Rick Santorum: Single Mothers Make Up 'Democratic Advantage'

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum said on a radio show last week that the GOP's strategy for reducing "the Democratic advantage" should be to marry off all the single mothers who "look to the government for help."

"Look at the political base of the Democratic Party: It is single mothers who run a household," he told Tony Perkins, president of the Christian conservative think tank Family Research Council. "Why? Because it’s so tough economically that they look to the government for help and therefore they’re going to vote. So if you want to reduce the Democratic advantage, what you want to do is build two parent families, you eliminate that desire for government."

The main problem Santorum would face in efforts to reduce the number of single mothers in the country is that he opposes all forms of family planning, abortion and sex education efforts. The former Pennsylvania senator supports a federal abortion ban, even in cases of rape and incest. He voted down funding for teen pregnancy prevention programs, supported the Title V "abstinence-only" program that forbids the discussion of contraception, and opposes insurance coverage of birth control and abortions for low-income women.

Santorum also voted for measures that would increase the financial burden on single mothers, thereby making them more dependent on government services. He supported the "family cap" in 1995 that forbid states to give mothers on welfare more financial assistance after the birth of a child, and he voted against the Family and Medical Leave Act, which would have ensured 12 weeks of unpaid leave for women to care for their new babies.

But Santorum maintains his hypothesis that one-person families are going to be the downfall of the economy and the Republican Party in America.

“The word ‘home’ in Greek is the basis of the word ‘economy,’" he said during the New Hampshire presidential debate. "It is the foundation of our country. You can’t have a limited government if the family breaks down.”

CORRECTION: This story previously stated that Rick Santorum is a former Massachusetts senator. He is a former Pennsylvania senator.

Comments

[jeanocelot]

02:34 PM on 10/22/2011

It sounds reasonable to me that if single mothers were eliminated from the voting group, that the republican Party would do better. That's like saying that I think that the sun will rise in the east tomorrow. The question is whether excluding such folks is FAIR.

[pdhgoarmy]

12:55 PM on 10/25/2011

To jeanocelot -- Could you clarify your blog .? Do you have an opinion .? Why would fairness be a question accept for someone who is braindead .?

[floresfamily9]

10:04 AM on 10/22/2011

I was a married mom of 3 and a dem. I am now a divorced mom of 3 and a dem. AND Catholic...What did Rick's mom do to him???

[Sara Vandermolen]

08:14 PM on 10/21/2011

"That was not intended to be a factual statement".

[pategp]

05:42 PM on 10/21/2011

The description of this man begins with his first name; the first letter just needs to be changed from an "R" to a "D".

[dogreen]

04:42 PM on 10/21/2011

WHAT?!!! None of his comment made any sense! Is it to much to ask that people running for the presidency form coherent comments based on real knowledge and understanding?

[jforgit9]

03:30 PM on 10/25/2011

Well you just eliminated the entire GOP field.

[HuffPostFlamingLiberals]

01:35 PM on 10/21/2011

I think we should tie their tubes because after all, they are the leaches of society.

[Richard Law]

12:15 PM on 10/21/2011

You have to worry about the mental state of someone that obsesses this much about same-sex this or same-sex that. It really must eat up most of his day.

I mean, how deranged is someone that thinks "marrying off all the single mothers" is the slightest bit practical? Forget whether or not it would accomplish anything, it's firstly a logistical nightmare.­....

Where do you even begin? -- Do you have a speed dating night where you marry off everyone before midnight?? Do you lure all the single women into a church and lock them in?? I know, why not just line up thousands of single men bent down on 1 knee.....h­ave the single women walk by.....the­n, when the music stops it's happily ever after.....­.

[blarneydude]

12:01 PM on 10/21/2011

Let me get this straight.

You marry off single moms, and you wean them off government.

What are these, Rick? Arranged marriages? Who's arranging them? Marriage, Inc? Or your limited government, limited only by its ability to invade our bedrooms?

Oh. Who do you think handles divorces, buddy? Marry off all the single moms, and sooner or later (hint: SOONER) divorce will be the nation's biggest industry, and divorce courts bigger than defense.

[blarneydude]

11:55 AM on 10/21/2011

Man, no wonder so few read the Bible.

They think this guy knows what's in it!

[johninnnapa]

06:45 PM on 10/20/2011

Yikes! Santorum is on to us! Drat!

[mjvoter]

04:26 PM on 10/20/2011

God what an idiot! For his hypothesis to be true it would mean that every man in America financially supports every child he has fathered and we all know that ain't true.

[mjvoter]

04:24 PM on 10/20/2011

If one person households or one parent families are going to be the downfall of the Republican party in America Bring it On!!! I wish it could be that easy.

[mjvoter]

04:21 PM on 10/20/2011

Wonder how long it's gonna take before we find out Rick Santorum has fathered an out of wedlock child. Just sayin that's how things seem to go these days.

[mjvoter]

04:17 PM on 10/20/2011

And men who don't support themselves or their children have nothing to do with this.

[TarzanaGirl]

01:24 AM on 10/20/2011

Quick....someone dig up Doc's delorean so that Ricky can find his way back to the 19th century...