The Values Voter Summit, the nation's largest annual gathering for the religious right movement, wrapped up over the weekend, but not before Rick Santorum offered some memorable remarks.
For those who can't watch clips online, the former senator candidate told the far-right audience, "We will never have the media on our side, ever, in this country. We will never have the elite smart people on our side, because they believe they should have the power to tell you what to do. So our colleges and universities, they're not going to be on our side." He also denounced "Hollywood," where people think they can get Americans "to jump through the hoops they want you to."
At a certain level, it's tempting to think Santorum's comments might seem insulting to conservatives. After all, he effectively argued that knowledgeable and influential Americans will always side with the left. Indeed, I imagine we'll be hearing this joke for quite a while -- in Santorum's mind, conservatives aren't "smart people."
But in context, there was a larger point to Santorum's argument, and it wasn't intended to mock his fellow Republicans. Rather, Santorum urged his religious right audience to turn away from scholars, cultural forces, and the well-informed, and rely instead on churches and family members.
It's an overly narrow, anti-intellectual perspective, but it's not necessarily incoherent. Santorum sees a modern society becoming more progressive; he finds it intimidating and unfamiliar; and so Santorum seems to think he and those who share his ideology should accept the fact that this society will always be distinct from their own.
Some of this, to be sure, is Santorum feeling self-pity -- a sense of victimization is a hallmark of his brand of conservatism -- but this perspective is not unique to the failed presidential candidate.
Doug Mataconis had a good piece on this over the weekend at the center-right Outside the Beltway blog.
What Santorum said today is emblematic of rhetoric you hear quite frequently from people on the right such as Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, Rush Limbaugh, and Sean Hannity. Generally, the idea seems to be that there's something about being intelligent, or curious about the world, or interested in something beyond the orthodox interpretations of history and the law that conservatives insist upon. You see it manifest itself in the rejection of even the rather obvious fact that humanity can have an influence on the environment around it and, most irrationally, in the very rejection of everything that biology, anthropology, physics, and cosmology teach us. For many on the right, it's easier to believe in the stories written in a 6,000 year old book than it is in the evidence of just how amazing the universe around them actually is. They can believe whatever they want, of course, but the fact that they constantly try to force these beliefs on others, most especially through the public school system, makes their disdain for knowledge a matter of public concern. [...]
It's quite ironic that there's an entire branch of conservatism that has come to this, because things were quite different when the modern conservative movement started.
Quite right. While there's been a strain of anti-intellectualism on the right for a long while, it wasn't too long ago that the conservative movement sought to bolster its scholarly bona fides with genuine substance and academic rigor.
Some of these voices still exist, but for Santorum and those at the Values Voter Summit, they are sell-out RINOs.
It's preferable, they believe, to see "the elite smart people" as being hostile to "our side." It's a recipe for intellectual paralysis and political decline, but given the reaction over the weekend, it appears Santorum and those who cheered him on don't care.
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I interpret Santorum's comment a bit differently. While the Koch Brothers, Murdoch, and Karl Rove focus on controlling the media and schools, Santorum is saying that the most effective way to manipulate opinion is through religion. It is anti-intellectualism, but even more it is about strategy. And a rather amoral strategy at that. Let's not forget that his audience was a political one. This was not a church gathering.
Reminds me of this article. It scared the daylights out of me when I first read it. It's still true today.
http://www.alternet.org/story/15935/leo_strauss%27_philosophy_of_deception?page=0%2C0
God bless his heart. (If you don't have any relatives from the south, it doesn't mean what you think it means)
From a purely cynical perspective, Santorum is the GOP's worst enemy. That milquetoast David Brooks was on Charlie Rose and had some stark observations about trends. He quipped that well educated liberals are pulling down the 6 figure salaries and are living the Mayberry lives in gated pristine communities, while the blue collar working class conservatives are continuing their economic decline, living more and more like "hippies"- with overt conservative values but indulging in drugs and sex.
So great. Stay uneducated. Never learn rules of logic or removing subjective bias from verification of evidence. Natural selection in the workplace in high technology will treat such workers extremely harshly.
Jesse Jackson has tortured himself over the puzzle of trying to form coalitions of those with common economic interests. You know what? Blue collar workers have been persuaded to adopt an ideology that is starkly opposed to the institutions that have protected their interests. They voted in huge numbers for Reagan and a party that has systematically destroyed Union power. Appalachia votes for GOP representatives who are ideologically inclined to do nothing to raise them out of poverty.
So what do you do with the irrational forces- just say let them twist in the wind? I don't see that we have that luxury. Because twisting in the wind doesn't cure them- it just makes them more angry.
Then you have a mob burning down the gates.
