Santorum 'Theology' Quip a Sign of Fear-Based GOP Politics

On Saturday Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum tossed a healthy portion of old but still-red meat right into the ravenous, foaming mouths of the rabid right when he told a Tea Party crowd in Columbus, Ohio that President Barack Obama's agenda was "a phony 'theology'... based [not] on the Bible... [but] a different theology." (emphasis mine).

In so doing, he got what he wanted and needed -- headlines and an appearance on a Sunday morning talk show. But he also tipped his hand on how he intends to run the "anyone-but-Romney" GOP primary and general election this fall: by playing to the irrational suspicions and stoking the unfounded fears of the least savory elements of the GOP base.

The key word in his controversial statement is "different." One could reasonably conclude his meaning to be "other theology" or even, by extension, "The Other." Painting Obama as "different" has been the primary directive of conservatives for over four years and it's more of the same thinly veiled xenophobia and Manchurian­-candidate nonsense we've come to expect from fear-fomenting Republican politicians. Has the GOP become so intellectu­ally bankrupt, so bereft of tenable principles and viable policies that the "Grand Old Party" must resort to rehashing the 2008 whisper campaign that President Obama is not a Christian? It's trite and vapid and would be outrageous if it just weren't so pitiably absurd.

This fire-and-b­rimstone flourish comes as no surprise from Rick Santorum. But it speaks to a larger and more dismaying problem with American politics of the last generation­: reasoned, rational conservati­ve statesmen are growing rarer by the election cycle. More and more GOP politician­s are incapable of simply disagreeing fundamenta­lly and intellectu­ally with an opponent and making their cases before the public. Instead, they ground their opposition in innuendo, name-calli­ng and flagrant lying to drive a false narrative born of suspicion and fear.

Never has the phenomenon been more on display than in the candidacy and subsequent presidency of Barack Obama. The laughable "Birther" movement, the incessant and uninformed branding of Obama as a "socialist­," the puerile insistence on emphasizin­g his middle name (Hussein) when referring to him, and repeated oblique allusions to some non-Christ­ian theology -- these tactics all have their roots in a profound lack of intellectu­al gravity and in the absence of policies palatable to a majority of Americans.

The absurdity of these tactics is only overshadow­ed by the cowardice of those who employ them. Witness the equivocations and half-assed walkbacks:

• Santorum: "If the President says he's a Christian, he's a Christian."
• Rick Perry: "I don't know [if Obama's birth certificate is real]. I have no reason to think otherwise."
• Michelle Bachmann: "I take the president at his word. The president has offered his certificate of birth and I take him at his word."
• Mitch McConnell: ""The president says he's a Christian. I take him at his word."

Like many before him, Santorum dropped a bomb with his "different theology" insinuation but failed to stand behind and substantiate it. It's not just disingenuous. It's cowardly. And it's a product of a party that is out of ideas, out of touch and out of the mainstream.

If the improving economy and Obama's rising approval from independents have left the GOP with no other recourse than to play "Other," they'll need all the luck they can get in 2012. That nonsense didn't work in 2008 and it won't work now.

 

Follow Brian Normoyle on Twitter: www.twitter.com/BrianNormoyle

Comments

[nypapajoe]

11:30 AM on 02/21/2012

America I recently stated that the Extremist Republican Bagger Party has targeted the Minorities across this nation, gays, workers rights, education and women rights! I stated that it was just a matter of time before they would go after a new target to discredit! Well it's the "Girl Scouts"! Next week it will be anybody's guess! These people are out of control! The hypocrites talk about the extremism of the Taliban but their behavior and beliefs are just as radical and dangerous! This is as direct result of the ultra rich right wing conspiracy to dominate our democracy!

[IM4REAL]

09:47 AM on 02/21/2012

I know the Bible says whoever live in love lives in God and God in him. The true worshiper will worship the Father in spirt and truth. Instead, many republicans and Santorum ground their opposition in innuendo, name-calli­ng and flagrant lying to drive a false narrative born of suspicion and fear. For me this raises doubt and concern about their so called christianity and religion. Their words are not in line with what the Bible says. Santorum and republicans would do best just leaving it out of politics the more they bring it up the more disingenuous they appear. They question President Obama's Faith yet have No Facts to back it up. When questioned about it they start back peddling which speaks volumes about them. It appear as though they are just thumping their Bible and not reading it. If your words and actions don't line up with Gods you need to quit calling yourself a Christian and get Real 4 Real.

[drhinesmid]

06:16 AM on 02/21/2012

And what kind of tension does race baiting and class warfare create? Answer....much more than anything Santorum's words creates.

[Bloggerrogr]

01:48 AM on 02/21/2012

Fear and Greed; the guiding principles of the Republican Party.
Get people to fear each other. Divide us amongst ourselves, then exploit that division to claim to "lead" the nation.
Appeal to people's basest impulse, avarice. Tell them that someone wants to take what they have for themselves and they should not allow that to happen; furthermore, as Gordon Gekko said, "Greed...is good". Of course, they will flock around Ayn Rand (who died virtually broke, dependent on state resources due to her own badly declining health).

This pathology is counter to every American ideal that has made our country great.

