Santorum blasts Mass. senators over church scandal

[dogday]

Kennedy, Kerry 'did nothing,' he contends

By Michael Kranish, Globe Staff | August 1, 2005

WASHINGTON -- Senator Rick Santorum, Republican of Pennsylvania, yesterday alleged that Senators Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry of Massachusetts ''did nothing" about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in 2002.

"They spoke nothing. They sat by and let this happen," Santorum said.

Kennedy and Kerry blasted Santorum's comments in statements issued by their aides. Santorum's comments yesterday escalated the controversy about a 2002 article he wrote saying it was ''no surprise" that the abuse scandal occurred in what he called the liberal bastion of Boston.

''Senator Santorum's partisan, hate-filled comments do a disservice to the victims of abuse," said Kerry spokeswoman April Boyd. ''He's never failed to inject politics into these deeply personal and trying issues for Catholics everywhere. He owes an apology to the families of abuse victims and to the faithful who fill the pews of Massachusetts churches every Sunday."

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/08/01/santorum_blasts_mass_senators_over_church_scandal/

[Fiona]

1. Were Kennedy or Kerry bishops in the Catholic church?

WHO stood by and did nothing? And would Santorum have approved if US Senators had gotten involved?

He should stop digging.

[dogday]

6. He just can't let go, he is like

a dog grabbing your pantleg and you can't shake him off. He wants to dump any kind of slime he can on these Senators. That is his job in this administration. To smear....

[Cassandra]

9. I was considering likening him...

to a dog with a bone, but he would probably consider that a gay smear. :evilgrin:

[Cassandra]

2. What were they supposed to do?

And where was Sancto-rectum during all this?

[AlCzervik]

5. I guess they were supposed to have antcipated the abuse and then stand

guard outside the church. Santorum is such a moron and i'm looking forword to some scandal to break on him.

[KarenInMA]

3. HAAAAAATEEEE!!!!!!!

[meegbear]

4. And where was Rick Santorum?

He "did nothing" about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in 2002. He spoke nothing. He sat by and let this happen.

[DaveinMD]

7. Santorum

needs to create outside controversy because he can't beat Casey one on one.

[Raiden]

8. WTF did HE do?! Repubs are for personal responsibility

lol

He's a Catholic IIRC, and what did he do?

[SalmonChantedEvening]

10. Rick will ya just ZIP IT for once?

PA just went red from embarassment.

Ricky, you are this state's shame.

[Flubadubya]

11. Santorum is a cornered, dying RAT....

Bite! Bite! Bite! Poor Santorum... you WILL die a hard political death. Just like you and your soul, it won't be pretty.

[Ian David]

12. That does it. This means war. Massachusetts DUers... battle stations!

See post in the Massachusetts forum:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=158&topic_id=5743&mesg_id=5743


I call for Outback Steakhouse to be the battlefield in the fight to Stop Spreading Santorum!

February 19, 2005
Outback Steakhouse: Losing Money Fighting Workers Rights
http://www.buyblue.org/archives/2005/02/outback_steakho_1.html


Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Outback) -- no rules, just (far) right

<snip>

Without a lot of fanfare, the ubiquitous steakhouse chain with the bouncy Australian theme and its famed "Bloomin Onion" has become a political playa -- almost all on the GOP side. Check out this 2004 article from the St. Petersburg Times:
http://www.sptimes.com/2004/10/31/Business/Outback_s_PAC_house.shtml

...Outback's 2,700 steakhouse managers and joint-venture partners are breaking bread with local government officials, tracking legislation and quietly donating $1.6-million of their own pay to build one of the country's biggest corporate PACs. Bigger than Boeing's, according to FECinfo.com. Bigger than Halliburton's...

Through Oct. 13 of the current election cycle, Republicans took home 98 percent of the $452,250 that Outback's PAC donated to party committees, 97 percent of the $453,551 it spent on national, state and local candidates, and 100 percent of the $52,000 it gave to the so-called leadership PACs of top legislators. Those legislators, such as U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and Florida House Speaker Johnnie Byrd, use the leadership PACs to solidify support within their party by contributing to favored candidates.

Some observers assume the company is pursuing a right-wing social agenda because many of the pro-business candidates it supports are social conservatives. But that's not true, Kadow said; if anything, Outback executives lean libertarian. "The only purpose of our political activity is to protect the economic viability of the restaurant industry," he said.

<snip>

In early March, not long after Santorum received the $5,000 Outback PAC contribution and less than four weeks before the fundraiser the company hosted in Tampa, the Pa. senator introduced his own minimum wage amendment. It would have increased the overall minimum wage by a $1, but that was less than the Democratic plan ($2 an hour) and had some little noticed, pro-business provisions.

More:
http://www.pnionline.com/dnblog/attytood/archives/001745.html

[flyarm]

30. we n.j. du'ers will stand by your side!!

at the battle stations...come on pa people ..how does any of you let this jerk stay in office...pa people are too smart for an asshole like this!!

[Beaver Tail]

13. THen he needs to explain this

Boston 2003

Population :589,795:
Forcable Rape: 262 cases
Chance of being raped: 4.4%

Philadelphia 2003

Population: 1,495,903
Forceable Rape: 1,004
Chance of being raped: 6.7%

I Think Santorum better look in his own back yard

http://www.cityrating.com

[Synnical]

14. Transcript of interview here

http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100007216&docId=l:299636366&start=16

It's pretty funny. Take this is an example:

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS

(Off Camera) Let's talk about something else in the book. Radical feminists, second quote from the book, you say, "Respect for stay at home mothers has been poisoned by a toxic combination of the village elders' war on the traditional family and radical feminism's misogynistic crusade to make working outside the home the only marker of social value and self-respect." Let's get specific here. Name one or two of these radical feminists who are on this crusade.

