Politiks As Usual: In The News 8/20/12

'Solid South' No Longer Just All-Red Or All-Blue

Rick Santorum Says Biden Played The ‘Race Card’

Soledad O’Brien’s Progressive Nostalgia and the Collapse of CNN

Eight Arguments You've Probably Heard Against Mitt Romney

The Liberal Sisterhood of the Plundering Hacks

HuffPo Attacks Family Research Council as ‘Hate Group’ Even After Shooting

Peggy Noonan: If Biden Were Republican Meet the Press's Topic Would Be 'How Stupid Is This Person?'

Trump Fires Back at Obama Campaign Smear

Liberal 'Media Matters' Writer Calls SEALs Gutless for Criticizing Obama

DC Shooting: Evidence of Media Bias? 

Is PolitiFact Campaigning for Obama? 

Does Ryan Have a “Catholic Problem”?

Rick Santorum Suspends Campaign

He gave it a good run tho:

Rick Santorum's decision to drop out of the Republican presidential race came after he spent the holiday weekend evaluating the race with his family, who were grappling with the latest hospitalization of his 3-year-old daughter Bella.


Santorum's path to the nomination hinged on three puzzle pieces falling neatly in place, multiple sources close to the campaign told CNN, a prospect that grew dimmer with each passing day.


The campaign, eagerly looking ahead to a slew of conservative leaning states that vote in May, had hoped that Texas would adjust its proportional primary rules and award its treasure trove of 155 delegates on a winner-take-all basis -- but Texas Republicans dismissed the idea.


Santorum was also hoping that Gingrich, who has also been competing for the same conservative anti-Romney voters, would drop out of the race, something the former House Speaker shows no signs of doing.


Finally, the campaign understood that a victory in Santorum's home state of Pennsylvania on April 24 was crucial.


Romney's poll numbers have lately creeped up in Pennsylvania and his campaign was in the process of unleashing a more than $2 million negative ad blitz against Santorum across the state, but Santorum aides said they remained confident that they would pull out a win on their home turf.


His campaign reported it was nearly $1 million in debt last month and would have been forced to drain its campaign account to compete with Romney and his allies on the costly Pennsylvania airwaves, another factor in Santorum's decision.


"The Romney team was putting a lot of money out there," said one Santorum adviser who did not want to be named discussing internal decision-making. "The budget was a factor."


Despite trailing in the delegate count, Santorum vowed as recently as last week to remain in the race until one candidate reached the 1,144 delegates needed to capture the nomination.


However, during a conference call with his wife, Karen, campaign manager and staff before his announcement on Tuesday, Santorum said the decision was based on personal and political factors, according to a Santorum source. A campaign adviser also said the financial state of the campaign probably played a role in the conclusion.


"We made a decision over the weekend that while this presidential race for us is over for me and we will suspend our campaign effective today, we are not done fighting," Santorum said during his speech in Gettysburg on Tuesday. "We will continue to fight for those voices for those Americans who stood up and gave us that air under our wings."

RELATED: Breaking: Santorum to suspend campaign; Update: No endorsement; Update: Romney congratulates Santorum

Politiks As Usual: In The News 4/9/12

Veteran Newsman Mike Wallace Dead At 93

Santorum Hoping To Resume Campaign This Week After Tending To Daughter

Ousting Obamacare Would Protect Us

Tebow Draws Big Crowd To Texas Easter Service

That ‘Inadvertent’ Editing at NBC, NBC Fires Producer Over Edited Trayvon Martin Call

Gingrich Says Romney ‘Most Likely’ Nominee, Would Back Him In Nov.

