April 10, 2012

"Rick Santorum is suspending his campaign..."

In the email. He's about to speak.

I hope he goes out well, with grace. And I hope this doesn't mean there is sad news about his daughter.

ADDED, watching the speech: He never looks like he's lost any sleep. After spending the weekend with his daughter in the hospital, he still has a well-rested look, which I take to mean that his religion is sincere. He's talking first about his daughter and the disabled and "the least among us" (which invokes the same words of Jesus that were the basis of the Jeremiah Wright preaching we were talking about earlier this morning).

AND: "That's what our campaign was about: What made us Americans — how we built this country from the bottom up and how, if we are going to be successful, how we must believe in ourselves and believe in that ability to go forward and do the same thing."

58 comments:

Holmes said...

Oh good. Now I can criticize him from my work computer.

Thorley Winston said...

So sorry to hear about his daughter. I hope that she recovers fully and as soon as possible. He and his family are in our thoughts and prayers.

Scott M said...

I hope he goes out well, with grace. And I hope this doesn't mean there is sad news about his daughter.

Ditto. I'm immensely thankful mine are hearty and hale.

Lyssa said...

I was just about to be pleased, until you reminded me of the daughter. I don't want him in the race, but I certainly do hope that it's not that. Blessings on that family.

Patrick said...

I've heard nothing about his daughter since she was admitted to the hospital. I've only had kids in the hospital for relatively routine matters, and cannot imagine how difficult this must be. I hope his faith can sustain him and his family.

Curious George said...

His daughter was released from the hopsital, so it's just the fact hat he was going to be beaten in his home state and moving on was futile.

KCFleming said...

Now Newt can really turn it on.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Prayers for his daughter are foremost in my mind.

And my selfish reaction is now I don't have to go and vote against Santorum in the upcoming primary.

Dan in Philly said...

I just read his daughter has Trisome 18. That's rough, for those who don't know I lost a child to that - it's always fatal and usually before birth. God bless him.

Cedarford said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Cedarford said...

Good riddance to Savonarola the Younger.
Now he can focus on how to turn his most widely used campaign prop, daughter Bella, back into a regular daughter again.
And himself into a regular father.

Crunchy Frog said...

My wife and I lost a pregnancy to Trisomy-18. That his daughter has managed to go three years is nothing short of miraculous.

I wanna give her the world
I wanna be her dad
I wanna hold her close
For as long as I can
And I wanna live every moment
Until that day comes
I wanna show her what it means to be loved


Mark Schultz , 'What It Means To Be Loved'

Crunchy Frog said...

Kudos to C4 for keeping it classy, as always...

Blue@9 said...

Now he can focus on how to turn his most widely used campaign prop, daughter Bella, back into a regular daughter again.

I too would be pleased to see him drop out, but man, Cedarford, you sure know how to inject ugliness into a thread.

Cedarford said...

Doubt his campaign prop daughter had anything to do with it.

Likely it had more to do with:

1. Friends telling him Romney had pulled ahead of him in internal polls in Pennsylvania and was going to crush the Holy Warrior in the other 4 states Apr 24th.

2. That Romney was calling in the B-52s and was going to carpet bomb Santorum all over PA to try and inflict a Casey-like loss on Santorum.

3. That if he did get disgraced again in PA, not only would Santorum be unviable in Republican politics...he would have a hard time making his 1.5-2 million dollars a year as an influence peddler.
Santorum, like Cain and Gingrich..intitially saw running for President as a way to make more money as a lobbyist and a pundit from all the free exposure.

Bob Ellison said...

I wish Santorum wouldn't keep invoking the favorite leftist verb "fight" to describe what he has done and intends to do. This is not a fight for the electorate; it's a choice. Hillary fights; communists fight; conservatives should try to govern effectively and fairly.

MadisonMan said...

I had only heard his daughter was hospitalized (again). Is she still in Hospital? Don't know.

I don't know that her surviving this long is miraculous, or good medicine and doctors (or some of both).

It seems to me that he has finally realized that there's no way he can win. So someone finally got through to him. Too bad for the Democratic Party.

Cedarford said...

Too many people are suckers for a sob story.
Rick trotted out his dying daughter's name at nearly every rally as reason why he should be President...much as John Edwards trotted out poor dying Saint Elisabeth as his way to melt people's hearts and see John as worthy of the Presidency.

Rubes eat that stuff up.

Mid-Life Lawyer said...

I appreciate Santorum making morality more relevant in the Republican race.

John Stodder said...

All best to his family of course.

And now Santorum can stop pretending he cares about anything other than other people he doesn't know having bootleg sex.

MadisonMan said...

By the way -- why the word 'suspend'?

Under what circumstances would his campaign not actually be completely done?

Politicians are so allergic to the words I quit.

Bob Ellison said...

MM, "suspending the campaign" is a legal thing. If they quit, they can't easily pay expenses. Think of it as a corporation that has to close its doors in an orderly fashion.

edutcher said...

Losing WI was probably it, along with the fact he was getting no love from anyone in the PA Republican Party.

And then his daughter, who's already had a bad bout with her illness, was probably the last straw.

