Rick Santorum

Most campaigns have a musical theme. Rick Santorum, who "suspended" his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination this week, might have selected the song "The Impossible Dream. " Mr. Santorum's dream seemed improbable, if not impossible, from the start. He lost his last Senate race and had been out of office -- and out of mind -- for the last few years; not exactly a platform on which one usually runs for president. Political "experts" believed his chief foe, Mitt Romney, was unbeatable.

The realities of the 2012 presidential campaign season: 23 million unemployed or underemployed Americans, soaring gas prices, mounting debt, a controversial national health care law about to take effect, unrest overseas, and a fiscal cliff looming. Historical precedent — since FDR, no president has been reelected with unemployment hovering around or above 8 percent — and polling showing most people felt the country was on the wrong track pointed to a "change election cycle" and a resounding Mitt Romney victory.

I was born a Democrat but I am a card carrying Republican by choice. I was born Jewish, but am a Jew by choice. And I cannot support our president, not because he is a Democrat but because of what he is doing to our country. But neither can I support the majority of Republican candidates because they are saying nothing about what they would do for our country. They have, especially Mr. Santorum, brought religion into a place it does not belong. I do not care if Mr. Santorum feels he is a better Christian than the president; the question is whether he is a better man and would he make a better president.

Most campaigns have a musical theme. Rick Santorum, who "suspended" his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination this week, might have selected the song "The Impossible Dream. " Mr. Santorum's dream seemed improbable, if not impossible, from the start. He lost his last Senate race and had been out of office -- and out of mind -- for the last few years; not exactly a platform on which one usually runs for president. Political "experts" believed his chief foe, Mitt Romney, was unbeatable.

Rick Santorum speaks with the force of moral certainty. His sweater vests convey an inner calm during a time of national angst. Like him or not, the former Pennsylvania senator projects the image of a staunch, straight-shooting conservative. But the record shows that Mr. Santorum executed a couple of curious, early-career reversals from what today are unacceptable party-line positions. Digging through old clips this week, I discovered a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article from October 1990, the year Mr. Santorum first won election to the U.S. House.

Sex columnist Dan Savage has ruined GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum's last name on Google. And now, he says, he might target the former senator's first name.  This internet war began in 2003, when Santorum compared gay sex to beastiality, and, as revenge, Savage "Google-bombed" Santorum's last name, making searches for "Santorum" result in, well, stuff that's too gross to type. (You can Google it for yourself and see.) Now that Santorum is back in the spotlight and running (if you can call struggling behind Tim Pawlenty in the polls "running")

As Wednesday's GOP debate arrives with Rick Santorum now at center stage, it is impossible not to notice how much his rise is welcomed at Fox News. It is also impossible not to see how deeply owner Rupert Murdoch and chief Roger Ailes have already corrupted the party and our political process through owned and operated candidates like Santorum. Yet, as impossible as it is, lots of my colleagues are acting like they don't notice, because while the turmoil in the Republican Party isn't as good for them and their employers as it is for Fox, it still makes for more interesting subject matter and better business.

As a scientist, I am outraged at Rick Santorum's statement denying the validity of the dangers posed to the planet from climate change and global warming. What credentials does he have to make any statement about this highly complex scientific subject? His position is completely contrary to the one supported by the great majority of U.S. scientists, the National Academy of Sciences and NASA. Perhaps he will soon advise us on the intricacies of brain surgery or rocket science, about which he is equally knowledgeable.

I am certain that the staff in Obama headquarters in Chicago were euphoric after Rick Santorum's primary and caucus victories Tuesday in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri. They may hardly have to use their expected $1 billion campaign war chest as the Republican Party continues to implode. It is possible the social conservatives' and the tea party's dislike of Mitt Romney will force him to move so far to the right that independents and moderate Republicans will not be able to vote for him in the general election, thus ensuring President Obama's victory.

Professor Peter Morici would have given a failing grade to a student who submitted a paper with the rambling arguments in his column ("Obama's faith in liberalism," Feb. 21). He would cite the recurring inflammatory religious references as opposed to logic in discussing President Obama's policies. He would also note the criticism of no health-care price and access controls in one paragraph, then of business subsidies and mandates in the next. Professor Morici's economics credibility floats away when he submerges himself in the religious metaphors employed by Rick Santorum.

