Rick Santorum is an idiot, a bigot, and morally inconsistent...

[Peephole]

The wonderful thing about the word santorum, is that it doesn't even sound like they just picked someone's name and coupled it to a definition. No, it seems like the word has existed for ages. It has that vague latin sound, so it sound like it was taken from some centuries old medical textbook. It just perfectly fits its definition in every way. You can almost say it oozes its definition.

 

[daenku32]

After winning 3 states, he lost to Ron Paul. Is the GOP primary some kind of crap shoot now?

 

[cwalner]

After winning 3 states, he lost to Ron Paul. Is the GOP primary some kind of crap shoot now?

Seems more like a game of Pin the Tail on the Elephant.

 

[Andrew Wiggin]

Wiki says he referred to Ann Landers as his roommate, jokingly, so perhaps this was what he did with the Santorum reference.

I know he's a big enough fan of Ann Landers to buy her writing desk from her estate. I doubt if he was her roommate though.

 

[Andrew Wiggin]

Seems more like a game of Pin the Tail on the Elephant.

That sounds like a good euphemism for a sex scandal.

 

[RandFan]

More Santorum Inconsistency

Top Ten Catholic Teachings Santorum Rejects while Obsessing about Birth Control

Cherry picking his morality. Cafe Catholic Rick.

 

[AvalonXQ]

By "Catholic Teachings" they apparently mean "things that Catholics in positions of authority have said" -- ignoring that, in Catholicism, there's a big difference between political positions expressed by authority figures in the Church, and actual doctrinal positions of the Church that are expected to be adhered to by every Catholic.

The position that a conservative can't be a true Catholic because the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has a very left-wing stance on social justice is nonsensical.

This is about as silly as someone calling me a "cafeteria American" for quoting the Constitution but not agreeing with something that President Obama has said.

 

[RandFan]

By "Catholic Teachings" they apparently mean "things that Catholics in positions of authority have said"

Because prohibitions against contraception came from... ?

Dude, every position by the church comes from someone in a position of authority.

...there's a big difference between political positions expressed by authority figures in the Church...

How is not killing people simply political in a way that prohibition of contraception is not?

...and actual doctrinal positions of the Church that are expected to be adhered to by every Catholic.

When exactly did the Pope say his views about killing people are strictly political and not doctrinal?

The position that a conservative can't be a true Catholic because the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has a very left-wing stance on social justice is nonsensical.

I'm not buying the notion that not killing people is simply "social justice" in a way that contraception isn't.

This is about as silly as someone calling me a "cafeteria American" for quoting the Constitution but not agreeing with something that President Obama has said.

Who is it that claims that President Obama is infallible? (see Papal infallibility). You are, in part, special pleading. When it comes to morality (like not killing people) Catholics don't get the pleasure of picking and choosing when to follow the Pope.

You might have a technical point on some of the issues but it's rather silly. What the hell good is religion and its leaders if it is so wishy washy? For that matter, what the hell good is Jesus Christ's teachings if condoms are so important when he didn't say a word about them but welfare isn't when he did talk so much about that? No, I'm sorry but Santorum is a major hypocrite.

 

[AvalonXQ]

I'm not buying the notion that not killing people is simply "social justice" in a way that contraception isn't.

How much do you know about the Catholic faith, and how doctrine is determined in the Church?

There were ten items on that list, and most of them were simply quotations of the position statements of Catholic Bishops -- which are not Catholic doctrine.

Capital punishment was also on the list, which is a different issue. So if you'd like to find the actual doctrinal position of the Catholic Church on capital punishment and compare it to Rick Santorum's position, great. Because that article couldn't be bothered to do anything like that.

Quoting any opinion that comes out of a bishop or pope's mouth as though it were equivalent to Catholic doctrine shows a profound lack of understanding as to how the Catholic Church works -- but apparently the authors of that article got what they wanted, in that they were able to convince at least some readers of Santorum's hypocrisy without actually having to do the work that would generally require.

 

[RandFan]

Quoting any opinion that comes out of a bishop or pope's mouth as though it were equivalent to Catholic doctrine...

So, an infallible Pope has no authority for his teachings? Really? I'm not buying it. Santorum is a hypochrite. And BTW: Christ said not word one about contraception. He did talk about feeding and caring for the poor. I think the words of Christ are in fact doctrine.

 

[AvalonXQ]

You might have a technical point on some of the issues but it's rather silly. What the hell good is religion and its leaders if it is so wishy washy? For that matter, what the hell good is Jesus Christ's teachings if condoms are so important when he didn't say a word about them but welfare isn't when he did talk so much about that?

Take that up with the Catholic church. They're the ones that set the rules for how all this would work, not Santorum.

No, I'm sorry but Santorum is a major hypocrite.

No, I'm sorry but you haven't provided any evidence at all that this is true. If you want to attack his adherence to his faith, you're going to have to find elements of actual Church doctrine that he doesn't follow. The capital punishment position may actually be a great place to look -- but again, you haven't done that legwork, and neither has the article.

You have as much evidence right now to accuse Santorum of hypocrisy as I have to accuse Obama of hypocrisy -- which is to say, none.

