Santorum’s
Post Seems Safe for Now
Philadelphia
Inquirer, April 25, 2003
PO Box 8263, Philadelphia, PA 19101
Fax: 215-854-4483
Email: Inquirer.opinion@phillynews.com
By Chris Mondics and Mario F. Cattabiani, Inquirer Staff
Writers
WASHINGTON—For all the uproar
over Sen. Rick Santorum’s remarks comparing gay relations to incest, his
leadership post in the Senate appears secure for now.
Even the handful of moderate Republicans who denounced
his comments have stopped short of calling for Santorum to step down as Senate
Republican Conference chairman, a post that gives him outsized impact on the
Senate agenda.
But that doesn’t mean Santorum is home free. Far from
it.
Some political experts said yesterday that if the
criticism from gay-rights groups and Democrats continued, Santorum might
become an unwelcome distraction for Republicans as they seek to enact
President Bush’s tax cuts.
Such a diversion has the potential not only to undercut
Bush’s agenda but also to alienate middle-of-the-road Republican voters who
may disagree with Santorum’s socially conservative views.
“As long as he is a lightning rod, it takes attention
away from the Republican agenda,” said Mark Rozell, chairman of the
department of politics at Catholic University. “The more attention is
focused on these remarks, that makes him less effective.
In an Associated Press interview, Santorum commented on a
legal challenge before the U.S. Supreme Court to a Texas law banning gay sex,
asserting that if the court struck down the law, “then you have the right to
bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have
the right to adultery. You have the right to anything.”
Santorum spent yesterday visiting constituents in rural
Huntingdon and Fulton Counties, where he was warmly received by small crowds
who seemed to have few objections to his remarks. Since his comments in the
interview were published Monday, Santorum has asserted that he was
misinterpreted.
Betty Ruhlman approached Santorum before he spoke at the
Huntingdon Elks Lodge 976.
“Don’t let them push you around,” Ruhlman told
Santorum. “We want a senator who will stand up for what he believes in, not
someone who will buckle under.”
At the Fulton County Courthouse in McConnellsburg, where
he spoke to a gathering of about 10 constituents, Santorum downplayed the
furor, suggesting that it was distracting him from more important issues, such
as health care and agriculture funding.
“People have a right to their opinion and people have a
right to express that opinion... and respect someone else’s at the same
time,” he said yesterday. “It’s unfortunate in America we’ve gotten
away from that. We tend to demonize people for holding a particular point of
view.”
“My feeling is, I’ve got my job to do. Things have a
way of working themselves out,” he added.
Santorum said he was not planning on doing anything
special to mend fences with the gay community, other than maintain an
open-door policy. He said he had pushed for several items in Congress on
behalf of gay interests, including fighting for federal funds for HIV
treatment in Africa.
“What I will continue to do is have a policy of working
with people interested in public policy,” he said.
Richard Semiatin, an assistant professor of government at
American University and an expert on Capitol Hill politics, said Santorum
should consider himself lucky that the controversy broke at a time when the
nation continued to deal with news from Iraq and when Congress is facing big
tax and budget issues.
Gay-rights organizations have tried to draw a parallel
between the resignation of Trent Lott as Republican majority leader after he
made remarks that many interpreted as suggesting the country was better off
during the era of racial segregation.
But, if nothing else, the reaction to Santorum’s
comments seems to show the political clout of African Americans far exceeds
that of gays. Lott’s exit from leadership was relatively quick, while there
is no sign yet that any Republicans are going to call for Santorum to step
down from his leadership post.
As one senior Republican staffer on the Hill argued
yesterday, Santorum’s remarks probably helped him in some quarters.
“You need to understand that in the right wing of the
Republican Party, remarks like these are considered to be good,” the staffer
said.
Social conservatives wholly endorse Santorum’s view
that homosexual relations are wrong. Phyllis Schlafly, who founded the Eagle
Forum, a conservative activist group, during the Reagan presidency, said that
Santorum’s remarks were justified and that the resulting furor was just
politics.
“What is the legal difference between sodomy and
polygamy?” she asked. “If the Supreme Court is going to decide this issue,
then it ought to be a matter for public discussion without calling for
someone’s resignation.”
In Philadelphia yesterday afternoon, about 200 gay and
lesbian protesters and their supporters demonstrated outside Santorum’s
district office on Broad and Chestnut Streets near City Hall.
Carrying signs—some of which portrayed Santorum in a
pink shirt and read: “Stay out of my bedroom” and “Hate the bigotry love
the bigot”—the group blocked rush-hour traffic on one of the city’s
busiest streets while screaming: “No more hate in the Keystone State!”
The protest was organized by the Liberty City Lesbian
& Gay Democratic Club.
There was one Santorum advocate at yesterday’s protest
holding two signs; one read “Thank you, Senator Santorum,” and the other
called homosexuality an abomination.
“The senator is simply standing on God’s truth, but
unfortunately the people here today don’t want to hear that,” said Michael
Marcavage, 23, who said he belonged to a religious group called RepentAmerica.
Inquirer staff writer Ira Porter contributed to
this article.
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