Rick Santorum is the one viable candidate who can offer a true contrast to President Barack Obama and win back the White House. Republicans have a clear choice in the primary of this most important election, and Marylanders need Rick Santorum. A win for Mr. Obama keeps this nation on the destructive path of uncontrolled debt, excessive government control, central decision making, attack on faith and family, weakening our military, and lessening the stature of America in the world.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney enjoys a 17 point lead over Rick Santorum in Maryland, according to a poll released Thursday by Rasmussen Reports. The poll shows Romney with 45 percent of the vote, Santorum with 28 percent, Newt Gingrich at 12 percent and Ron Paul at 7 percent. The primary is on Tuesday. Though the presidential primary appeared to be winding down in the days before Maryland voters went to the polls, the state's 37 delegates managed to draw Romney, Gingrich and Paul for appearances.

As a young and ambitious patriotic American, I fear for my country. I fear for my future and for my children's future and that one day I will spend my sunset years telling stories of when men were free. We find ourselves at a great crossroads on the road to serfdom, facing the most important election of our lifetime. We need a real leader with true American values. Rick Santorum is this man. He's deeply rooted in faith and family with both the courage and conviction to beat Barack Obama.

Rick Santorum deserves credit for his impressive primary victories in Mississippi and Alabama. Newt Gingrich led us to believe he would win both states. He didn't, but he has vowed to fight on as the "real" conservative candidate, as opposed to Mitt Romney, who only "says" he is a conservative. Mr. Romney still has a substantial lead in delegates but lags in one vital category: enthusiasm. If candidate Barack Obama gave his supporters the political equivalent of a sugar rush in 2008, Mitt Romney is broccoli.

The effort by the Democratic Party, the UAW, Michael Moore and - disgracefully - Rick Santorum himself to orchestrate Democratic crossover votes against Mitt Romney in the Michigan Republican primary fell well short of its goal ("Santorum and Romney fight their own class war in Michigan," Feb. 27). Mr. Santorum's unholy alliance with big government, big labor and extremists underscores his shortcomings as an economic lightweight and an all-too-frequent shill for the unions during his years in Congress.

Regarding your editorial about Rick Santorum's views on the environment and Catholic teaching, it's a bad idea to invoke any of the imaginary gods to legitimize environmental protection, because there are so many of them ("Phony theology," Feb. 21). The evangelical God gives big industry the right to frack for natural gas and make your drinking water not just carcinogenic but flammable. The companies make money and you die. That's good for the rich fat cats in the front pew, but for the rest of us it must mean God is moving in mysterious ways.

Never mind Rick Santorum's flexibility on abortion, which columnist Thomas Schaller cited in questioning the GOP presidential primary contender's morality ("Rick Santorum's moral flexibility," Jan. 11). It's the candidate's profession of "pro-life" credentials one day, and his declared eagerness to wage war on Iran the next, that reveals his shirt-sleeve morality for what it really is. Mr. Santorum's expedient moral relativism, which values unborn fetuses above the victims of U.S. ordnance abroad, is another manifestation of the myopia about war's horror that many Americans share.

After three pieces, it seems like I have been writing about HBO's 'Game Change" all week. But I am really looking forward to discussing it Sunday morning on CNN's"Reliable Sources" with host Howard Kurtz and TVNewser columnist Gail Shister. We'll also be talking about Bill Maher's $1 million donation to a President Barack Obama PAC. Other topics include campaign coverage, Rick Santorum's attack on the press and reporting in Syria. Here's Kurtz's description of the show, which airs at 11 a.m. (EST)

Watching Rick Santorum rise in the polls by positioning himself as the real Christian presidential candidate is like watching the sequel of a horror movie - one I literally lived through in the 1980s while growing up in Pakistan. There, another religious zealot, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, played the lead role of the real Muslim. The plot went like this: The clerics called for candidates with "true" Muslim values, the masses demanded a "Muslim candidate for a Muslim state," the leaders proved their "Muslimness" by quoting scripture and calling others lesser Muslims, and the candidate who was able to appease the clergy privately and please the masses publicly held on to power.

"You know, back in my days, they used Bayer Aspirin for contraception. The gals put it between their knees... " -- Foster Friess, Feb. 16, 2012 Do you watch "Mad Men"? If so, you know that one of the things that drama about a 1960s advertising agency does best is transport you back to the days when women still were "gals. " We think we remember what that was like. We use words like "sexist" and "paternalistic" to describe it. But that is jargon, and no amount of jargon can deliver the same visceral jolt of "Oh, my Lord" as a "Mad Men" scene where one of the "gals" in the office seeks a prescription for those new birth-control pills but first must endure a humiliating lecture from her doctor.