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    Santorum Dials Back Controversial Comments

    By Shawn Humphrey | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Mon, Feb 20, 2012
    This story comes from the Yahoo! Contributor Network, where individuals publish their unique perspectives on some of the world’s most popular websites.
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    COMMENTARY | Sensing this is his moment to prepare for the general election, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum went on the attack Saturday, saying President Barack Obama held a radical "world view", according AFP. At a campaign stop in Ohio, Santorum said Obama believed in a "phony ideal, some phony theology, not a theology based on the Bible."

    But Sunday, the deeply religious GOP nominee appeared to be doing damage control as his comments were taken as going too far by political opponents. Santorum indicated he wasn't questioning whether the president was a Christian -- an accusation sometimes made by political opponents despite Obama's regular church attendance -- but said he was hammering Obama on his environmental policy instead.

    "It's not questioning the president's beliefs in Christianity," Santorum told CBS, the AFP report indicates. "I'm talking about the belief that man is -- should be in charge of the Earth and have dominion over it and be good stewards of it."

    Among the president's defenders was Robert Gibbs, a top campaign adviser and former White House spokesman who called Santorum's comments part of a "race to the bottom."

    The tactic appears to be an effort by Santorum to draw fellow Catholic and other religious values voters away from the president, and thought it could prove a valid tactic as polls suggest he's taking the wrong tack. Recent polling by the Des Moines Register shows Santorum would best Obama 48 percent to 44 percent in the state. But when it came to a breakdown of the president's approval ratings he was shown to be most vulnerable on issues related to the economy, health care and the budget. Hot button issues such as same-sex marriage and abortion, Santorum's bread and butter issues, were not mentioned.

    Much like other Republican nominees before him, Santorum appears on track to make comments that could come back to haunt him. He controversially told CBS that amniocentesis "more often than not" results in abortion, contesting the standard screening process used to assess the health of fetuses. Harvard Medical School's website indicates the process is often recommended for women who have a family history of birth defects, certain diseases, who have abnormal "triple screen" blood tests, and who are over the age of 35.

    Shawn Humphrey is a former contributor to The Flint Journal and lives near Washington in Gaithersburg, Md.

     

    10 comments

    • calven
      calven  •  3 mths ago
      AS an independent, i will say this now, i will NOT vote for Santorum because he is ONCE AGAIN saying precisely the inverse of what he's all about--this p.o.s. tried to destroy social security when Bush was in office, but he ran commercials saying that he was all about saving it instead, everyone in this state knew he was lying, and so we threw him out and he lost in a 20% landslide vote against him for one reason--he was a BLATANT LIAR.
    • GoAheadMakeMyDay...
      GoAheadMakeMyDay...  •  Sunnyvale, California  •  3 mths ago
      dial back? why bother? this guy can't win, and its pathetic that he's the best the GOP could come up with.
    • Lori Gunn
      Lori Gunn  •  Reno, Nevada  •  3 mths ago
      President Obama does not need to campaign this time around. There obviously is no one seriously trying to run against him - just some men showing a lack of sense and understanding. Very good article to write.
      • calven
        calven 3 mths ago
        LORI, it hasn't been any different since 1910 Every single republican since then has been worse than the one before--one wildeyed NUT after the next.
    • SuperG
      SuperG  •  Portland, Oregon  •  3 mths ago
      Any politician running for office will back-pedal on what they say, if they feel that what they've said is unpopular. I hope for the day that a politician stands for what he believes in and wins or loses because of it. But that would take character and big gonads, which are two things that none possess.
    • WB
      WB  •  Oakland, California  •  3 mths ago
      What a douche! Typical over bearing Catholic that I see in church every Sunday. DON'T YOU TELL ME WHAT I CAN AND CAN NOT DO SANTORUM! Your a hypocrite and we all know conservative republicans like you usually are some sort of freak either by molesting little kids, or have a girl friend on the side, or have a leather fetish with whip cream involved, or your getting a BJ from your secretary......the list could go on from what the American public has been put through by you creeps in Washington.

      I FOR ONE DO NOT WANT A PRESIDENT TO TELL ME WHEN AND WHO I CAN HAVE SEX WITH, WHEN AND WHERE "OR" WHAT GOES ON IN MY BEDROOM! SHUT THE HECK UP SANTORUM! DON'T TELL ME YOU DIDN'T HAVE SEX BEFORE YOU GOT MARRIED! If you say you didn't, then that makes you a lier as well. CREEP!
    • Gary
      Gary  •  3 mths ago
      STILL, NO CANDIDATE!
    • Gary
      Gary  •  3 mths ago
      This shows the public quite clearly what page the Tea Baggs are on.
    • John
      John  •  3 mths ago
      too late, scrotum, we already seen just what a loon you are!
    • Ernesto
      Ernesto  •  3 mths ago
      Santorum should stick to his guns. Obama does not have a biblical theology when you consider his beliefs like: promoting abortion, homosexuality, saying all paths lead to God and that Jesus was just a "historical figure" which is code slang for someone who does not believe in HIS divinity and his lying about his identity using false documents that are not even his..
      • calven
        calven 3 mths ago
        Im sure god would not support FORCING women into birthing, in light of the whole Free Will argument, so based on that alone if God has a position on Abortion it seems more likely he would be PROCHOICE and not in favor of forcing women into doing things with their own body that they dont want to.
      • Izzy_Cool
        Izzy_Cool 3 mths ago
        CALVEN - good point. Free will means the woman can choose what to do with her her body. It isn't up to man to judge. G-d will judge those people when the time comes. I would think that G-d would indeed be "Pro Choice" but, he would also look at the individual circumstances very carefully.
      • Izzy_Cool
        Izzy_Cool 3 mths ago
        ERNESTO - I am Jewish. Therefore, I do not believe in the divinity of Jesus. Are you trying to say that Jews do not have a biblical theology? Don't even think of going that route or you end up attacking your own beliefs.
    • BIGBLUENATION
      BIGBLUENATION  •  Olympia, Washington  •  3 mths ago
      Yahoo liberals had a nerve spasm.
     Post a comment
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