Santorum "Apologizes." Sort of.
Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, aka "Major Kong" issued a statement last evening concerning his remarks on Senate floor yesterday comparing filibustering Democrats with Adolf Hitler in 1942 Paris. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Santorum stated that the Hitler reference was "meant to dramatize the principle of an argument, not to characterize my Democratic colleagues. My point was that it is preposterous for someone to trample a well-established principle, and then accuse his opponents of acting unlawfully when they try to reestablish that principle. Nevertheless, it was a mistake and I meant no offense."
There are plenty of ways to 'dramatize the principle of an argument' without bringing in homicidal fascist dictators and not-so-subtly equating your opponents with said dictator. Let's have a real apology and no more of this nastiness, from either side of the aisle.
posted by JBD @ 9:24 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
In fairness, as Matt Margolis pointed out over at GOPbloggers.org earlier, Santorum's choice of metaphor may not have been well-judged, but Sen. Byrd recently made a similar yet even more egregious choice of language in attacking the GOP.
There are points of policy I disagree with Rick on, but I think he takes a lot of unfair flack. He seems a bright, thoughtful and engaged Senator, and I'd far rather keep him in the Senate than Sen. Byrd.
Simon, yep, Byrd stepped in a huge pile of nastiness with that one. He wound up apologizing all over the place. And deservedly so. He's still scraping the egg off his face.
What I find inexcusable about Santorum's descent into madness is that HIS voice was the loudest in calling for Byrd's metaphorical head.
You lose all credibility on an issue when you castigate someone for a boneheaded rhetorical bomb then turn around a little while later and do the EXACT, SAME THING.
This is more than pot-meet-kettle kind of thing. This is Santorum opening his mouth and inserting both feet; sans salt and up to the knees.
I don't know why I continue to set myself up for disillusionment when I expect my elected leaders to actually govern with common sense.
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