 

[AvalonXQ]

So, an infallible Pope has no authority for his teachings? Really? I'm not buying it.

Then you clearly haven't studied Catholicism.

You might consider reading that article on papal infallibility that you linked to. Popes do make mistakes, and every word uttered by a pope is not Church doctrine.

It wouldn't take you much time at all to read up enough on this to verify what I'm saying; why won't you? Why do you continue to make your argument from ignorance instead of very easily gaining the knowledge to confirm (or refute) my claims?

 

[RandFan]

It wouldn't take you much time at all to read up enough on this to verify what I'm saying; why won't you? Why do you consider to make your argument from ignorance instead of very easily gaining the knowledge to confirm (or refute) my claims?

Dude, it's the Pope. "Infallible". I'm happy to give you your premises. Doesn't make one damn bit of difference. If your religious authorities have no authority then what the hell good is it. And I'll say it again, the words of Christ are doctrine or the Catholic Church isn't Christian.

 

[elbe]

So, an infallible Pope has no authority for his teachings? Really? I'm not buying it. Santorum is a hypochrite. And BTW: Christ said not word one about contraception. He did talk about feeding and caring for the poor. I think the words of Christ are in fact doctrine.

While the Church is near as evil as an entity can be (and I'm not using hyperbole), "infallibility" is a rare event within the church. Generally the pope is likely considered "inspired" by god instead of actually "speaking" god's words. The official term is latin for "on the chair", or something as such. I'm being lazy and don't feel like looking it up.

 

[RandFan]

No, I'm sorry but you haven't provided any evidence at all that this is true.

I happily stand by it.

 

[RandFan]

While the Church is near as evil as an entity can be (and I'm not using hyperbole), "infallibility" is a rare event within the church. Generally the pope is likely considered "inspired" by god instead of actually "speaking" god's words. The official term is latin for "on the chair", or something as such. I'm being lazy and don't feel like looking it up.

Yeah, I understand the concept. It takes a bizarre departure from reality to suppose that a Pope is infallible under certain circumstances but the other times he's full of ****. It also takes hypocrisy to use religion to justify prohibitions against contraception but reject the Pope's other teaching and I'm happy to stand here toe to toe and trumpet that.

 

[elbe]

Yeah, I understand the concept. It takes a bizarre departure from reality to suppose that a Pope is infallible under certain circumstances but the other times he's full of ****. It also takes hypocrisy to use religion to justify prohibitions against contraception but reject the Pope's other teaching and I'm happy to stand here toe to toe and trumpet that.

I don't find it extremely strange (beyond the claiming to ever be infallible). It's not the position itself that allows the infallibility but a certain, let's say, connection to god. To treat, however, the rest of the church's rules as mere suggestions seems rather strange, though. Catholicism has a long history of wanting to run other people's lives, while being promoted by people who couldn't, themselves, be arsed to follow those same rules.

There's a reason I have more respect for NAMBLA than I do for the church.

 

[RandFan]

I don't find it extremely strange (beyond the claiming to ever be infallible). It's not the position itself that allows the infallibility but a certain, let's say, connection to god. To treat, however, the rest of the church's rules as mere suggestions seems rather strange, though. Catholicism has a long history of wanting to run other people's lives, while being promoted by people who couldn't, themselves, be arsed to follow those same rules.

There's a reason I have more respect for NAMBLA than I do for the church.

Thanks. Agreed.

 

[AvalonXQ]

Dude, it's the Pope. "Infallible".

The Pope is infallible when sitting ex cathedra, which he does very rarely. Even John-Paul II's Evangelium vitae, which is recognized as Church doctrine, isn't considered an example of papal infallibility (only the infallibility of the Magisterium, a lesser and different thing).

I'm happy to give you your premises. Doesn't make one damn bit of difference. If your religious authorities have no authority then what the hell good is it. And I'll say it again, the words of Christ are doctrine or the Catholic Church isn't Christian.

So, at this point, you're accusing Santorum of being a hypocrite for both claiming to and actually following the doctrine of the Catholic Church, because you don't agree with the Catholic Church.
Sorry, but that's not what "hypocrisy" means.
Look, I get that you don't like the guy. But why do you have to continually bring up all of these poorly researched, inaccurate attacks on him? It's really not that much harder to come up with valid reasons to have a problem with the guy, which I would have no need to (and likely would not) comment on.
Heck, this stuff makes me feel like when friends of mine attack Obama for being a "secret Muslim". Then I end up spending my time and effort defending the guy, who I absolutely and completely oppose, because the argument is stupid and wrong.
So is this one.

 

[Quinn]

It takes a bizarre departure from reality to suppose that a Pope is infallible under certain circumstances but the other times he's full of ****.

Agreed. But like most things in religion, that doesn't stop the faithful from doing it. By my understanding, basically if the Pope says, "Okay, what I'm about to say is something God told me directly, so it's infallible," then people believe him and whatever he says becomes instant, irrefutable dogma.

Laughably ridiculous? Of course. Significantly more so than the rest of religion? Not especially.