The reason for the quotations around the phrase in the title is because Rick Santorum is not likely to really become the most hated man in America, but we are about to witness a media campaign intended to convince us the Rick Santorum is, indeed, the most hated man in America. Santorum will be on the receiving end of this hate campaign because he is about to emerge in a very strong position, perhaps even first, in the Iowa Caucuses on Tuesday.
The Christian/social conservative segment of the Republican party has danced at one time or another with all of the candidates that legitimately tout their consistency on conservative social positions: Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, and now Rick Santorum. The campaigns of Bachmann, Perry and Gingrich have been found wanting; failing to maintain the traction that they possessed at various times in the campaign. It should be clear that the surge that Santorum is now experiencing should not be surprising. He is a bona fide social conservative -- not a fair-weather one -- and his views on other issues are well within the mainstream of the party. It is only logical that Santorum should now be the recipient of the conservative vote that has been dissatisfied, at one time or another, with Herman Cain as well as Newt Gingrich, Bachmann and Perry. But why is Rick Santorum the last choice for these voters, instead of, perhaps, the first?
At a time when the precarious state of the national economy, not to mention the global economy, is the most important issue of our time, Rick Santorum has never failed to inject social issues at every opportunity, even when debate moderators seemed to deliberately steer clear of it. Santorum passionately asserts that the biological nuclear family is the cornerstone of a healthy society, and that virtually all of our ills can in some way, shape, or form be traced back to the fact that the nuclear family in the U.S. is under attack from what I am going to call the NYT (New York Times) new morality. This could just as easily be called the “progressive morality,” “Hollywood morality,” “educational industrial complex morality,” or a million other names. It’s the belief that the nuclear biological family--the patriarchy, if you will--must be toppled from its position as the primary pillar of society, and in fact, of civilization itself. Instead, it should be regarded as just one of several social arrangements, no better or no worse, than new, enlightened alternatives.
This belief is so profound among its adherents that it takes on the character of religious zealotry. Those, like Santorum, who resist it, are branded apostates of the new cultural norm. Though most Americans do not subscribe to this radical revolution in thought, it is being imposed in virtually all segments of society by its advocates: the educational-industrial complex, the news media, the entertainment industry, and the legal academy.
The media’s response to Rick Santorum’s candidacy has been textbook liberal playbook. Just like the response to the Tea Party, the strategy to nullify follows three phases. First, neutralize by dismissing and ignoring. Initially, the media simply wouldn’t cover Tea Party news events. Similarly, Santorum couldn’t scrape together two consecutive column inches in the newspaper. The next phase, when the Tea Party and now Santorum didn’t simply go away, is mockery. Specific events are chosen to show the Tea Party and Rick Santorum in a ridiculous light. Recently, a Saturday Night Live skit lampooned the now doubtful debate to have been moderated by Donald Trump in which only Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum agreed to participate. The sole “joke” involving the Santorum character occurred when he attempted to speak and was immediately cut off by ‘Trump’ yelling: “Shut up! You’re a loser!”
Cue the guffaws from the “hip” SNL audience.
When that doesn’t work, we finally get to phase three, where the news media is forced to give real coverage to the object of scorn, and its disgust in being forced to do so is clearly manifest in the transparent biased coverage.
We are now in phase two w/r to Santorum, transitioning to phase three after Tuesday. The media elites are now beside themselves in rage over the apparent success of the “Neanderthal” Santorum. It’s going to get ugly now.
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