Republican Challenge With Blacks And Hispanics

Baptist Leader Schools Andrew Sullivan: Evangelical Tie to GOP 'Pales in Comparison' to 'Black Church' and Democrats

Howard Kurtz Scolds Mika Brzezinski for Moderating White House Forum on Obama's Job Performance

Obama Spreads More Fertilizer Following Latest Jobs Report

The Earth Is Full

Anti-Mormon Bigotry Repeated By MSNBC Host Lawrence O'Donnell

Politiks As Usual: In The News 3/26/12

U.S. Gives $860,000 To Afghan Families

Health Care Law Brawl Arrives At Supreme Court Steps

The Dark, Intolerant, And Abusive Nature Of The Gay Agenda

Santorum Beats Romney By 22 Points In Louisiana

Cheney Waited Longer Than Average For Heart Transplant

Black Panthers: $10,000 To 'Capture' Trayvon's Killer

John Heilemann: Bush v. Gore Ruling 'Pure Politics and Purely Corrupt'

CBS’s O’Donnell Hits Ryan With White House Talking Points, Then Cues Up Softballs to Schumer

Green Is Taking Us For A Ride

Beware Of The Mob, Hey, Remember When High Gas Prices Were All Bush’s Fault?

Obama Campaign Capitalizes On Foul-mouthed Biden With Profane T-shirts

Rick Santorum Is Bitter, Says America Is Better Off With Obama That Mitt Romney

Yeah, he went there. So sad to watch.

ABCNews.com:

Rick Santorum played off of the Mitt Romney campaign’s Etch A Sketch gaffe today when he told an audience that the country might be better off with President Obama than with a candidate who will shift his positions with ease and who he believes is not very different from the president.


“You win by giving people a choice. You win by giving people the opportunity to see a different vision for our country, not someone who’s just going to be a little different than the person in there. If you’re going to be a little different, we might as well stay with what we have instead of taking a risk with what may be the Etch A Sketch candidate of the future,” Santorum told a crowd at USAA.


During a press avail following the event, Santorum, who carried the Etch A Sketch during his speech, argued that Romney knows he can’t win in the general election.


“All the things that allow Romney to win the primary are unavailable to him to win the general and that’s why you see these Etch A Sketch comments because he knows he can’t win,” said Santorum.


As he spoke to a crowd which included people standing on other levels peering over the ledge to hear him, Santorum stressed the weight the Texas primary will carry on the overall race, saying the race will continue through Texas, whose large delegate count of 155 offers him the “opportunity to reset this race.”


“You have a very important role to play in this election, here in the state of Texas. It’s the second-biggest delegate prize, and you’re going to have an important role. This race will not be over when Texas is coming around. And you’re going to have a choice, an opportunity to really, and I think we’ll have again this Saturday, to reset the race. We have Louisiana coming up and another opportunity to reset this race. And you’ll have that same opportunity here in the state of Texas.”


Santorum has repeatedly referenced the “two-man race” evolving in the campaign but has yet to ask Newt Gingrich, who attracts many of the same type of voters, to drop out of the race. Asked if he has spoken to the Gingrich campaign, Santorum said he himself has had no contact with the candidate or his campaign.

RELATED: Santorum’s lost message

Politiks As Usual: In The News 3/19/12

Poll: Gingrich Supporters Would Split Between…

Mitt Romney Projected Winner In Puerto Rico

Why We Defend Marriage

Drug Addict Rips 'Pathetic' 8-week Sentence

Gas Prices Up For 9th Straight Day

Robert Bales, Afghan Killing Suspect, Plagued By Money And Job Strife

Hollywood Promoting Women Behaving Badly

PHONY 2012: Fiction Trumps Fact in Many Media Reports

The Left’s Long-Time War on Women

Clooney Uses Star Power To Shine Light On Sudanese Atrocities

George Will: I Never Said The White House Wasn’t Winnable

Rasmussen Tracking Poll Puts Romney up 5, Santorum Up 1 Over Obama

The liberal media will continue to serve as an advocate for the Obama administration/agenda and do whatever they can to make sure he's re-elected. Conservatives know that. But with polls showing that only 32% of the country feeling that the country is heading in the right direction, unemployment at 8.3% and the foul double standards instituted by the Left continuing to display themselves week after week, the reality that the gig is up for Barack Obama's shocking presidency keeps getting closer and closer:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Saturday shows that 25% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-four percent (44%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -19 (see trends).


