SANTORUM USES ANOTHER CHILD AS A PROP?
I've written a number of posts about Rick Santorum and Gabriel, the deceased newborn he and his wife took home to their kids back in the '90s. I'll admit that I'm one of the people who finds the decision to do this odd -- so, yes, it gives me pause when I read that the American Pregnancy Association suggests that a bonding moment of this kind is a very good idea, and I also feel I have to think twice after reading the words of BooMan, who's had experiences similar to the Santorums' (although the conclusions he draws from them are very different from those of the Santorums).
On the other hand, what's bothered me most about this is that Rick Santorum has seemed to use his deceased son's story as a campaign tool -- please note that the boy was born and died in 1996, but the go-to sources for information on what happened are conversations Santorum had with reporters from The Washington Post and The New York Times Magazine in 2005 ... just as Santorum was about to face the electoral fight of his life in his 2006 bid to retain his Senate seat.
And now, via Joe Klein, I learn this about another of Santorum's children:
In a subsequent pregnancy, Karen gave birth to a daughter with a severe birth defect, who is now 3 years old. On [Iowa] caucus night, six Santorum children wore buttons with a picture of their beloved sister.
I might not be inclined to see that as a cynical use of the girl, who was born with Trisomy-18, if I hadn't seen this LifeNews.com story from October:
Santorum Features Miracle Daughter Bella in New Campaign Ad
Former Senator Rick Santorum released a web video today focusing on the heart and soul of the Santorum family -- his 3-year-old daughter Bella, a special-needs child like so many who are targeted in abortions....
What follows is, yes, a three-and-a-half-minute ad effectively asking you to vote for Rick Santorum because he loves his special-needs child:
The LifeNews story quotes David Brody of Pat Robertson's CBN News organization:
There are not many political candidates who can feature a family member like this and not get accused of using a situation like this for political gain. But that's just not the case here.
Really? You be the judge, folks.
I don't doubt that the Santorums love this daughter and all their other children. But it's clear that they think God wants them to use Bella in order to evangelize for their faith -- and, presumably, in order to advance Rick Santorum's political career, which I'm sure they think is also a good way to advance their faith. Is that exploitation? Again, you be the judge.
And I imagine it's secretly satisfying to the Santorums that people like me respond the way we have, so their fellow believers can learn the full measure of our godless depravity and self-righteously say things like
Democrats are too deep in the bondage of death to feel remorse or shame; these reprobates will never understand the meaning of life.
and
It's times like this when I seriously have to wonder if Leftists are even the same species as the rest of us. Vile does not begin to describe these 'people'.
You're welcome.
I thought Palin had the special needs child vote wrapped up.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking for myself, I'd prefer not to be enumerated among the same species as the Biblethumpers (Prot, RC, no matter to me). But, unlike said Biblethumpers, I'll leave the taxonomy to the scientists.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Santorums: they exemplify the current American abandonment of any idea of privacy or modesty, as well as the venerable American pol's willingness to use anyone and anything in pursuit of office. For the greater good, of course, one understands; a rising Rick lifts all boats.
But that's fine. A few more jobs reports like today's, which I fully expect, and lots more crackpot rhetoric from the various R's during their primaries, which I also fully expect, and we'll have ourselves a re-election, whichever charlatan the R's settle on.
We all grieve differently. For all I know, if a child of mine was stillborn, my family and I'd cuddle and bond with it for a while, too.
ReplyDeleteBut it would be, and it would remain, a private, intimate family moment, not a fucking campaign story.
I think that's what really separates liberals from conservatives.
How is it the youngest child of these big religious family politicians - ie Rick Santorum and Sarah Palin - turn out to be "special needs" children?
ReplyDeleteSlacktivist posted a very good link to a wonderfully weird website run by a guy who is a sixth generation funeral director. He has a few excellent essays on miscarriage/stillbirth. I have zero problem with the Santorums grieving the loss of their self aborted fetus in any way they chose. There's an excellent book called "Liquid Life" about Abortion in Japan that explores the way the Japanese have used a specific godling (Jizu) as a place to deal with women's grief at having had pregnancy losses and specifically abortions.
ReplyDeleteStillbirths, miscarriages and abortions are all losses even if (as I am) you are both a mother and pro-choice. The problem people have with the Santorums is the obvious political manipulation of mourning combined with the ruthless politicization of other people's private lives. The baby they aborted--and it was an abortion to save Karen Santorum's life--had another birth defect. Santorum's stated policies would have killed off other women for the sake of a fetus that could not survive outside the womb.
In addition Santorum's party's policies would doom his three year old "trisomy" child to a lifetime in a closet--no more special education IEP's, no more mainstreaming, no more special olympics (so she can excercise and compete), no more S-Chip, no more insurance for people with pre-existing conditions. Its a joke to talk about how he and his family and his party value "life." They demonstrate every day the most complete contempt for anyone but themselves and for the lives of others.
aimai
Do whatever the f*ck you want with your poor dead child that's legal.
ReplyDeleteEven keep the little MFer in a pickle jar on your fireplace if that's what warms the cockles of your heart, or anything short of fricasseeing or sauteing and eating him/her, even if that's legal in your state.
But don't point out how much holier you are than the rest of us, and especially us Agnostics and Atheists and non-Christians.
I don't know what I'd do in his place.
Mercifully, I was never married, never had other children, or had a child that died before his/her/its time.
All I can assure anyone is, that whatever I did, after I told people about my loss, and NOTHING else other than my partner and I suffered the loss, is tell any of you MFers what the details about what I decided to do to grieve, or to help my other children and wife to grieve.
And this Santorum MFer did this for political gain - to be holier than others.
It's THAT'S what's sick!!!
Not what he did with poor dead Gabriel.
Based on his other positions, and this, he is a moralizing prick - and we have enough of those in our society. I don't need Pope Benny the Rat's buddy in the WH.
Deal with your grief whatever legally acceptable you want to. Just leave the rest of us the fuck out or it!
Sanctimonious asshole!!!!!!!!
Aimai, that is so beautifully said that I'd like to applaud. Thank you.
ReplyDelete