Never liked the guy, but, if only for his daughter, I hope things work out.

traditionalguy said...

There is peace in the GOP again. Paul isn't a GOP man anyway.

Now Romney had better be ready for Total Class Warfare from the Fairness Man claiming that good comes from Redistributing all of the money left.

Obama will do that trick if Kennedy lets the Commerce Clause eat the Constitution.

MadisonMan said...

@BobE -- thanks, that makes sense.

Chef Mojo said...

He was gonna get crushed in PA.

That's a good enough reason to bail.

Whatever. Glad to see he's gone.

Bill said...

This is going to be a pretty boring election. I expect Obama to win without much trouble. Romney is almost as unelectable as Santorum was.

Palladian said...

Good riddance.

President-Mom-Jeans said...

Here's some new civility for you.

Fuck you Cedarford, I hope some awful personal tragedy comes swiftly to you.

And I say this as no big fan of Santorum.

rhhardin said...

It's unclear who the Santorum boilerplate was addressed to, except it wasn't blacks.

Somebody should try pandering to blacks from the right.

It would be popular with everybody.

chuck b. said...

Is he next in line for 2016 if Romney loses? I hope not.

I don't like Santorum at all, but unlike some people (e.g., Obama, Romney), he is never coy or uncertain about what he really thinks. So I give him credit for that.

Jim said...

And now for the triumphant return of Mitt the Moderate!

"I'm running as a conservative."

Roger J. said...

ChuckB--the republicans have a pretty deep bench IMO--i think this will be mr satorum's last hurrah. But Gingrich tried and came up very short, so you never know--never underestimate the power of ego in politicians.

kathleen said...

"He still has a well-rested look, which I take to mean that his religion is sincere."

?!
Only if you subscribe to the idea of religion as opiate.

kathleen said...

If Santorum looks well-rested after spending the weekend in the hospital with his 3 year old daughter, it might mean he's a sociopath.

edutcher said...

Bill said...

This is going to be a pretty boring election. I expect Obama to win without much trouble. Romney is almost as unelectable as Santorum was.

Which, of course, explains why the Romster keeps winning elections he isn't supposed to.

If anybody's unelectable these days, and it's getting worse by the hour, it's Dicatator Zero.

Roger J. said...

this election will, IMO, come down to obama or not obama--and if people vote their economic interests Mr Obama may be in trouble. The bright spot is that should Mr Obama get a second term, he will in all likihood be facing a repubican congress, and will be a lame duck for the next four years. The bright spot for Mr Obama is that he should be able to get his handicap down.

Tim said...

President-Mom-Jeans said...

"Here's some new civility for you.

Fuck you Cedarford, I hope some awful personal tragedy comes swiftly to you.

And I say this as no big fan of Santorum.


Qualified ditto - I can't say I hope Cedarford suffers a personal tragedy - I can say that if he ever does, I hope it gives him some perspective from that small corner of hell that he's built for himself.

One marvels at the hate.

Joe said...

I actually agree with Cedarford that this is more about Santorum trying to safe face in Pennsylvania than anything else.

As for "suspending" his campaign; his vanity run created a mountain of debt.

Roger J. said...

Re my friend C4: IIRC he is an engineer, and engineers dont much concern themselves with those issues.

C4 certainly has his schtick, but in his defense, I have rarely seen him attack another commenter personally--

Mel said...

Curious George said...

His daughter was released from the hopsital, so it's just the fact hat he was going to be beaten in his home state and moving on was futile.

4/10/12 1:39 PM

Blogger MadisonMan said...

I had only heard his daughter was hospitalized (again). Is she still in Hospital? Don't know.

I don't know that her surviving this long is miraculous, or good medicine and doctors (or some of both).

It seems to me that he has finally realized that there's no way he can win. So someone finally got through to him. Too bad for the Democratic Party.

CG - Speaking from the painful experience of a close friend losing a Trisomy 13 baby, once the hospitalizations start, it's only a matter of time. She's been in the hospital for pneumonia twice in less than four months. Her lungs are losing the battle. That is sad.

MM -That Isabella has survived 3 years is nothing short of a miracle. Medicine can cure the symptom (pneumonia, in this case)but not the cause, the trisomy that keeps a body off balance all of the time.

To anyone else who accused the Santorum family of using this precious child as a prop - SHAME! SHAME! SHAME! I've heard him mention her, but not "use" her. And there is a difference in living with a terminal illness in the family and living with the end of a terminal illness in sight. Of course he's stopped his presidential run: his baby is obviously taking a turn for the worst in what was always a losing battle. If he were leading the race, I honestly believe his faith would call him to the same conclusion. He isn't - and that may have made the decision easier - but I still think he would have come to the same decision.

May God bless the Santorum family through the coming very difficult days.

edutcher said...

Roger J. said...

this election will, IMO, come down to obama or not obama--and if people vote their economic interests Mr Obama may be in trouble. The bright spot is that should Mr Obama get a second term, he will in all likihood be facing a repubican congress, and will be a lame duck for the next four years.

Last I heard, Zero is planning on ignoring Congress as well as the Courts.

Flexibility, y'know.