Looking at Tuesday's upcoming primaries, the GOP race in Alabama is essentially a three-way tie, while Mitt Romney leads by eight in Mississippi. Nationally, Romney now leads Rick Santorum by 12 points. Regardless of who they want to win, 80% of Republican Primary Voters nationwide believe Romney will be the party's nominee.


With the perception growing that he will be the GOP nominee, Romney leads President Obama by five points in a hypothetical 2012 matchup. Today's numbers show Romney at 48%, Obama at 43%. That’s Romney’s largest lead since December. Matchup results are updated daily at 9:30 a.m. Eastern (sign up for free daily e-mail update).


If Santorum is the Republican nominee, he is up by one point over the president, 46% to 45%. This is the second time since polling began in 2011 that Santorum has had a slight lead over Obama. Romney is the only other candidate to lead the president more than one time in the polls. See tracking history for Obama vs. all four Republican candidates.

RELATED: Santorum takes Kansas; Romney wins Wyoming

Both Rick Santorum And Newt Gingrich Can't Reach 1144 Delegates

This pretty much confirms that it's going to be Romney vs. Obama for the next presidency:

FHQ has been saying since our Very Rough Estimate of the delegate counts a couple of weeks ago that Romney is the only candidate who has a chance to get there. But, of course, I have not yet shown my work. No, it isn't mathematically impossible, but it would take either Gingrich or Santorum over-performing their established level of support in the contests already in the history books to such an extent that it is all but mathematically impossible. Santorum, for instance, has averaged 24.2% of the vote in all the contests. Since (and including) his February 7 sweep, he is averaging 34.7% of the vote. That is an improvement, but it is not nearly enough to get the former Pennsylvania senator within range of the 1144 delegates necessary to win the Republican nomination.


FHQ has modified that original model and put together a spreadsheet that not only better captures the rules in each state, but also allows for a constant level of support across all upcoming contests to be to be plugged in. Let's begin by assuming that Santorum enters with 19 delegates and project a 50% level of support across all the remaining contests with bound delegates. This 50% would apply to not only the statewide vote but the congressional district votes as well. In other words, this would trigger a winner-take-all allocation of delegates in most states that have the conditional winner-take-all/proportional rules hinging on a candidate receiving a majority of the vote.


This is extremely generous. It assumes that candidate X would win nearly all the delegates in states that were not already directly proportional. Less generously, this does not count, like the previous version of this exercise, caucus states with unbound delegates (see Iowa, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, etc.) nor automatic delegates who have yet to endorse.


Where does that leave Santorum? 1075 delegates.


But hold on. What if we add another layer to this by accounting for the thresholds for receiving delegates in the various states (typically 15% or 20%)? This would have the impact of reallocating delegates of those under the threshold in proportional environments to those candidates over the threshold. That would mean more delegates. If we set the number of candidates over the threshold to its lowest value -- 2 candidates in 20% threshold states and 3 in 15% threshold states1 -- that maximizes the number of reallocated delegates.


Where does that leave Santorum? Again, this is assuming winner-take-all rules have been triggered in all the conditional states. It assumes that the likely bare minimum of candidates has crossed the thresholds to receive reallocated delegates. This is very generous.


1162 delegates. That's cutting it awfully close.


Surely the automatic delegates or the unbound caucus delegates would keep Santorum over 1144. Yeah, they could potentially serve as kingmaker until you remember that we just very unrealistically gave Santorum winner-take-all allocation where is was conditionally possible. We gave him a consistent 50% of the vote -- over 15% better than he has performed during his best stretch. Also, Santorum -- given the polls we have access to for today's races -- is very unlikely to reach that level of support across all of the Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses. That means that after today -- a day with over 400 delegates at stake -- Santorum will not be able to get to 1144.


