusional. His statements this last weekend do seem to reinforce the notion that he sincerely believes that liberal Christianity is not just different but flat out “wrong” and false, but from that to just making up statistics is not a trivial step. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorum-dont-worry-we-dont-kill-off-our-oldies/613388/26 "2012-02-20T17:43:07Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > Maybe he needs Barbara Mikkelson as his running mate. A woman, in a position of _authority_? You sir need to abjure yourself of this heretical notion! > [@](#): > > _1 Timothy 2:12_ > _New International Version (NIV)_ > 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man;[a] she must be quiet. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorum-dont-worry-we-dont-kill-off-our-oldies/613388/27 "2012-02-20T18:02:17Z")
Perhaps Santorum is trying to define the issue his way because he is in mortal fear that we will go a different way, and euthanize the stupid.\* - But see post #24. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorum-dont-worry-we-dont-kill-off-our-oldies/613388/28 "2012-02-20T18:26:46Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > As was discussed in the case of the _Onion_ “Abortionplex” story, this is something that so fits the worldview of the voters his strategists want to attract, something that those voters _expect_ to be a fact of a “godless” society, that they’re willing to throw it out so it sticks. See also: Death Panels. > > And that’s giving him credit for being a manipulative cynic. The alternative is that he IS one of those people who indeed DO lend credibility to any claim of the absolute worst about any liberal-dominated society (e.g. that the purpose of insurance coverage for prenatal testing is to maximize abortions) and he DOES believe that euthanasia must be rampant in the Netherlands because, _“that IS what godless liberals WOULD do! Isn’t it?”_ Which is not “stupid”, it’s delusional. > > His statements this last weekend do seem to reinforce the notion that he sincerely believes that liberal Christianity is not just different but flat out “wrong” and false, but from that to just making up statistics is not a trivial step. The impression I’ve always gotten from Rick Santorum is that he is a True Believer. I suspects that he believes the 10% line, not because he’s an idiot (I don’t think he is.), but because it confirms his world view. We all tend to believe things like this, if it reinforces our world view. That’s just human nature. I also don’t think that Rick Santorum would ever deliberately lie. And that’s about the only good thing I have to say about him. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorum-dont-worry-we-dont-kill-off-our-oldies/613388/29 "2012-02-20T18:30:42Z")
I’m pretty sure that there’s no such thing as a person who wants to be President and is unprepared to lie. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorum-dont-worry-we-dont-kill-off-our-oldies/613388/30 "2012-02-20T18:32:12Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > > [@Miller](#): > > > > Oh, and I suppose you think we ought to dismantle the National Bureau for the Investigation of Escaped Mental Patients with Hooks for Hands, too? > > Yes, of course. I see no reason that hooks hanging off car doors cannot be investigated at the local level by a fat sheriff walking up the stairs in a dark and abandonded house. Walking _backwards_. Important procedural detail. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorum-dont-worry-we-dont-kill-off-our-oldies/613388/31 "2012-02-20T19:18:23Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > I’m pretty sure that there’s no such thing as a person who wants to be President and is unprepared to lie. If the well-being of the nation requires him to lie, he by God better! ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorum-dont-worry-we-dont-kill-off-our-oldies/613388/32 "2012-02-20T20:20:07Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > He also stepped on his dick over Obama’s religious beliefs and is now trying to backtrack it by using the old “I was misquoted” bullshit all those liars use. It was not meant to be a factual statement. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorum-dont-worry-we-dont-kill-off-our-oldies/613388/33 "2012-02-20T20:26:40Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > If the well-being of the nation requires him to lie, he by God better! That was always Nixon’s attitude pretty much exactly. Or, as he once put it, “The public will be told what the public needs to be told.” ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorum-dont-worry-we-dont-kill-off-our-oldies/613388/34 "2012-02-20T20:28:30Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > The impression I’ve always gotten from Rick Santorum is that he is a True Believer. I suspects that he believes the 10% line, not because he’s an idiot (I don’t think he is.), but because it confirms his world view. We all tend to believe things like this, if it reinforces our world view. That’s just human nature. > > I also don’t think that Rick Santorum would ever deliberately lie. And that’s about the only good thing I have to say about him. Indeed, everyone in this thread immediately believes that Rick Santorum would say such a thing, because it confirms our world view about conservative Republicans in general and him in particular. Not that I doubt he said it, of course, but I’m just pointing it out. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorum-dont-worry-we-dont-kill-off-our-oldies/613388/35 "2012-02-20T20:35:22Z")
Well, and because the OP includes a VIDEO OF HIM SAYING IT, but don’t let that influence you. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorum-dont-worry-we-dont-kill-off-our-oldies/613388/36 "2012-02-20T20:42:48Z")
> [@appleciders](#): > > Indeed, everyone in this thread immediately believes that Rick Santorum would say such a thing, because it confirms our world view about conservative Republicans in general and him in particular. Not that I doubt he said it, of course, but I’m just pointing it out. Well, we believe he said it, primarily because of the video evidence. However, there are some folks, who believe he’s an idiot, because that would reinforce their worldview. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorum-dont-worry-we-dont-kill-off-our-oldies/613388/37 "2012-02-20T20:52:39Z")
It’s true. I’m steadfast in my belief that people who don’t take 30 second out of their life to fact check something that sounds ridiculous are idiots. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorum-dont-worry-we-dont-kill-off-our-oldies/613388/38 "2012-02-20T20:57:45Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > When I feel that way, I just remind myself that retirement pensions are the conduit through which young, working Americans in the other states subsidize Florida’s economy. 😃 And we thank you for your support. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorum-dont-worry-we-dont-kill-off-our-oldies/613388/39 "2012-02-20T21:02:14Z")
The beauty part. By the time young folks get smart enough to catch on they’re getting screwed, its their turn to do the screwing. ---
**Author:** ![emcee2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emcee2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emcee2k)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorum-dont-worry-we-dont-kill-off-our-oldies/613388/40 "2012-02-20T22:06:08Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > The impression I’ve always gotten from Rick Santorum is that he is a True Believer. I suspects that he believes the 10% line, not because he’s an idiot (I don’t think he is.), but because it confirms his world view. We all tend to believe things like this, if it reinforces our world view. That’s just human nature. This was my thinking exactly. For him, if abortion is accepted and not done “in the shadows”, then from there’s a direct path, via slippery slope, to involuntarily euthanizing the elderly (or infanticide, or eugenics, etc). For him, this isn’t some theory, it’s what he Believes. When he heard there’s a place where it’s already happening, it fit so neatly into his worldview, he probably didn’t even consider it might be bullshit. Well, almost my thoughts exactly. I do think he’s an idiot. While I do agree this is human nature, its something that can be overcome if you’re smart enough to learn some critical thinking skills. Not entirely, but enough to not believe some crazy story like this. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorum-dont-worry-we-dont-kill-off-our-oldies/613388.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorum-dont-worry-we-dont-kill-off-our-oldies/613388.md?page=3)