Why the Far Right and especially Santorum are scarey

[FlorenceHamilton]

While I generally agree that it is unlikely for Santorum to win the nomination and it is unlikely that any of the current candidates will beat the sitting president, the turn of events in the Republican party are very concerning.

First of all, these far right wingers are energized and involved. They will vote. The rest of us are lukewarm toward the incumbent and are not so motivated. We need to become more proactive. (So glad that women are involved because we are major pissed.)

We are living in a time of uncertainty and fear. These are times when populations are vulnerable to an atmosphere of intense patriotism and hatred of anything considered "other". People like Rick Santorum are playing on this. He has fostered fears about non-Christians, non-Whites, empowered women, gay people....he has energized haters of vitually every possible stripe. Yes, there is a Hitler-like feel to it. Hitler came to power in much the same way. The virulent racism that has re-awakened in Alabama and Mississippi is beyond anything I though possible anymore. I suppose that it never really went away, but was suppressed. These people are feeling emboldened by people like Rick Santorum. Oh, and the comments he made regarding Puerto Rico will not gain him delegates there, but will make the Pueto Ricans on the mainland suffer from the fact that a "mainstream" leader feel comfortable showing his distain. Again, it will energize his base. And there are more of them than we should have. Even former Moderates like Romney now need to pander to these bigoted, narrowminded, white supremacist patriarchal homophobes.

I think we have reason to be afraid. Even in the very likely event that Obama wins a second term, these hateful scary people will be on the streets convincing all who will listen...all who fear the hard times we are in...to see things their way. This is not going away.

We have slowly eroded our educational system. The hateful base is procreating at the rate of fruitflies. I don't mean to be chicken little here, but honestly, if the study of history means anything at all, we are coming upon unusual times. The haters would rather focus on "moral" issues and religious dogma than really address real challenges. It is so much easier to quote from the bible and believe that the magic sky daddy will come down and fix things.

Santorum is not funny to me anymore.

[AudreyE]

They're also significantly out-breeding us. I've seen several studies that suggest that populations of blue states are expected to grow only a fraction of what the red states will over the next 10-15 years. I wish I had one of the studies to point to.

And I don't want to generalize that this is red vs. blue, but evangelicals are a huge part of what makes red states red.

ETA And I bet its the evangelical part of the red states which will be creating most of the growth.

[3 is enough]

I never would have dreamed that Santorum would still be in the race at this point. It is truly scary.

[figuring it out]

My conservative parents recently confessed to me that if Santorum wins the nomination, they will vote for Obama. They think his stance on women, education, well pretty much anything is so weird they find him scary. They would rather have a "socialist" president than a right wing nut. This is saying sommething since they both lean to libertarian. I had another conservative friend tell me she would get over her mormon phobia in order to avoid Santorum. I want to actually meet some of the "normal" people who are voting for him and then share his views on women and see how they react.

[Mountain Girl]

It truly is scary.

I hope this is the case with most conservative voters. I think it will be. I think Santorum will just dig himself into a pit of crazy that he can't get out of. But I'm also mentally preparing myself to become Canadian.

[Swamptribe]

There are a lot more moderates out there, the silent majority if you will.

Frankly, I see the 'out breeding' us thing as a myth. There have always been those with large families. More so in the past than presently. You have to realize that many of those 'breeders' will not follow through into the second or third generation. Either they won't get married, or they won't have the huge families their parents did. Some may, most won't.

These are troubled times. Troubled times cause fear, and fear brings out the worst in human nature. What we're seeing now is a trend with many conservatives to pray* on peoples fears. We are also seeing some very very vocal groups out there screaming their own paranoia and hate the loudest.

Look at the voter turn outs for some of these primaries. They were a pretty damn small percentage. I honestly believe that the silent majority is disgusted with the Republican party right now. I know my uber-conservative relatives are. They don't think anyone being fronted is worth their vote. (yet I dare not bring up the idea of voting for Obama to them)

What worries me more than who is being fronted for President is some of the legislation on the State level that conservative paranoia has pushed through. Look at how many of our rights are being slowly eroded away. Come on Arizona, do we really have to get our employees approval for medical choices now? Is it really ok for Doctors to lie to their patients? But then again, look at the new states that have legalized gay marriage. There is still hope.

*Yeah, it's a typo, but I kinda like it.

[BayLee_10]

We moderates and liberals had better get organized. I'm rewicking my lanterns and polishing my pitchforks. Seriously, if we rest on our butts, the right wing will take over the country. I have never gotten so many Christian send-a-longs as I have in the past year. It does no good whatsoever to insult them or to ask people in my address book not to send me religious or conservative material since I only delete it. I can't believe where the heads are of people I would have formerly thought of as fairly sane. Every day it is some conservative issue. If I see nothing wrong with you believing in creationism...well, in all honestly I will think you are a nut case, but I'll keep my opinion to myself, then why can't conservative Christians keep their opinion to themselves? In God We Trust...don't care. Under God in the pledge to the flag, no problems, either. But let's leave our various churches out of our schools, public areas. etc.