...and neither will Newt Gingrich.


--
Well just a darn minute there, FHQ. Your cooking the books, right? What if you put Mitt Romney in the same model(s) under the same circumstances? Ah, I'm glad you asked.


In the first model where Romney would be at 50% support statewide and in each congressional district, the former Massachusetts governor would net 1254 delegates.
In the second model that accounts for a likely bare minimum of candidates over the threshold, Romney would surpass 1300 delegates at 1341.


Even if we simulate a scenario where Romney continues to only win half of the congressional districts, he still gets to 1152 delegates in the second more realistic model and .2


--
The bottom line here is that Romney has enough of a delegate advantage right now and especially coming out of today's contests that it is very unlikely that anyone will catch him, much less catch him and get to 1144. The latter seems particularly far-fetched given the above scenarios. And that is a problem in this race. Well, a problem for Gingrich and Santorum anyway. If all either of them can take to voters is an argument that all they can do is prevent Romney from getting to 1144, then neither has a winning strategy

RELATED: Romney, Santorum all tied up in latest poll

Politiks As Usual: 2/27/12

Video: Toronto Father Arrested After Child Draws A Gun In School

Trying Optics At Romney Event

Progressives And The Politics Of Victimhood

Polls Show Liberals, Not Santorum, Are The Ones Who Are 'Well Outside The Mainstream'

Off Camera: Networks Ignore Liberal Hollywood’s Influence in D.C.

Rick Santorum Scolds David Gregory For Focusing On Social Issues

California Asks Judges: Gay or Straight?

Feds Sued Over Kagan's Obamacare Role

Newt Gingrich Warns of Role of 'Secular Left'

Apologizing To Our Killers

Obama Campaign Set For Political Fallout From Gasoline Prices

Rick Santorum Questions Obama's Christian Values

I love that Santorum is attacking Barry for being what he is: a fake Christian who uses Christianity only when it's convenient. It's a road too many Republicans are afraid to go down (and understandably so considering the power of the liberal media and the huge amount of skeletons in conservative GOP'ers closets), but Santorum is fully aware that with most Americans voters not being liberal, it's a road he must travel in order to have a chance at beating Barry come November:

Lashing out on two fronts, Rick Santorum on Saturday questioned President Barack Obama's Christian values and attacked GOP rival Mitt Romney's Olympics leadership as he courted tea party activists and evangelical voters in Ohio, "ground zero" in the 2012 nomination fight.


Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator known for his social conservative views, said Obama's agenda is based on "some phony theology. Not a theology based on the Bible. A different theology." He later suggested that the president practices a different kind of Christianity.


"In the Christian church there are a lot of different stripes of Christianity," he said. "If the president says he's a Christian, he's a Christian."


The Obama campaign said the comments represent "the latest low in a Republican primary campaign that has been fueled by distortions, ugliness, and searing pessimism and negativity."


Santorum was forced on his heels in recent days after a top supporter suggested women use aspirin to prevent pregnancy.


In Ohio, a Super Tuesday prize, he shifted decidedly to offense before friendly crowds. Trailing Romney in money and campaign resources, Santorum is depending on the tea party movement and religious groups to deliver a victory March 6 in the Midwestern contest.


More delegates will be awarded in Ohio than in any other state except Georgia in the opening months of the Republican campaign. Ohio and Georgia are two of the 10 contests scheduled for March 6, a benchmark for the primary campaign that often decides who can continue to the next level.


Santorum has surged in recent opinion polls after capturing Republican caucuses in Minnesota and Colorado and a non-binding primary in Missouri on Feb. 7. Several polls have shown him ahead in Romney's native state of Michigan, where primary voters cast ballots a week from Tuesday.


Obama's campaign team has responded by starting to consider the possibility that Santorum rather than Romney could be the Republican nominee. The Chicago-based organization has begun scrutinizing Santorum's past record and asked its Pennsylvania allies to look for information that might be used against Santorum in future ads and speeches.


