Guinastasia provided specifics for his (or is it his family’s) decision. What are the reasons why for your pride? What specifically makes you so dislike Santorum?
Point of order: I believe that’s a myth. As far as I know, Santorum has never compared the two. If you’re talking about this quote:
*“In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. 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”
*
You can see that he’s actually drawing a distinction between homosexuality and non-consensual acts. I’m not 100% sure how this myth got started but he’s actually saying the diametric opposite to what most people seem to think he said. That’s not to say he hasn’t made an absolute shit ton of hysterical and offensive anti-gay statements, bevause he clearly has. But this one particular statement is always being misquoted by everyone.
P.S. - I’d vote for Santorum because I’d love to see him pit his podunk little campaign machine against the Obama juggernaut. There’s no chance he would win and I think it would be hilarious!
Santorum thinks he can tell consenting adults how to fuck in their own homes. He wants to rob women of reproductive control, essentially putting them on an animal birthing cycle. He thinks getting prayer in schools is as important as fixing the economy. He’s a meanspirited Bible addict who can’t handle his own drug. That enough for you?
Actually, that is only a start. It is not normal for someone to win elections and still inspire such strong and so many negative opinions. Some newspaper articles say he is even losing the Catholic vote in primaries. Curious and contradictory.
What other reasons define so much dislike? I am sure others exist. And why then do so many others vote for him?
This coming Tuesday will be the one of the few elections I’m sitting out since I moved to Virginia 23 years ago. I’m a life-long Democrat, and while it’s legal for me to vote in the Republican presidential primary, I don’t think it’s fair of me to do so. The point of the primary is to determine the preferences of the voters in the Republican party. That’s not me. I thought it was unfair when Republican leaders encouraged their voters to cross over in large numbers to mess with our primary. I am not going to return the unfairness.
As Dem, I find the Red Team policies crazy, as well as their candidates. I do not want to support them with my vote, even as a way to perhaps strengthen my party’s chances in the general election.
Also, Santorum and Gingrich didn’t make the ballot in Va. I could vote for Paul as a not-Romney, but for me any of the not-Romneys winning in November would be even worse than Romney winning.
Obama has no primary challenger, so there’s no Dem primary in Va. I won’t be voting Tuesday, and I’m a little sad about that. I deeply hope I’m happy enough to make up for it on the Wednesday after the first Monday in November.
I tried this in Washington State in 2000. I voted for McCain in the hopes that it would screw Bush (I’m a Democrat). I was the only one who got screwed (got put on the RNC mailing list).
Funny story, though:
After receiving all sorts of obnoxious Republican Party mail (Like the majority of the country, I was chafing at the outcome of the election) there was one that was finally the last straw. It was a survey sent via US mail, so it was paper, that the Washington State Republicans asked me to fill out on how President Bush was doing. The questions were almost Colbert-esque: Great president, or GREATEST PRESIDENT. There were no choices on the survey to express dissatisfaction with him. I wrote at the top of the survey:
“This survey is complete crap. There’s no way to express dissatisfaction with President Bush’s performance or policies. BTW, I’m a Democrat. You’ve got my name because I voted for McCain in an effort to prevent Bush from becoming president.”
I never got one scrap of mail from them again.
I think a lot of people are voting for him purely because he’s not Mitt Romney. The GOP base’s hate for Romney is really remarkably strong.
Er… Wednesday? 
Also, don’t you get to vote for your Congressman, at least?
I should have said the day after election day. The Dem congressman in my district isn’t being challenged in the party, and that primary would be a different day anyway. The US electoral system is a patchwork of odd twisty little elections, all different.
That expands on my original question. Historically, an extremist gains power by preaching a ‘them vs us’ hate. For example, Hitler used a ‘contempt for Jews verses the pure Arian race’ concept to rally his supporters. But Santorum does not appear (best I can tell) to be doing that.
From the too few replies here and elsewhere, I am not sure that is the case. But the dynamic is interesting. He apparently alienates his own base (Catholics) and still has wide support.
For example, by inciting so much voter dislike, does Santorum then inspire others - his supporters? So again to all. What other reasons cause so much dislike of Santorum? And what inspires his supporters? Can a hate of Romney, that Santorum does not preach, really inspire strong Santorum support?
Been there done that in the Michigan primary already. It didn’t help and I felt…dirty. I wanted to shower when I got home- with bleach and lye. In the end, it didn’t help, but one should never turn down a chance to give the one-finger salute to Mitt Romney.
This thread is making me wonder how much the strategy suggested by the OP contributed to Rick Santorum only losing to Mitt Romney in Ohio by 1%.
I live in Ohio, which, as Engineer Dude said, went for Romney yesterday by the slimmest of margins. I didn’t vote for a candidate because I refuse to declare a party affiliation, but I did talk to several people who said they did exactly what the OP suggests: Voted for Santorum just to skew the numbers.
Ahem! I just want to point out that I’m not suggesting or recommending that Dopers (or anyone else) cast a mischief vote. I only wanted to find out how everyone feels about this strategy.
As for why people dislike him … well, this might sound silly, but I really just don’t like the way he comes across. His policies don’t differ that substantially from many of the other Republican candidates and ex-candidates, but he just seems to have so much hatred and disgust for anyone with different values. I’m not just talking about his anti-gay rhetoric or dislike for contraception. He seems to have a disdain for any foreign country that isn’t a Christian democracy, and a militant gleam in his eye when he talks about forcing them to cooperate. I don’t think a man with that much hatred in his heart can take the country in a good direction.
Now, as for why people vote for him … he is the most trustworthy. They do not trust Romney because he’s flip-flopped on so many issues. They do not trust Gingrich for a whole host of reasons, including his infidelity, all the ethics charges brought against him, and all the times that he didn’t vote the way a “true conservative” would. They trust Paul to do what he’ll say, but they don’t trust him to keep us safe on an international level (I guess it could be some other view of his they don’t like, but foreign policy is the one I usually come across). Santorum, from what I can tell, has held the same political positions his whole life, and has lived a life consistent with what he stands for. So they vote for him.
ETA: To answer the poll, Santorum was not on the ballot in my state, but had he been, I would not have voted for him. I voted for Paul.