So Santorum has to be confronted and slapped down. And it can't be done from the smug perspective that spiritual belief and modernity are antithetical principles. And it's not just because there are a substantial number of Americans who are both on the Left, and have deep spiritual beliefs that cannot be laughed off as 6000 year old gibberish. So really, it is just playing into the conservative's hands who really really would like the dems to make this into a agnostic atheists versus spirituality conflict. It isn't, so agnostics and atheists on the Left do more harm than good by leading the charge. Their points are valid- I'm just saying it is tactically stupid.
Santorum can be shown to be the opportunistic populist that he is. Jesuits and Catholic educational officials collectively cringe at Santorum's nonsense that "colleges and universities, they're not going to be on our side."
He needs to be pilloried by "his own".
Dan; if you keep the flock stupid, they will follow.......... Why do you think they didn't want the slaves to have an education???????
Santorum's right-they'll never have smart people on their side. Neither will they have "blaa" people.
pol~ That was quite an eyeopener and scary as H*ll. I always knew it was the Repubs that had nothing good in store for us.
Ben_P, you are right this is a definite stratege, to re-energize the Far Right. Although his remarks is somewhat true. So for them let's just say: Proverb 17:28 Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise, when he closes his lips he is deemed intelligent.
Doonesbury's Sunday edition eloquently pointed out the rush to ignorance preached to an unfortunate audience, the children of America.
Really - he nailed it in eight panels
For those who missed it :
http://doonesbury.slate.com/strip/archive/2012/9/16
Excellent.
WTF Santorum? What is "your" side?
Sounds pretty alien to me, and I've been an American all my life. Born and raised in California - 2nd generation, Granddad fought for Black Jack Pershing, Dad ended up on Okinawa when Harry S Truman made his fateful decision. I hope to live the rest of my life in a nation they helped protect - not the one in Rick Santorum's head that seems to be an endless hierarchy like some sort of Amway district sales operations heavy on the evangelical!
Yeah, back to the beginnning - WTF Santorum? -Kevo
I think it's highly ironic that Santorum complained about smart people wanting to tell us what to do so instead we should listen to our churches. It seems to me that main purpose of churches and religion is to tell people what to do and how to think. Am I wrong about that?
You're absolutely right, but you left out the most important purpose of religion --to make as much tax free money as possible.
Wonder how much money Santorum makes at these events ? It doesn't seem to bother his conscience that people who are "scrapping by" pay a substantial amount to be "in his presence." Palin made millions!
Partly wrong. The religious right have worked very, very hard over the last few decades to convince everyone that they only way to be religious is to be religious their way. To a considerable extent they've succeeded in that effort. After all, they've got you convinced. There are of course churches which are exactly as you think that they all are, but there are also churches which are nothing at all like that. Reality is complicated and messy, which is why right-wingers want nothing to do with it.
Blue collar, hard workin' folks, who "cling to their bibles and their guns," and live by the lyrics of Merle Haggard:
"It's a big job gettin' by with nine kids and a wife
You know I've been a workin' man dang near all my life
I'll keep on working long as my two hands are fit to use
I drink my beer at a tavern and sing a little bit of these working man blues."
And, my additional couplet:
That big ol' world is passin' me by,
And I'll be danged if I know why.
There is little wrong with America that a Democratic landslide all the way down the ticket could not fix. Perhaps that would convince the GOP that an inclusive America is a free and strong America.
If the Dems win in a landslide. It will just go to prove Rick was right. And the far right would just further insulated them selves from the rest of the country. Waco somehow comes to mind now.
You mean like in 2008?
No, a real one in which Blue Dogs stay in their kennels and actual Democrats are elected. Since the repubs took out most of the Blue Dogs, that is a real possibility now.
Hopefully, Obama's learned from his mistakes.
We've always had the religious fanatics in this country, but what happened over the last twenty years is, they were given a platform and have made their way into the political landscape.
They're not going away and if we're the "smart" ones, why do we allow them a voice?
What happened is that up until 1964 they were divided between the Southern Democrats and the Northern Republicans. Now they're concentrated in one party with enough numbers to control it.
You can't deny them a voice. But you can deny them your ear.
Remember who the POTUS is! All of the GOP's prevailing rhetoric has ONE underlying (and somewhat terrifying) ideology. There is nothing more feared by the white man than an "Educated Black Man!". This whats behind the almost constant attack over the POTUS's education(lets see his transcripts), this is why he is constantly being described has ALOOF, cerebral or condescending( code for "uppity"). It use to get us lynched physically but now we get lynched Verbally. The reps problem is this prez gets around so to many have found him to be totally the opposite!
I keep waiting for the republicans to wheel out ol' Ricky Buttgoo on a cross, with fake blood oozing out of his "wounds".