Even as he criticized Obama, Santorum also went after one of Romney's most promoted achievements — his leadership at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.


"One of Mitt Romney's greatest accomplishments, one of the things he talks about most is how he heroically showed up on the scene and bailed out and resolved the problems of the Salt Lake City Olympic Games," Santorum said. "He heroically bailed out the Salt Lake City Olympic Games by heroically going to Congress and asking them for tens of millions of dollars to bail out the Salt Lake games — in an earmark, in an earmark for the Salt Lake Olympic games."

RELATED: Rick Santorum tries to show he can win in November

Politiks As Usual: 2/13/12

Romney Victories Mask Lingering Questions About His Candidacy

Obama Chief Of Staff: No More Compromise, Contraceptive Rule Is Done Deal

College Education: A Right Or A Privilege?

Liberal Professor Makes It Official: Chicago Most Corrupt

Breitbart On Obama: I've Got Videos...That Nobody Has Seen

Twimmolation Alert: Roland Martin Gets His Ascot in Hot Water at CNN

When Karl Marx Speaks, Barack Obama Listens

Jay Leno Mocks Opponents of Gay Marriage, CBS Highlights Quote

Whitney Houston Dies, and Tony Bennett Calls for Drug Legalization

Sarah Palin Isn't Convinced Romney Is Conservative

McConnell, GOP: Obama Budget Will Fail in Congress

Rick Santorum Says He'll Be In 2-man Race with Romney, Takes 1st National Lead

Whitney Houston Dead At 48

Rick Santorum Says ‘Other Types of Emotions’ Could Preclude Women In Combat

WaPo.com:

For a candidate with virtually no staff and who tends to talk off the cuff, Rick Santorum has been nearly gaffe-free. However, this evening might have been his first, and it comes at a time when he is trying to convince voters he is more than “just” a social conservative.


When asked about the Pentagon’s plan to allow women to serve in some combat roles, Santorum told CNN’s John King: “I want to create every opportunity for women to be able to serve this country . . . but I do have concerns about women in front-line combat.


“I think that could be a very compromising situation, where people naturally may do things that may not be in the interest of the mission because of other types of emotions that are involved. It already happens, of course, with the camaraderie of men in combat, but I think it would be even more unique if women were in combat,” Santorum added. “And I think that’s not in the best interests of men, women or the mission.”


Such remarks may please some social conservatives who were never that keen on women serving in the military, but this may not sit well with women who work, sometimes in male-dominated jobs.

RELATED: Rick Santorum’s Campaign Expects ‘Second Million Dollar Day’

Politiks As Usual: In The News 2/6/12

Romney Again Turns Attention To Obama After Nevada Win

Upcoming States Could Serve As Bulkhead For GOP Candidates Fighting Romney

Santorum: Obama Most Anti-Religion President in History

Tim Tebow Open To Future In Politics

Yes, Legos For Girls (The Folly Of Feminist Griping)

Media Unrelenting In Their Efforts To Cover For Obama, Blame GOP Challengers

Liberal Echo Chamber Howls at Planned Parenthood Controversy; Networks Can't Find Komen Supporters

NPR Hails 'Legendary' Drag Queen for 'Wisdom Watch' Segment on When Boys Can Wear Dresses

Box-checking Obama in a Liberal Cocoon

Gingrich’s Temperament A Major Stumbling Block for GOP Voters

Politiks As Usual: In The News 1/23/12

Gabrielle Giffords Will Resign To Focus On Her Recovery

Newt Gingrich Pushes For Campaign Cash

Religious Liberty: The Latest Target of Obamacare

John Boehner: State of Union Speech May Be `Pathetic

Miss America Contestant Tepid About Occupy Wall Street, Loses Competition

Obama Administration Says No to Oil, Yes to Biofuels

Planned Parenthood Tries To Cash In On Mrs. Tebow's Choice To Pass On Abortion

Maureen Dowd: Obama Is 'Maddeningly Naïve' - His Presidency Has 'All the Joy of a Root Canal'

