Here we go again...back to the Twilight Zone

By Nathan Rothwell

FUN FACT: If you google “santorum”, hilarity ensues.

But if you google “Rick Santorum,” you might find an interesting news item – a moment that could very well have secured failure for any Republican hope of retaking the White House in November.

At a recent town hall meeting, the former Pennsylvania senator and presidential hopeful Santorum fielded a question from a Florida voter who might best be described as “unhinged.”

"I never refer to Obama as President Obama because legally he is not," the woman began. “He constantly says that our constitution is passé, and he ignores it as you know and does what he darn well pleases. He is an avowed Muslim and my question is, why isn't something being done to get him out of government? He has no legal right to be calling himself president."

You have just entered the Twilight Zone. A universe where idiots cling to repeatedly disproven fantasies as facts. Even though President Obama has repeatedly avowed and proved his status as an American national and devout Christian, half-witted American voters continue to insist his presidency, citizenship, and religious faith are all invalid. 

This is really getting old. Why not debate the Obama administration on the merits of its accomplishments and failures? Why are the same, tired arguments allowed to be put forth by deranged dullards who have for some reason decided to hate our president, but can’t be bothered to come up with sound arguments?

Part of the blame belongs to opportunistic politicians like Santorum. Behold his answer to the foolish Floridian’s question: "Well look, I'm doing my best to get him out of the government right now," Santorum said. "And you're right about how he uniformly ignores the Constitution.” Notice how he completely ignores her charges against his faith and legal status, instead focusing on her attack against President Obama’s legal faculties. When later asked why he did not respond to the more ludicrous charges, Santorum offered a cop-out defense of “I don't feel it's my obligation every time someone says something I don't agree with to contradict them.” Shameless pandering at its best. Pandering that almost makes sense for Santorum, who has been consistently polling a distant third in this year’s Republican presidential campaign and is hard-pressed to secure as many votes as he can; even from the clinically insane. 

Unfortunately, such pandering will be the death knell for the Republicans in this election season. What conservative politicians and pundits fail to realize is that allowing the fringe members of their base to pull their hair out over President Obama’s “secret-Muslimness” makes their platform less and less palatable to the general public. No matter who eventually wins the nomination, the GOP’s only sensible strategy is to craft a message that appeals to moderate voters. Their odds of accomplishing this would significantly improve if they could bear to rid themselves of the mouth-frothers who continue to cloud their platform with continued shrieks for Obama’s “real” birth-certificate. Yet they continue to treat these voters like a collective crazy uncle, who they can’t help but love even though his car has 75 bumper stickers and he can’t go ten minutes without saying something racist.

It’s easy to see why a Fox News talking head would cater to that sort of crowd, as attracting a few million ridiculous but rabid voters makes for killer ratings and a ton of advertising revenue. But for an actual political party, who needs to win 51% of the vote and not just 10% of the nightly viewing audience? It makes no sense at all.

No matter how many of these fanatical dimwits are still out there, they are still best left wholly marginalized from the political theater, so the sensible adults in the room can debate the real issues at hand. Yet if for nothing else, Republicans should at least do the math. The pithy few of those who believe Barack Obama “hates America” are not enough to swing an election. But they number enough that, if left to cling to their platform, will be enough to drag the entire party off a cliff into irrelevancy.