This page was last updated on March 19, 2012.
Santorum not for working class; Steve Rodich; Beaver County Times; March 18, 2012.
Based on his letters, Mr. Rodich (active in local Democrat politics) has at least a couple of obsessions, bashing Rick Santorum and supporting the banning of smoking on private property. Of Mr. Rodich’s minimum of 27 letters since 2004, at least eight supported banning smoking on private property and at least nine (including this letter) bashed Mr. Santorum.
The previous eight Rick Santorum-bashing letters (September 2004 through October 2006) were entitled “Your vote counts,” “Voting records tell all,” “Santorum flip flops,” “It’s Santorum’s turn to lose,” “‘Nuclear’ option and Santorum,” “Race already heating up,” “Who is Santorum fighting?”, and “Santorum’s hypocrisy shows.” It would have been eight in a row except Mr. Rodich took a timeout and attempted to bash Lynn Swann in “Swann lacks experience.”
The smoking-related letters (January 2007 through December 2008) I critiqued are here, here, here, here, here, and here. The letters I did not critique were “Lawmaker’s poor report card” (2/13/08) and “Telling votes on smoking” (7/17/07); both letters are no longer on the BCT website.
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“As I follow the Republican debates for president, I am amused at the unmitigated gall of Rick Santorum.”
[RWC] As you read Mr. Rodich’s letter, keep in mind he has a history of problems with facts. For example, in a previous letter Mr. Rodich asserted the “vast majority of registered voters in Pennsylvania are Democrats.” When Mr. Rodich made that claim in November 2005, only 47.6% of Pennsylvania registered voters were registered as Democrats. As of November 2011, that figure was 50.7%.
“Can you believe he claims to be for the working class? The same guy who lost his U.S. Senate seat by the largest margin in history. The guy who was rejected by Pennsylvania voters because of his extreme right-wing political views. The guy who wanted to turn over our Social Security to Wall Street.”
[RWC] Mr. Santorum’s “extreme right-wing political views?” You’ll note Mr. Rodich chose not to give specifics. In contrast, when in 2005 I noted Mr. Santorum was not exactly my idea of a conservative’s conservative, I provided specifics to support that opinion. In the interest of full disclosure, in 2005 I wrote, “Mr. Santorum is not my hope for president, ever. I’ll write in a true conservative rather than vote for a Rockefeller Republican like Mr. Santorum.” I need to eat those words. While I still have questions about some of Mr. Santorum’s less-than-conservative previous positions and votes, should he win the Republican nomination I’ll vote for him without question and be glad I did. Mr. Obama has to go and I don’t have the luxury of wasting my vote just to make a statement.
As for Mr. Santorum “wanted to turn over Social Security to Wall Street,” that’s false and it’s hard for me to believe Mr. Rodich doesn’t know it’s false. From what I’ve read, Mr. Santorum supports the proposal that SS taxpayers have the option to invest a very small portion (four percent was the proposal in 2005) of their SS taxes in personal accounts, but still under the oversight and rules of the SS Administration. Unlike the rest of SS benefits, however, the amount in the personal account would actually belong to the individual taxpayer and could not be taken by the feds to spend on other stuff as happened with SS and Medicare tax revenue. Heck, Democrats themselves proposed and supported personal accounts in the late 1990s. Remember the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY), former-Sen. Hillary Clinton’s (D-NY) immediate predecessor? This was also a recommendation of the bipartisan President’s Commission to Strengthen Social Security in 2001.
“This is the guy who lived in Virginia and stuck Penn Hills with the cost of home school education for his children. The guy who never worked in a steel mill or coal mine, and claims to be from both. And finally, the same guy who was raised by his affluent parents while living free of charge in housing provided by the Veterans Administration, than has the nerve to refer to President Obama as a snob.”
[RWC] As for the “lived in Virginia” talking point, please read my critique of “Home alone” from 2006.
Nowhere did I find Mr. Santorum claim to “work in a steel mill or coal mine” or anything similar. Mr. Santorum did mention, however, his grandfather worked in the auto industry and then “in the coal mines of Western Pennsylvania.” Let’s look at Mr. Santorum’s “affluent parents while living free of charge in housing provided by the Veterans Administration.” Mr. Santorum’s father emigrated from Italy as a child, enlisted in the Army after high school during World War II, and served in the South Pacific. After WWII, Mr. Santorum’s dad used the GI Bill to go to college and become a psychologist; his mother was a nurse. Mr. Santorum’s parents worked for the VA and housing was part of their compensation. I don’t know if psychologists and nurses become affluent working for the VA. Please read “Psychologist Aldo Santorum devoted career to fellow veterans” to learn what else Mr. Rodich failed to mention.
Even if Mr. Santorum’s parents had been affluent, when did “affluent parents” become a bad thing? I don’t recall Mr. Rodich complaining about the “affluent parents” of the Kennedys, John Kerry, Jay Rockefeller, Barack Obama, and so on. You may recall Mr. Obama was raised from the age of 10 by his grandparents and his grandmother was an [evil <g>] bank vice president. According to CNN, Mr. Santorum’s net worth was between $1 million and $3 million as of January 2012, and Mr. Obama’s was between $2.8 and $11.8 million. Mr. Santorum received his college education at Pitt, Penn State, and Dickinson School of Law (now Penn State Law). Mr. Obama received his degrees from Columbia and Harvard, both Ivy League schools. Using Mr. Rodich’s logic, why should we believe Mr. Obama when “he claims to be for the working class?”
As for Mr. Santorum’s “snob” comment, name-calling is not a good thing. That said, if that’s the worst thing Mr. Santorum says during the race, he’ll be way better than Mr. Obama. You may recall the following comment by candidate Obama during the 2008 primary race: “You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.” I could have missed it, but I don’t recall a letter from Mr. Rodich complaining about Mr. Obama’s smear job of Pennsylvanians. In fact, my records show no mention of Mr. Obama – either good or bad – by Mr. Rodich until this letter. I also don’t recall Mr. Rodich complaining when the-late U.S. Rep. John Murtha (D-12) said, “There’s no question Western Pennsylvania is a racist area.”
“What a phony. I almost wish he becomes the nominee of the Republican party [sic] because there is no way the independents as well as the moderate Republicans will vote for him. His candidacy would enhance the possibility of Obama’s re-election.”
[RWC] Based on this letter’s content, perhaps Mr. Rodich should avoid name-calling.
© 2004-2012 Robert W. Cox, all rights reserved.