MSNBC's Bashir Superimposes Republican Candidates In Front Of Confederate Flag

Rick Santorum: No Pressure to Quit Race

GOP Race Is Now A Tossup

Penn State Coach Joe Paterno Passes Away

Newt Gingrich Rips John King/CNN For Opening Debate With ‘Open Marriage’ Question

This was pretty powerful:

Republican hopeful Newt Gingrich excoriated CNN’s John King at Thursday’s South Carolina debate for asking if the former Speaker of the House wanted to respond to the allegations by Gingrich’s ex-wife that he had asked her for an “open marriage.”


“No, but I will,” a visibly angered Gingrich fumed. “I think the destructive vicious negative nature of much of the news media makes it harder to govern this country, harder to attract decent people to run for public office. I’m appalled you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that.”


“Is that all you want to say, sir?” King responded.


“Let me finish,” Gingrich replied. “Every person in here knows personal pain. Every person in here has had someone close to them go through painful things. To take an ex-wife and make it two days before the primary, a significant question in a presidential campaign, is as close to despicable as anything i can imagine. My two daughters, my two daughters wrote the head of ABC and made the point that it was wrong, that they should pull it, and I am, frankly, astounded that CNN would take trash like that and use it to open a presidential debate.”


“This story did not come from our network,” King contended. “As you also know, it is the subject of conversation on the campaign. I get your point, I take –”


“John, it was repeated by your network,” Gingrich interjected. “You chose to start the debate with it. Don’t blame it on somebody else. You and your staff chose to start the debate with it.”

RELATED: Santorum tries to shoulder past Romney, Gingrich in debate

The Left’s So-Called Empathy For Rick Santorum

NationalReview.com:

Lest you doubt that we’re headed for the most vicious election year in memory, consider the determined effort, within ten minutes of his triumph in Iowa, to weirdify Rick Santorum. Discussing the surging senator on Fox News, Alan Colmes mused on some of the “crazy things” he’s said and done.


Santorum has certainly said and done many crazy things, as have most members of America’s political class, but the “crazy thing” Colmes chose to focus on was Santorum’s “taking his two-hour-old baby when it died right after childbirth home,” whereupon he “played with it.” My National Review colleague Rich Lowry rightly slapped down Alan on air, and Colmes subsequently apologized, though not before Mrs. Santorum had been reduced to tears by his remarks. Undeterred, Eugene Robinson, the Pulitzer Prize–winning Washington Post columnist, doubled down on stupid and insisted that Deadbabygate demonstrated how Santorum is “not a little weird, he’s really weird.”


The short life of Gabriel Santorum would seem a curious priority for political discourse at a time when the Brokest Nation in History is hurtling toward its rendezvous with destiny. But needs must, and victory by any means necessary. In 2008, the Left gleefully mocked Sarah Palin’s live baby. It was only a matter of time before they moved on to a dead one.


Not many of us will ever know what it’s like to have a child who lives only a few hours. That alone should occasion a certain modesty about presuming to know what are “weird” and unweird reactions to such an event.


In 1996, the Santorums were told during the pregnancy that their baby had a fatal birth defect and would not survive more than a few hours outside the womb. So Gabriel was born, his parents bundled him, and held him, and baptized him. And two hours later he died. They decided to take his body back to the home he would never know. Weirdly enough, this crazy weird behavior is in line with the advice of the American Pregnancy Association, which says that “it is important for your family members to spend time with the baby” and “help them come to terms with their loss.”


Would I do it? Dunno. Hope I never have to find out. Many years ago, a friend of mine discovered in the final hours of labor that her child was dead but that she would still have to deliver him. I went round to visit her shortly after, not relishing the prospect but feeling that it was one of those things one was bound to do. I ditched the baby gift I’d bought a few days earlier but kept the flowers and chocolate. My friend had photographs of the dead newborn. What do you say? Oh, he’s got your face?