Roger J. said...

Edutcher: from what I have seen of Mr Obama, you may be right--but in a second term, impeachment is much more an option that it is now.

Cedarford said...

President-Mom-Jeans said...
Here's some new civility for you.

Fuck you Cedarford, I hope some awful personal tragedy comes swiftly to you.

And I say this as no big fan of Santorum.

===================
Fuck you right back, you guillible rube!
No doubt you were blubbering in pathos about how John Edwards was suffering and poor dying Saint Elisabeth was urging you to vote for John, even if it was the last Sainted breath she took.

Santorum was off in Iowa for 4 months with no physical contact with family. The idea he was withdrawing because he just realized he had a gravely ill, dying daughter is absurd.

bagoh20 said...

Is it really necessary to have both a "Jesus" and a "Santorum" tag?

Cedarford said...

Roger J. said...
Re my friend C4: IIRC he is an engineer, and engineers dont much concern themselves with those issues.

C4 certainly has his schtick, but in his defense, I have rarely seen him attack another commenter personally--

-----------------------
I did call Freder a traitor for saying that it was better thousands of Americans died in a terrorist attack than a terrorist loose his precious right to Miranda protections.
I'll stand with that characterization of Freder. But no, I don't get into initiating ad hominems.

As for Santorum, yes, he did have an extensive set part of his regular stump speech to use Baby Bella as a prop and to expound on because of baby Bella and how it shows him how much God loves her - and how he loves Life! more than any of his political rivals.
(He started adding it in the later stages of Iowa, where his pollsters said "More baby Bella! The evangelicals love it!)

kathleen said...

Imputing nobility to Santorum because he has a gravely ill daughter is absurd. Arguably he should not have been toting her around at all in the first place -- and this wasn't even her first hospitalization during the campaign. It seems likely his campaign detracted from her well-being. Not so noble, eh?

bagoh20 said...

I just want to get this out there proactively to whoever in case I need it: Fuck you.

ricpic said...

What's the difference what people say? You know that if you were stranded on the side of the road Santorum would be the guy who'd stop and give you a cable boost and Wright would be the guy who wouldn't. You just know these things. Well, I do.

Cedarford said...

Tim - "Qualified ditto - I can't say I hope Cedarford suffers a personal tragedy - I can say that if he ever does, I hope it gives him some perspective from that small corner of hell that he's built for himself.
One marvels at the hate."

No hatred of Baby Bella, no more than when other tragic props like Saint Elisabeth Edwards, Al Gore's striken sister, and Edwards routine tragic story of how his dead son movitated pre-cancer Elisabeth to take fertility treatments to have more babies - were trotted out to get sympathy from the rubes and yokels.

My dislike is not of any of the striken, but their shameless use as props to milk emotions for the politicians advantage.

pm317 said...

Hey Cedarford, always appreciate your comments. Rationality is a difficult proposition to many. I got yelled at too last time.

Revenant said...

I'll be curious to see if Ron Paul's numbers get a bump from this.

Titus said...

I didn't like his views but we was sincere and honest in what he felt...unlike Romney, who has no sincere views and who is completely awful

nana said...

Reading this blog and the comments has been an education. I guess I lived a sheltered life.

Big Mike said...

@Cedarford, it seems to me that one can deplore the use of family members, especially gravely ill family members, as campaign props without descending quite to the level of your comments at 1:48 and 4:56.

I think your elevator stops quite a bit short of the top floor.

leslyn said...

Now Santorum can go to work as a preacher.

Probably in the Southern Baptist Conference, where they voted to prohibit women in leadership positions.

Plus, he has his nice guaranteed Senate pension to fall back on.

Which sparked a thought: I wonder why some of the folks are so opposed to unions, since they run their own closed shop.

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

If family members with disabilities get sympathy that's a good thing.

I don't mind that at all- one of Sarah Palin's legacies, perhaps someday it will be the most important, is her support for disabled people.

Many, many, many people have ill or disabled family members. If we live long enough we all get there ourselves.

I don't think talking about disability, illness, and death at the national political level is a bad thing at all. The fact that people are sympathetic is heartening. There's far too much cold rationality when it comes to the aged, infirm, and the disabled- people ignore them, abort them, or encourage them to die.

I didn't mind Santorum at all. I didn't vote for him because his lack of experience, but his message and "props" were things that needed to be said.

a psychiatrist who learned from veterans said...

I appreciate the comments about 'suspend' and the course of trisomy. As for myself, I enjoyed him and would look at his last words: "That's what our campaign was about: What made us Americans — how we built this country from the bottom up and how, if we are going to be successful, how we must believe in ourselves and believe in that ability to go forward and do the same thing." and see him not so much as criticizing others qua others as encouraging as personal decision a moral Catholic code, not that you had to be Catholic. For example, caring for 'neighbor' wasn't supporting job retraining first of all by taxes but caring for his daughter, understanding his wife, accepting a contract for labor as agreed upon, not saying he was first in the field and should have more as in the Gospel parable. To my mind, he didn't call out others as did Rush who I think hurt the Republicans' election chances. He encouraged others to struggle alongside him.