Talk:Rick Santorum

The following was taken from the Rick Santorum SW History, the majority of which was deleted during the SW/CP Merge:

Related SourceWatch Resources

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Off-topic?
I relocated this here from the article page. It strikes me as a bit off-topic. It is also unclear what we are supposed to take from it about Santorum (given that is who the profile is on) - that he is loyal to his staff? that he defends the right to proviacy of staff? that he is a hypocrite? or an employer who doesn't discriminate against people based on their sexuality?. Others might have a view on whether it should stay on the article page. --Bob Burton 02:19, 27 Jun 2006 (EDT)

In July 2005, Santorum's Director of Communication, Robert Traynham, confirmed speculation that he was gay, describing himself as an "out gay man" who strongly supported Santorum, "a man of principle, he is a man who sticks up for what he believes in." Santorum issued this statement: "Robert Traynham ... is widely respected and admired on Capitol Hill, both among the press corps and among the congressional staff, as a communications professional. Not only is Mr. Traynham an exemplary staffer, but he is also a trusted friend confidente to me and my family. Mr. Traynham is a valued member of my staff and I regret that this effort on behalf of people who oppose me has made him a target of bigotry in their eyes. It is entirely unacceptable that my staffs' personal lives are considered fair game by partisans looking for arguments to bolster my opponent's campaign. Mr. Traynham continues to have my full support and confidence as well as my prayers as he navigates this rude and mean spirited invasion of his personal life."

"Balance"
Although the intent may well have been behind the scenes, I suspect that it had/has something to do with Santorum's 2003 anti-gay, same-sex marriage "activities" .... if memory serves, there used to be a whole section of external links identifed like that but, when I restored the external links section, I merged all the links together without separating them by topic.

Whoever posted that perhaps had that in mind .... and Santorum et al. went to great effort in 2005 to publish that info to balance the 2003 info. ... Or at least that's one possible explanation for it.

But, is it worthy of mention in the Santorum article? I think only if a separate article is done on Santorum and his stance on gay rights, marriage, etc. And, no, not interested in writing/posting it .. ;>)))

IMHP Artificial Intelligence 05:02, 27 Jun 2006 (EDT)

Limabugh link
I removed the dead reference link to the July 21, 2005, Rush Limbaugh interview with Santorum about Kennedy's speech. The Limabuigh program archives only go back one month. I have checked Nexis and a preliminary web search to see if there are alternative locations for the quote but no joy so far.--Bob Burton 19:11, 27 Jun 2006 (EDT)

Inlined Not to Merge These In
The following sections from the old SourceWatch page are ones that I'm not inclined to merge in:
 * the first quote doesn't mean much to me - perhaps it means more in the US context for those who know of Lott;
 * the Berg one, while illustrating Sontorum's merging of Al Qaida & S11, seems a little dated now and I wonder whether the Berg debate has faded sufficiently now that if we wanted to illustrate Santorum's linking of S11-Al Qauida we would be better getting a direct quote to that effect.
 * the Abu Grahib one i think is a little tenuous in that it implies that the defence of Inhofe was published with his knowledge/support. It would be better to have a direct quote - if he made any comments - on this. --Bob Burton 17:27, 29 Jun 2006 (EDT)

Human Equality
"Sen. Lott's affirmation that all people are equal -- not only under our Constitution but also in the eyes of God -- reflects the Trent Lott that I have known and worked with for so many years." December 13, 2002.

Terrorism
"Asked about the effect on his constituents of the Abu Ghraib prison abuse furor and the murder of Nicholas Berg by Islamic zealots, Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa. said Berg’s murder proved that 'there are terrorists there in Iraq who want to hurt Americans. It is the same organization that inflicted the damage on Sept. 11. If there is any question that our effort in Iraq is part of the war on terrorism, this was a very direct answer on the part of al-Qaida.'" MSNBC, May 13, 2004.

Abu Ghraib
Santorum is the Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference - (URL), and was chairman when in the summer of 2004 it published on its website, as an important current document, a Transcript of Senator Inhofe’s (R-OK) May 11, 2004, trivialization of the United States' treatment of Abu Ghraib prisoners during a Senate Armed Services Hearing. (July 6, 2005 - document was still being served from the Senate Republican Conference website's archives)