He Knows About Which He Speaks

Will Bunch of Attytood provides the latest installment in the Santorum Saga. In his post, That's "weird": Santorum rewrites history, Bunch notes that the audio version of that scintillating book by Santorum, "It takes a Family," contained a bit of editing:

Bob Casey Jr. campaign caught an alteration on one of the book's most controversial passages, the one where the Pennsylvania GOP senator decries the "weird socialization" that he believes that children get in public schools.

It's hard to get definitive numbers, but I would guess that about 85% of students go to public school in Pennsylvania (a bit more in high school). In light of this, I would think that Santorum's screed against public school education was not the most popular thing for Santorum to have said. Of course, he is a product of public high school -- and weird is a perfect word to apply to Santorum. As a public high school graduate myself (my brief interlude from an otherwise all Catholic education), I would say that he's in the minority. But I guess it's hard to get that perspective when you look in the mirror everyday and see Santorum. It would have to warp your world view.

Another bit of funky editing was noted by the Inquirer, Santorum Web site sends mixed signal:

U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum seemed to be sending different messages to different audiences on his campaign Web site this week.

English-language visitors to www.ricksantorum.com encountered a home page filled with concern about the "amnesty-ridden proposal" the U.S. Senate adopted to deal with illegal immigration.

But a section of the site for Spanish readers made no mention of amnesty in its discourse on immigration. Nor did it refer to "rewarding criminal behavior" of illegal immigrants, as the English version did.

Jim Hoefler, a professor of political science at Dickinson College, noted: "The English version is kind of the Rick Santorum we know - no amnesty, law and order, tough guy. The Spanish version is a lot softer - we need to find a balance, that sort of approach."

Commenting on these discrepancies, blogger Liberal Avenger recalls that this is The Party of Nixon, after all. As he says, "From the grave, Nixon exerts his influence on the GOP," noting Santorum's excuses about these changes:

So, it’s just an honest mistake. Like the changes in the audio book. Like claiming residence for a house you don’t live in. With any luck, we won’t have Rick Santorum to kick around much longer.

I agree that it's a Republican thing. Because Santorum is a Republican, his mistatements don't qualify as lying. That's just the way they speak. It's like the tale of The Scorpion and the Frog. That is, when a Republican is asked why he lied, when the truth is recorded and so most likely will be uncovered, the Republican responded: "I could not help myself. It is my nature." So speaketh Santorum.

Tags: PA politics, Santorum