I was a callow pup in my early twenties, with no paternal instincts and no great empathetic capacity. But I understood that I was in the presence of someone who had undergone a profound and harrowing experience, one which it would be insanely arrogant for those of us not so ill-starred to judge.


There but for the grace of God go I, as we used to say.


There is something telling about what Peter Wehner at Commentary rightly called the “casual cruelty” of Eugene Robinson. The Left endlessly trumpets its “empathy.” President Obama, for example, has said that what he looks for in his judges is “the depth and breadth of one’s empathy.” As he told his pro-abortion pals at Planned Parenthood, “we need somebody who’s got the heart — the empathy — to recognize what it’s like to be a young teenage mom.” Empathy, empathy, empathy: You barely heard the word outside clinical circles until the liberals decided it was one of those accessories no self-proclaimed caring progressive should be without.

RELATED: Joe Scarborough Grills Eugene Robinson Over His Comments On Rick Santorum’s Newborn

Liberal Prick Alan Holmes Takes Cheap Shot at Rick Santorum‘s Handling of the 1996 Death of his Newborn Son

It's who they are, they just can't help themselves. Great job by Nick Lowry for calling Holmes out for basically being an a-hole:

In a wild exchange on Fox News’ Happening Now, longtime contributor Alan Colmes lost it a little bit when National Review‘s Rich Lowry pressed him over an attack on Rick Santorum‘s handling of the 1996 death of his newborn son. Colmes used Santorum’s reaction to the death of 2 hour-old Gabriel as an example of “some of the crazy things he’s said and done,” prompting immediate, sustained pushback from Lowry, and death-stares from Colmes.


The segment was pegged to Santorum’s polling surge in Iowa, which Colmes argued wouldn’t last “once they get a load of some of the crazy things he’s said and done, like taking his two-hour-old baby who died after childbirth and played with it for a couple hours so his other children would know that the child was real…”


“That’s a cheap shot, Alan,” Lowry interrupted, the first of many interruptions that would leave Colmes sitting back in his chair, staring daggers at Lowry, and asking to be alerted when it was his turn to speak again.


The incident they’re referring to is the 1996 birth of a premature baby boy to Rick and Karen Santorum. The child only lived for two hours, and the Santorums dealt with the tragedy in an unusual way:


The childbirth in 1996 was a source of terrible heartbreak — the couple were told by doctors early in the pregnancy that the baby Karen was carrying had a fatal defect and would survive only for a short time outside the womb. According to Karen Santorum’s book, ”Letters to Gabriel: The True Story of Gabriel Michael Santorum,” she later developed a life-threatening intrauterine infection and a fever that reached nearly 105 degrees. She went into labor when she was 20 weeks pregnant. After resisting at first, she allowed doctors to give her the drug Pitocin to speed the birth. Gabriel lived just two hours.


What happened after the death is a kind of snapshot of a cultural divide. Some would find it discomforting, strange, even ghoulish — others brave and deeply spiritual. Rick and Karen Santorum would not let the morgue take the corpse of their newborn; they slept that night in the hospital with their lifeless baby between them. The next day, they took him home. ”Your siblings could not have been more excited about you!” Karen writes in the book, which takes the form of letters to Gabriel, mostly while he is in utero. ”Elizabeth and Johnny held you with so much love and tenderness. Elizabeth proudly announced to everyone as she cuddled you, ‘This is my baby brother, Gabriel; he is an angel.’ ”


It’s a story that I have heard mocked by many liberals (and mistold, by others, as having followed a miscarriage), and I agree with Lowry that the intensely personal arena of human grief ought not be cheapened into political fodder. Within reasonable limits, I don’t think anyone should be judged for things they say or do in the face of extreme grief.


