Informed Comment (USA): Top ten Catholic teachings Santorum ignores Rick Santorum is claiming that if he wins the Illinois primary, he has virtually won the Republican nomination. It seems an appropriate time for this golden oldie: The right wing Republican politicians who have been denouncing the requirement that female employees have access to birth control as part of their health benefits as an attack on religious freedom completely ignore the church teachings they don’t agree with. Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich are both Catholics, and wear their faith on their sleeves, but they are hypocritical in picking and choosing when they wish to listen to the bishops. 1. So for instance, Pope John Paul II was against anyone going to war against Iraq I think you’ll find that Rick Santorum managed to ignore that Catholic teaching. 2.The Conference of Catholic Bishops requires that health care be provided to all Americans. I.e., Rick Santorum’s opposition to universal health care is a betrayal of the Catholic faith he is always trumpeting. 3. The Catholic Church opposes the death penalty for criminals in almost all situations. (Santorum largely supports executions.) 4. The US Conference of Bishops has urged that the federal minimum wage be increased, for the working poor. Santorum in the Senate repeatedly voted against the minimum wage. 5. The bishops want welfare for all needy families, saying “We reiterate our call for a minimum national welfare benefit that will permit children and their parents to live in dignity. A decent society will not balance its budget on the backs of poor children.” Santorum is a critic of welfare. (read more)
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Informed Comment (USA):

Top ten Catholic teachings Santorum ignores

Rick Santorum is claiming that if he wins the Illinois primary, he has virtually won the Republican nomination. It seems an appropriate time for this golden oldie:

The right wing Republican politicians who have been denouncing the requirement that female employees have access to birth control as part of their health benefits as an attack on religious freedom completely ignore the church teachings they don’t agree with. Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich are both Catholics, and wear their faith on their sleeves, but they are hypocritical in picking and choosing when they wish to listen to the bishops.

1. So for instance, Pope John Paul II was against anyone going to war against Iraq I think you’ll find that Rick Santorum managed to ignore that Catholic teaching.

2.The Conference of Catholic Bishops requires that health care be provided to all Americans. I.e., Rick Santorum’s opposition to universal health care is a betrayal of the Catholic faith he is always trumpeting.

3. The Catholic Church opposes the death penalty for criminals in almost all situations. (Santorum largely supports executions.)

4. The US Conference of Bishops has urged that the federal minimum wage be increased, for the working poor. Santorum in the Senate repeatedly voted against the minimum wage.

5. The bishops want welfare for all needy families, saying “We reiterate our call for a minimum national welfare benefit that will permit children and their parents to live in dignity. A decent society will not balance its budget on the backs of poor children.” Santorum is a critic of welfare.

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By staying in the race, is Gingrich helping Santorum?

The Booman Tribute (USA):

Some are suggesting that Newt Gingrich can be of more help to Santorum by staying in than by dropping out. This is actually not that hard to decide. The goal for Santorum and for Gingrich is to deny Romney an outright majority of the delegates. This might allow them to prevent his nomination on the first ballot in Tampa. So, as long as Romney isn’t getting more than 50% of the delegates awarded on a given night, Santorum and Gingrich are making progress toward their goal. The problem with the theory that Gingrich can help Santorum is that I can’t identify one state where he has done so, so far. He denied Santorum certain victories in Ohio and Michigan, and he failed to win any delegates at all in states like New Hampshire and Florida.

Gingrich can help, in theory, if he and Santorum win more delegates combined in a given state than Romney does, despite Romney winning the state. As far as I can tell, that outcome has not happened once. On the other hand, Gingrich can help Santorum if, by dropping out, he causes Santorum to win in states he would have otherwise lost, or if he allows Santorum to win by much bigger margins or in a broader swath of the congressional districts within a state.

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Moderate Left (USA): Santorum and Obama big winners following last round of primaries Santorum is clearly the big winner, and not just because he beat Mitt Romney. No, almost bigger was the fact that Santorum knocked of Newt Gingrich in two southern states, one of which borders Newt’s home state of Georgia. That Santorum — a northerner from Pennsylvania — was able to come into the south and win does damage to Newt’s raison d’être. If Newt can’t win in the south, where can he win? Make no mistake, the delegate math is still against Santorum. He’d have to win roughly 66 percent of the outstanding delegates to win a first-ballot nomination. Considering that last night — on a good night — he got around 35 percent of delegates at stake, that’s going to be tough. But Rick doesn’t have just one path to the nomination. If he can keep Mitt from getting to 1144 delegates, Santorum has a chance to win at the convention, especially if he’s the candidate of the party faithful. That’s not out of the question. But he’ll have to surprise in some places, like Puerto Rico, where he has a puncher’s chance in an open primary. And he probably has to win the winner-take-all Wisconsin Primary on April 3, and steal a win in California or New York. If he can do that — and it’s a big if – he can keep Romney under 1000 delegates, and give himself a chance to go into Tampa with a plausible case for the nomination. … Obama benefits from a long, drawn-out Republican Primary, and he got that last night. While the math still favors Romney, it looks increasingly likely that the primary will go on through at least late April, and possibly all the way to California in June. This is fantastic news for Obama, as every dollar Mitt Romney spends attacking Rick Santorum is a dollar he can’t spend attacking Barack Obama. (read more)
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Moderate Left (USA):

Santorum and Obama big winners following last round of primaries

Santorum is clearly the big winner, and not just because he beat Mitt Romney. No, almost bigger was the fact that Santorum knocked of Newt Gingrich in two southern states, one of which borders Newt’s home state of Georgia. That Santorum — a northerner from Pennsylvania — was able to come into the south and win does damage to Newt’s raison d’être. If Newt can’t win in the south, where can he win?

Make no mistake, the delegate math is still against Santorum. He’d have to win roughly 66 percent of the outstanding delegates to win a first-ballot nomination. Considering that last night — on a good night — he got around 35 percent of delegates at stake, that’s going to be tough.

But Rick doesn’t have just one path to the nomination. If he can keep Mitt from getting to 1144 delegates, Santorum has a chance to win at the convention, especially if he’s the candidate of the party faithful. That’s not out of the question. But he’ll have to surprise in some places, like Puerto Rico, where he has a puncher’s chance in an open primary. And he probably has to win the winner-take-all Wisconsin Primary on April 3, and steal a win in California or New York. If he can do that — and it’s a big if – he can keep Romney under 1000 delegates, and give himself a chance to go into Tampa with a plausible case for the nomination.

…

Obama benefits from a long, drawn-out Republican Primary, and he got that last night. While the math still favors Romney, it looks increasingly likely that the primary will go on through at least late April, and possibly all the way to California in June. This is fantastic news for Obama, as every dollar Mitt Romney spends attacking Rick Santorum is a dollar he can’t spend attacking Barack Obama.


(read more)