FWIW

[Brian Normoyle]

02:56 PM on 02/21/2012

Thank you for characterizing it as "pathology." A perfectly astute delineation.

[demotom]

01:32 AM on 02/21/2012

The Republican party is the party of fear, hate, and anger. They are extremely dangerous to democracy. Their religious leaders fan the flame of hatred, hoping to fill their pews and collection plates. The teachings of Jesus are nowhere to be found in the Christian Right.

[Honeybabe1]

10:41 PM on 02/20/2012

repubs want to rule through anger, hate, fear and greed. nothing there about creating jobs or helping the u.s. in ANY way.

[Cage me]

10:14 PM on 02/20/2012

BOTH parties are corrupted with liars... C'mon people admit it

[Jetwash]

12:11 PM on 02/21/2012

Agreed. The difference is one uses religion and Jesus for their own ends.

[Eduardo Gonzalez 2011]

09:39 PM on 02/20/2012

I agree with Rick Santorum that the President's theology is different from his and his followers. Where I disagree with Rick is in his interpretations of the Gospels. They are the ones who have fallen away from Jesus's teaching of tolerance, forgiveness, caring for the poor, and stewardship of the planet. The radical right's insistence on politicking on their theology goes against Jesus's most basic instruction for his followers. "Let that which is Ceasar's, be Ceasars, and let that which is God's be God's." In other words, separation of church and state is not only written into the constitution but it is a commandment from Jesus himsef. When Rick stands in front of the cameras and potificates his "morality" for political gain, he is destroying the very foundations of Christianity.

[Gottlieb]

10:19 PM on 02/20/2012

The "devout" Catholic Santorum's theology is different from Catholic Social Teachings and the Roman Catholic Church's acceptance of evolution, science and climate change.

[Zebnick69]

10:34 PM on 02/20/2012

You think that means the separation of church and state? LOL!

[truth be told again]

09:27 PM on 02/20/2012

Mr. Sanctorum,

How does accusing the President of having a "phony theology" create a single new job for America?

[Ockhams Hammock]

06:41 PM on 02/20/2012

Authoritarian leaders are dangerous. They know how to stir up fear and hate in people who might otherwise let things be. Religious authoritarian leaders are particularly dangerous since they pit good people against one another simply over differences of belief.

[dapperd72]

06:30 PM on 02/20/2012

When Rick Santorum refers to Pres. Obama as having a "different theology," he derides that of Jesus Christ himself whose belief in helping the least among us runs sharply contrary to Santorum's own political philosophy and that of the entire right-wing branch, falsely describing itself as "Christian." They ignorantly forget the fact that Christians are not the only religious sector of our human population, given that many others are Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, Wiccans, practicers of other faiths. agnostics or atheists. This nation was not founded upon Christian values, if such things technically exist, but primarily by Deists and agnostics, most of whom were skeptical of the notion that religion and politics should be conflated. Hence the creation of Article 6 of the Constitution which forbids religious tests to hold public office. The decimation of this Article's integration in public practice has caused considerable cynicism among those of us, whether devout religious observers, agnostics or atheists, since we generally don't appreciate constant emphasis of religion being forced down our throats, let alone in such a Christianocentric manner. George Washington didn't believe in political parties, Thomas Jefferson soundly identified the need for a "wall of separation between church and state, and Bill Maher sensibly ridicules religion for the mindless superstition it breeds, leading to our current state of affairs. If we followed the European model of secularism in public life, we might restore civility and common sense to our public discourse.

[Dunelm]

05:12 PM on 02/20/2012

I just commented on another post that it is rather surpising that so many religious Republican candidates use fear as a strategy when Jesus, whom they profess to follow, used the phrase "Fear Not" more than any other. Additionally, to those Republicans below who say the President is using fear as a strategy regarding birth control, I would ask them to consider the fact that the GOP had as its goal the defunding of Planned Parenthood, and that Santorum personally believes that contraception is wrong. I see Obama still as a President of hope and not fear.

[Yikes11]

04:37 PM on 02/20/2012

If all else fails, steal the election. Stay tuned . . .

[Picachu]

04:30 PM on 02/20/2012

It is curious that they think America as a whole supports this degree of radicalism. It also causes one to think, if the conservative perspective is so great, why do they lie so much? If they can't persuade people with the truth, then they are truly intellectually and morally bankrupt.

[mabinog]

04:40 PM on 02/20/2012

whoa dude, some serious issues with projection here.

[l78lancer]

04:55 PM on 02/20/2012

So is it class warfare or religious warfare? They are not the same and in fact can be very contradictory.

It's funny how the president is being accused of religious warfare and has never been the one to bring up religion.

[bigtimechillerm]

05:29 PM on 02/20/2012

Well yeah, he did bring up religion to some political end. Have you had your head in the sand? You cannot tell me that he did not know the result of mandating Catholics providing contraceptives for its employees. Santorum took the bait and now the GOP is the party who will 'take away women's birth control'.

Just before that, he spoke at a prayer breakfast and made the comparison to Jesus' teachings and his own philosophy regarding redistribution.

Obama is an astute politician who has injected religion when it suits his purposes and has done so on countless occasions.