[Witsec7]

I went to the local pub yesterday to drink my lunch and chase it with a cheeseburger. Its a pretty liberal hangout, with some conservatives, since we all live and drink in community discussing diverse politics isn't a real issue. In the course of bar rail conversations I met two folks who identified as conservative republicans who said they will be voting for Obama due to the field of republicans running.

[Katiebug]

I try to remember that in both parties this happens during the primary period - lots of posturing and pandering to the base in order to get the nomination, then for the general election as much of a move to the center as is possible to gain the votes of independents/moderates.

What is frightening to me is that the GOP's base is now the crazy religious right. I am a fiscal conservative and social moderate/libertarian and there are almost no Republicans who I'd be willing to vote for right now (Huntsman was under consideration but since he didn't pander to the religious right, he's out of the running). They're outbreeding the rest of us, too. Fundie and fundie lites have bigger families, and it's well known that the number of children a woman has decreases with the level of her education. To be blunt, it's like we're living in the movie Idiocracy - except instead of poorly-educated people obsessed with pop culture, it's poorly-educated religious wingnuts.

[Conuly]

All these comments about conservatives voting Obama if Santorum wins the nomination is actually why my grandmother has always been a registered member of the Republican party. She votes Democrat in all the real elections, but she feels a desperate urge to mess with the Republicans' primaries.

[dairyfreelife]

I think it's crazy too that Republican candidates have to cater to the crazy Christian right (not all Christians on the right as opposed to birth control and abortion, but the vocal base we heard about are) and I see people like Romney saying things I'm not sure he actually believes. He's all, yeah, I'll overturn Roe v Wade, but doesn't apologize for allowing abortion to be covered by his state care in MA. I'm thinking he's not as anti-choice as claims, but all of them have to cater to the nuts to get a chance at winning. I do find it funny that in most states, Romney takes the Catholic voters over Santorum, who's Catholic. Santorum is not likely to win any or very few moderates. He gets the nomination, Obama will win the election hands down. For people who want him out, voting in Santorum would seem like a bad idea. Romney stands a better chance because he does have more moderate beliefs on things like health care. I know conservatives leery about Santorum because of his staunch beliefs on things that concern people like education and health care and women. My father is a Republican and he too is wary of Santorum because his beliefs are "crazy". Of course, my dad wanted his daughters to go to college and sent all three of his kids to public schools and his daughters and wife used the pill. They made decisions on their family size and used birth control to do that.

[ADoyle90815]

One thing that fundies don't care about is that those laws that would make it possible for a woman to be prosecuted for her miscarriage does apply to them as well. The thing is that Santorum scares enough independent and moderate women voters that if he were to get the nomination, Obama would win in a landslide. Chances are that he'll win anyway because Romney flip flops too much, and if you leave him in front of a mic that's on, he'll say stupid things, y'all.

[Elle]

Outbreeding us has been the goal. Have as many kids as possible to outnumber the rest of us.

I wouldn't say Santorum has no chance. Who would have thought he'd have lasted this long? Who'd have thought he'd be neck and neck with Romney? You're right that a lot of people are lukewarm about Obama, and that may make people more hesitant to vote unless they're evangelical or calvinist. It's frightening that I can see Santorum winning.

[JMarie]

No matter how many little states Santorum wins, Romney's still ahead. PA votes on April 24, and Santorum's not getting endorsements from fellow Republicans here:

http://www.philly.com/philly/insights/i ... _home.html

Plus, the two biggies, Texas and California, are more than two months away.

[Austin]

I don't believe Romney is particularly pro-life at all. I don't think he holds any position that isn't flexible, except perhaps on what happens to his personal wealth.

However, we will be in as big of trouble if Romney gets elected as we would with Santorum. The next president will amost certainly replace at least one retiring (or dead) liberal/moderate justice. Romney will do what he needs to in order to pander to his base and nominate another Scalia/Roberts/Thomas.

Then all bets are off for everyone who counts on civil liberties being protected. And I don't think that's hyperbolic in the least.

Presidents don't matter nearly as much as Supremes when it comes to these issues. I challenge everyone I talk to who is lukewarm or even dislikes Obama to vote for him for this reason alone, if for no other reason at all.

[pastaswife]

I take great efforts to make sure I KNOW as much as I can about the things I believe, so these people (Frothy eg) whose only defense is generally "the bible sez so" to rule over a generally multi-religious nation is what scares me.

And I'm a peace-loving ultra-liberal, so all conservatives scare me ;)

[Witsec7]

...

Presidents don't matter nearly as much as Supremes when it comes to these issues. I challenge everyone I talk to who is lukewarm or even dislikes Obama to vote for him for this reason alone, if for no other reason at all.

If any of the states enact these anti woman, anti-contraception, antiabortion laws its likely they will all go up on appeal. Thats gonna take a few years. In the meantime the next president will have some vacancies to fill.

The question is, which candidate is likely to give you the a supreme court that will uphold your rights?