SENATOR RICK SANTORUM

Well, I mean, uh, you know, you have, you go back to, uh, um, uh, what's her name - uh, well, Gloria Steinem. But I'm trying to remember, uh, uh, I can't remember the woman's name. It's terrible. Anyway, uh, uh ...

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS

(Off Camera) Well, but it's kind of an important because you have, you paint this broad brush. Radical feminists. Village elders. Name one.

SENATOR RICK SANTORUM

There's lots of, no, well, Gloria Steinem, there's one. I mean, there's, there's lots of writings out there.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS

(Off Camera) She's been on a crusade against stay at home moms?

SENATOR RICK SANTORUM

There's lots, there's lots of writings out there.

[G_j]

18. that is hilarious!!

he is a genuine idiot :wow:

[CBHagman]

15. Getting personal and getting more repulsive.

Santorum is just degenerating into an increasingly vicious blame game these days. Why single out the Massachusetts senators for responsibility regarding the scandal? Wouldn't it be more intelligent -- and fairer -- to ask why bishops who knew of the problem didn't address it head-on?

Santorum is beneath contempt.

[Greeby]

16. Oh

Someone toss him a dead foetus to play with, keep him quiet for a few days :grr:

[KamaAina]

32. Won't work

he'll start singing lullabies to it. :puke:

I'd rather listen to the William Hung CD on continuous loop.

[Stirk]

17. What do you suppose the headlines would be if Kennedy said,

"I'm not surprised the murder rate is so high in Texas, a home of Christian Babtists".

[LittleClarkie]

19. I just bet Kerry has reversed himself

on the comment he made to Teresa about Santorum having changed.

Sounds quite pissed, actually.

Is Santorum Catholic, btw?

[Flubadubya]

21. Oh yes, Santorum is indeed Catholic...

belongs to that bizzarro sect Opus Dei... überconservative cultist wing of the Catholic denomination. :puke:

[marbuc]

20. Well you have to hand it to him

He's going down swinging.

[Swamp Rat]

22. Fetus-raping pervert!

[Sapphire Blue]

23. Santorum, go away... just go away. You are a fool... a stark, raving fool.

[donheld]

24. Santorum needs to have a boot

surgically implanted in his mouth.

[SillyGoose]

25. and what did Santorum do about the priest abuse cases in PA?

NOTHING. He did NOTHING about the 58 cases in PA.

F---ing hypocrit.

:grr:

[SillyGoose]

26. self delete....double post

[LSK]

27. Santorum, the law of the land is the CONSTITUTION

NOT THE BIBLE!!! :banghead: :grr:

[Bunny]

28. On behalf of Pennsylvania, I'd like to apologize for Santorum.

I am truly baffled as to how he got elected here, even in the Pennsyltucky section of the Commonwealth.

*hangs head in shame*

[KarenInMA]

31. Sweety, you don't need to apologize to me,

HE does. It's not your fault-hell we elected Romney, and he's not even FROM here.


Just vote for Casey in 06, and we'll call it even!! :)

[flyarm]

29. Santorum Knew: Priest in D.C. Church where Santorum Worships Charged with

tell santorum to explain this!!
http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=124

snip:
Santorum Knew: Priest in D.C. Church where Santorum Worships Charged with Sex Abuse in July 2002
Rick Santorum claimed yesterday on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” that in July 2002, when he wrote the article that has recently resurfaced, calling Boston the “liberal” seat of church abuse, he did not know that there were similar cases in PA. In my earlier post on this today, I noted that George Stephanopoulos called him on that statement.

Since my earlier post on this, I have received numerous newspaper articles from an anonymous source, dating back to March 2002 that all make reference to church abuse cases in PA. The most interesting article was from July 12, 2002 - Capitol Hill Pastor Faces Child Sex Case.

The pastor of a historic Capitol Hill parish that serves many Roman Catholic members of Congress was placed on leave yesterday after a Washington area man accused him of sexual abuse in the early 1970s, the second such allegation against the priest.

The last paragraph of the article notes that among the church’s parishioners included “Sens. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) and Rick Santorum (R-Pa.).”

It’s absolutely despicable that Rick Santorum is playing politics with with the victims of these cases. If this is some sort of marketing ploy to sell his new book to conservatives it’s a sick joke aimed towards those who have suffered. No man with any sense of moral dignity, would continue pushing this issue as Santorum has.

It’s time for Rick Santorum to step up to the plate and do the right thing, as it is he who dredged up these painful memories and put them back in the limelight. Instead of working to help heal the victims of church abuse Santorum has perpetuated the ugliest of rumors and lies in the name of politics and marketing.

On July 21st, Santorum met with the leaders of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), and made promises “to find out why the U.S. Justice Department has taken no action to investigate the Catholic Church’s secret transport of pedophile priests across state lines and international boundaries via church operated “treatment” and “retreat” facilities. ”

SNAP issued a press release today regarding Santorum’s latest outburst yesterday and queried as to when they could expect a response from Santorum. Read the press release here.

A March 3, 2002, NY Times article shows that the Vatican was aware of the full scope of the abuse problem. Yet, Rick Santorum, a self purported good Catholic claimed not to have know of any where in the country outside of MA that was stricken by the issue. Sorry, but such denial doesn’t wash.

A March 5th, NY Times article states that “several dioceses, including New Hampshire’s and Philadelphia’s, immediately suspended any priests ever accused of abusing children.”

[blm]

33. Shouldn't Santorum blast the new Pope who coddled those involved

and gave them refuge?

Or do Kennedy and Kerry have more influence on Catholic priests than bishops and popes do?

[Ian David]

34. See related thread: Priest at Santorum's church charged with abuse in 2002

Santorum Knew: Priest in D.C. where Santorum Worships Charged in July 2002
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1975826