Don't let smart people tell you what to do. Listen to the ignorant, the lying, the fanatics, the inept, and the wealth-backed conservatives prying into vaginas, tell you what to do. What a great message!
From the comments I've seen hear so far it looks like people are starting to figure out why our educational system has been allowed to sink into such disrepair. An uneducated and uninformed public is ONE of the easiest ways to lead the public discourse in ANY direction sought! Like sheep the public can be lead by the nose in the direction sought, by the few(thats how most of the new laws made it onto the books)(without most of our knowledge!). KNOWLWDGE is POWER- Thats why it is so FEARED!
Education did not sink it was flushed down the toilet to ensure youth wouldn't be taught critical thinking skills but rather a Japanese like education system that teaches to the test, works well in a system that has had generations of people who stay in the class they were born into but not so well when you have people who believe the America myth that you can rise above the class you were born into. It is a myth because without opportunities and connections few ever make it above the class they were born into, especially for minorities.
The Republican Party used to run by smart people who pretended to be stupid to get the pro-stupidity vote (a powerful force in American politics since the Know-Nothing's were electing governors and Congressmen) with a wink and a nod to the smart people so they'd know it was all an act. It's really only been in the last sixteen years or so that the stupid people took over the ship and systematically set about smoking out all the covertly smart people and throwing them over the side.
Tricky Dicky's 'silent majority.'
All the "stupid people" that got elected in the last 16 years are now multi-millionaires intent on serving and being the 1%. Slightly more sophisticated versions of the same old "con game.' Play it well enough and you will be able to do whatever you want without those pesky questions!
Pipercity, you are so right, the 1% who they serve like slave's. Just as the slave's had no real voice neither does Tricky Mitt. He's sold everything to become the President. So let's all hope in prey he doesn't win, because who know's who or what will be dictating to him the U.S Policy for the next few years. Get out in Vote Obama/Biden and get rid of that worthless Congress.
Listening to the clip, I conclude (the pause before he says the words, the change in tone) that Santorum spoke ironically when he said the "elite, smart" people will never be on our side.
You may not like the sarcastic style they use to rally their troops (I don't), but Santorum and other conservatives believe much of the media often think as a herd, with their own conventional wisdom. As someone who leans liberal, I think it would be helpful to examine liberal positions and remove the planks from our own eyes before we criticize the dots in the eyes of our conservative neighbors. Reflexive dismissal or ignorance of one of the major world religions would be a good place to start. Even many reporters on the religion beat for major news organizations (to the extent there still are religion beats) often have painfully little knowledge about the traditions they cover.
One quick thought for Tombisson: "Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty
wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again in the yoke of
bondage," could be interpreted as the opposite of telling people what to do and
how to think. You'll find the advice in St. Paul's letter to the Galatians.
The media that they watch and listen to do. Look what happened last week: in a moment of shock, even the Murdoch Media came down on Romney -- and less than two days later were all marching in lockstep again. Or look at the way talking points get synchronized across the right half of the spectrum. It's hard to believe that that kind of timing is possible without central command and control.
They seem to get a lot from the Drudge Report.
And I know Rove sends out a newsletter with talking points. Gingrich used to. I don't know if he still does.
Newtie can't afford to. He's been spending too much at Tiffanys. And Calista said it's me or the newsletters and we know he could never resist a come-on like that!
This is what happens when reality tells you your worldview is bullshhit, you can't and won't accept it, and you must retreat into a more comfortable unreality. It is Santorum's ineloquent Wingnut-ese for burying one's head in the sand . For the wingnut, it's telling them that it's just more comfortable in the pre-Enlightenment and the world of unchallenged beliefs and spirits, evidence-free economic dogma, no global warming, ...
Santorum believes his own 'press' and now thinks he is the 'Evangelical in Chief'. Unfortunately, Christians don't believe his 'shtick'.
Smart people ask too many f'n questions. They're a pain in the ass and so is coming up with answers that have any grounding in reality.
Simpletons rule! Ignorance rocks!!
Once again, the Santorum doctrine forces the Republicant party to become 'the know nothing party.' There will probably be a party split in two, and their power will be divided. There is nothing left for this group except the scorched earth method, and that is sad and dangerous at the same time. Santorum is becoming Richard III, and you don't have to be overly smart to understand the outcome. I guess Rick would have gotten to the moon in 1969, riding on the wings of an angel; that angel would have flown too close to the sun, and never made it........... These people want 'Dominion' over the earth, nothing more.
Rick "Man on Dog" Santorum speaks: pander to the "stupid and clueless" demographic. The Faux News kool-aid drinkers. And while you're at it, piss off the more intelligent, moderates in your own party who you've totally abandoned.
Nice strategy, bonehead.