The fact that Karen Santorum publicized the event means that, to some extent, it is an appropriate subject for public discussion, but then it should be handled in a delicate, respectful manner. While I think Lowry was taking a cheap shot of his own when he accused Colmes of “mocking” the Santorums (and with his deployment of the coded phrase “Manhattan liberals”), neither was Colmes’ characterization that they “played with” the dead child fair or particularly sensitive. He probably shouldn’t have brought it up at all, but his critique, while cold and lacking in relevance, fell well short of mockery.


UPDATE: Colmes has tweeted that he called Santorum and his wife and apologized for the comment, an apology which was accepted.

RELATED: Rick Santorum Accepts Alan Colmes’ Apology: ‘I Know Alan Is A Very Good Person At Heart’

Politiks As Usual: In The News 1/2/12

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Voter ID Laws Are Common Sense

Rick Santorum Would 'Invalidate' Gay Marriages

The Year In Obama Scandals -- And Scandal Deniers

An Uncomfortable Fact About Taxes: The Rich Do Pay Their Fair Share

Iran Says It's Produced First Nuclear Fuel Rod

Maryland Abortion Doctors Charged With Murder

Rachel Maddow: Fox Is All About Electing GOP, But MSNBC Has No Political Objective!

Ron Paul Angrily Rebuts Jake Tapper Over Question About 9/11 Conspiracies

Newt Gingrich: Romney 'Would Buy Election if He Could'

Taylor Marsh Throws In The Towel On Obama

Ten Most Ridiculous Lawsuits Of 2011

The Case For The Conservative Lesbian

George Carlin Wasn’t Funny: The Top Five Most Overrated Comedians

Charles Krauthammer: ‘Ridiculous’ GOP Congress And ‘Embarrassing’ Candidates Are Handing Obama A Victory

Mediaite.com:

President Obama’s consistent lead over most Republican contenders has taken some on the right by surprise, given his low approval ratings and the bad economy the administration can’t seem to shake. To Charles Krauthammer, none of the credit should go to President Obama, however, but to the “embarrassing” Republican candidates and the “ridiculous” behavior of the Congressional Republican leadership.


Krauthammer explained during Special Report today that President Obama has mostly been a “passive observer” to a landscape that has been remarkably favorable to him and his administration despite the bad times domestically. Krauthammer attributed the “ridiculous way the Republicans have conducted themselves in Congress” for “making Obama look like at least a grown-up,” while Republicans have had “an almost year-long exposure to a weak Republican field.” “The fact that Santorum is the last standing alternative,” he explained, “think of how this is going: Trump, Bachmann, Perry, then Cain, then Newt– who’s really in decline now– Ron Paul, who is on the ascent but not electable, then Santorum.”


Concluding that “Every alternative is going to get a try,” Krauthammer highlighted how the weak field made a difference by arguing, “imagine a race with a Mitch Daniels, Paul Ryan, Christie, Thune… it would’ve had a completely different complexion” instead of having “embarrassing candidates like Cain and others.”

RELATED: CNN Iowa poll: Romney 25, Paul 22, Santorum 16, Gingrich 14

Politiks As Usual: In The News 11/7/11

White House Counsel Slams House Panel's Solyndra Subpoena

Moderate Lawmakers Lead Insurrection, Urge Super Committee To Defy Leadership and Go Big

Rudy Giuliani: 'Obama Owns Occupy Wall Street'

Rice: The Government Of Iran Has "No Legitimacy Left"

Media Fawn Over 'Groundbreaking' Gay Wedding On Late Night Comedy Show

Nancy Pelosi: Without Obama Stimulus, Unemployment Would Now Be 15%

Santorum Right About Morality And Economy

Personhood Amendment: Exposing The Myths

CNN Runs More Stories on Cain 'Scandal' in Six Days Than it Did Obama's Ties to Ayers, Rezko and Wright Combined

Wisconsin Democrats Chafe as Walker Donor Files for Recall

In Praise Of Capitalist Inequality

Justin Bieber Will Take Paternity Test And Then Sue Mariah Yeater: REPORT