Rick was off what little game he has, but the line "elite, smart people" was meant to be sarcastic. What he was trying to say is that we on the left think we're SOOOO smart, SOOOO much better than those on the right are, well, we're not that smart at all so take that. Nyah.
Air quote marks probably would've helped.
Of course, these are the same people who insist Obama said "you didn't build that" and "if we keep talking about the economy, we're gonna lose." So screw 'em.
The ego's fear and distrust of other people, its tendency to emphasize the "otherness" of others by focusing on their perceived faults and make those faults into their identity, is taken a little further and makes others into inhuman monsters. Santoram is probably checking under the bed and in his closet every night for monsters. Shouldn't we be focusing more on how to bring all people together, instead of going to exclusive church partys that focus on judging "others".
Santorum has more in common with Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei than he does with most Americans. They have very similar world views - both which abhor anything that has come after the year 1212 in their respective religions and politics.
More to the point, Santorum and his clique sound more like the Taliban, and other Muslim extremists today. Is it any wonder that the US is fighting a jihad that we can't understand, abroad, when the Far right GOP is fighting its own civil war against Americans here at home?
Following the same point, the pushback will need to come from (in both cases) the moderates; in the case of the Taliban from more moderate muslims
( not from the outside), and within our borders from the religious middle and left. American fundamentalists(and the politicians who would use them) have appropriated the words 'religious' and 'family' in political discourse with little or no fight giving them tacit legitimacy they don't in actuality posses;how many religious people can you (meant collectively) name that you know personally that decidedly do not share the values of these " Values Summit" people yet there is not nearly the pushback needed.I agree with John upstream this can't come from the atheists; the perception that the right has nurtured that outsiders have come to take your religion with their secular ways would be strengthened; the argument must come from their own flock(then, of course count the minutes until the argument shifts to who is a 'True Believer').
"The elite smart people [who] believe they should have the power to tell you what to do" seems to me to be a pretty good a pretty good description of the leaders of Mister Santorum's favorite conservative movement, the Catholic Church hierarchy.
In his mind, it seems, when elected American representatives come together and pass, say, regulations mandating that health insurance companies actually provide coverage for health related treatments, that is tyranny.
But when a group of un-elected, mostly European, exclusively male clerics led by an autocratic dictator come together and pass edicts telling you who you can and cannot marry and what you can and cannot do in the privacy of your own home, that's what exactly? American values?
That's one of the things that makes Santorum such an oddball. While the religious right has gone to extremes to appropriate words like "liberty" and "freedom" for itself, he actually lashes out against libertarianism, advocating not for the reduction in centralized authority, but for that authority to transfer from the state to the church, preferably his church. That is consistent with the position of many in the libertarian movement, but most of them are savvy enough not to attack their own branding or stab the other flanks of their movement so openly.
You'd think the conservative movement would bench this guy, not because they disagree with him, but because his lack of tact and guile or incompetence employing them are so damaging to their brand.
I read the entire speech. The irony, IMO, was when Santorum said,
"Mitt Romney is going to build America in the same way as did our founding fathers, from the bottom up." (Not the exact quote-but, close enough).
My oh My! Will he be able to sell that to the Fox viewers? Of course. The irony is rich.
--
Also, has anyone else heard that Romney is spending hours studying the Ronald Reagan debates, and is even practicing Reagan's mannerisms?
Great minds stink alike.
there you go again
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
Speech filled with angry rage to work up the Warriors before the insurrection starts:
"First of all le me say I’m not anti-Christian I don’t mind the sane Christians and Catholics, But those other Tony Perkins, Ralph Reed, Pastor Hagee, Rick Santorum, Jerry Boykin devils got to go…
I wanted to write this rant on the 1st year anniversary of Occupy:
You ever notice how the right wingers always get a free pass when it comes to law enforcement?
These fascist pig motherf**k’n police all over the nation spent the last year pepper spraying and arresting the Occupy crowd but these power mad puppets won’t arrest that scandalous right wing, fundamentalist Christian idiots who made that blasphemous movie about Mohammed?
Ok let me get this straight you Conservative CONTROL by AUTHORITY idiots… you’re trying to tell me that Concerned Citizens who demand for ethics, responsibility and accountability from a corrupt Ruling Class are worse than the jerk who caused insurrection all over the Middle East by those right wing fundamentalist Muslim idiots.
Rich Neo-Conservatives have spent the last 60 years playing those fanatic Middle Easterners for suckers. It ain’t no coincidence the Arab unrest is happening just before a major US Presidential election. The Evil Republicans got the whole Middle East working to beat President Obama right now.
You Hajjis got to learn a con is a CON… no matter in a ghetto back alley or an Ivory Tower, the trick is recognize IT and not get played for FOOLS!”
2012 by Charlie Stunats
As posted on jinnbad.blogspot.com