I'm sure most know more in depth about the situation than I do. But I heard his reason fro dropping out was because his daughter was sick & in the hospital. Obviously his commitment to God & family out weighs his political ambition. I commend him for that. And the fact that if he lost in his home state of Pennsylvania, it would do irrevocable harm to any future political campaigns, it's probably the best move for him. I'm fairly sure we'll be seeing him again in future elections.

You're probably right David,
Extremists like Santorum are usually too blinded by their own ego and too deafened by the screeching voices in their heads to realize that the vast majority dont share their views and would dream of giving them more power than Potato Salad Judge at the church picnic.
Santorum lost his last election by nearly 20 points as an incumbent , yet the voices in his head and his huge ego (and according to him , God) told him to go out and take an epic beating on the national stage .
I truly hope his ailing daughter recovers and I find it shameful & disgusting that he USED her as an excuse to drop out instead of simply citing the obvious .

You're probably right David,
Extremists like Santorum are usually too blinded by their own ego and too deafened by the screeching voices in their heads to realize that the vast majority dont share their views and would dream of giving them more power than Potato Salad Judge at the church picnic.
Santorum lost his last election by nearly 20 points as an incumbent , yet the voices in his head and his huge ego (and according to him , God) told him to go out and take an epic beating on the national stage .
I truly hope his ailing daughter recovers and I find it shameful & disgusting that he USED her as an excuse to drop out instead of simply citing the obvious .

So Wes, all the right wing crazies have dropped out. Maybe all the left wing crazies will drop out also, especially Obama. Funny how the right never compromises. I don't see the leftist radicals doing too much compromise. Single payer is not the answer. Cap & trade is ridiculous. You might just want to finish off the private sector with that one. Sure, high speed trains if someone can make a profit with it in the private sector. Not a responsibility of the taxpayer. Amtrak should be taken outside and shot. Another dollar on top of gas. Go to Europe and ride your bike around. Withdraw our troops - no problem here. Tired of watching Americans die for people that hate us. Have to give you credit, at least you are not afraid to admit you are a liberal. What happens in the liberal mind to think government (i.e. - the producing taxpayers) is the answer? Do you have any thoughts that don't involve the mean, uncaring republicans?

He is an idiot, glad that's one less fool running for President

I can't believe he was ever taken seriously, much less able to win 11 states. It shows how much religion has taken over. We're going to be worse off for it.

I don't think ANY candidates are truly "unintelligent"; though I do think his religious views were a little, ahem, extreme. He seemed a genuinely good man though; honest and thoughtful... while his anti-gay agenda and overwhelming religious outtake were comical, most of the rest of what he said was sound, and he had a good understanding of what we needed to do with our taxes.

Even being reasonably liberal myself, I had no desire for most of the things listed. We need higher taxes and nothing in return, to drive down the deficit. Sad but true; but nobody wants to face that reality.

David , you're probably right
Delusional egomaniacs like Santorum are rarely able to understand the clear writing in the wall . He lost an election as an incumbent in Pennsylvania by nearly 20 points!
It's no surprise that the states he won rank among the lowest in education and literacy and while I hope his daughter recovers from her illness I find it disgusting that he used her as an excuse for his failure.
Hopefully Newt will follow suit

Mike, religion's always been a big part of people running. It's always been a big part of this country. To say we're going to be worse off for it means that you're just not paying attention. I personally believe that the lack of religion and the 'anti-religious' in this country is what's dragging us through the gutter.

Compromise is what got us here, not adhering to conservative principles put this country so far in debt, that most at this point don't see a way out. We can't tax our way to prosperity, the numbers prove that. With our level of spending, we could tax everybody that makes over $250,000 a year at 100% and still not fund the government for a year. So no, compromise isn't the answer - we need to cut spending. We need to cut it painfully, and get rid of a lot of programs. You want compromise? Let's agree to put them back as we can afford them and things turn around. But right now, we're on a sinking ship. And rather than plug the leak, some want to just throw stuff overboard thinking that less weight will keep the ship from sinking. It won't...it'll just prolong the inevitable.

And Wes - Cap and tax, and raising the price of gasoline? How would this help anything? We're already seeing price increases and people having problems paying for things, and you want to raise prices some more?

David...that's a pretty spot on assessment. I wish GIngrich would've bowed out first, sparing us his last-ditch attempts to lure Santorum supporters. That would have played out better had the opposite occured. Santorum had some serious "church/state" seperation issues, but Gingrich is a scandal waiting to happen...Not that he has a snowball's chance at this point, but it would be nice to get past the playoffs and focus on the world series...

And Grant...would that be "non-judgemental" disgust? I'm glad he bowed out too, but I'm not sure staying home to take care of the kids is "disgusting". I'm pretty sure he made a "personal choice" and aren't you going on and on all the time about that being a good thing? Why are you judging the man on his personal choices about his family? Or does that only apply when the issue involving one's children is more...lethal?

Do you not read well Jeff,

I'm judging the idiot because instead of being honest and realizing there was no way to win he played his sick kid as an excuse
Since you missed it I'll quote it again for you

"while I hope his daughter recovers from her illness I find it disgusting that he used her as an excuse for his failure. "
Try mouthing the words as you read them ..

Now, now boys. We seem to have just fixed the moderation bug (holding my breath here and keeping my fingers crossed), but we don't want to actually have to use it. :)

Sorry Sharon ....Where exactly is the issue?

Karsten <
I wholeheartedly disagre with your belief that more religion would be any sort of improvement in this country . Religion has become a disease in America, and those infected constantly seek to infect every part of our society including our supposedly secular government.
I'd agree with Mr Leader that "entitlements" should be abolished ESPECIALLY those illegally and unconstitutionally handed to "religious" organizations .

Yeah, I don't blame you. Because belief in a higher power and some sense of accountability is kind of a pain in the butt. I find it interesting that those that DON'T believe in religion are pushing so hard to get it completely out of our lives, and at the same time those people are surprised that the religious folks are pushing to have it more involved. I'm with you that I don't like it pushed on me, but it's a part of this country's history, and to want people to run that aren't religious just really isn't going to happen.

But I will also say that I'm not really sure why churches get tax-free status. I could understand some tax breaks because of the work they do, but would think that should be itemized to show where those deductions would come from.

Karsten
I believe in a "higher power" and I take no issue with others that do regardless of what they perceive that higher power to look like. I believe belief in that higher power to be between the believer and whatever invisible sky wizard or sentient complex carbohydrate one prefers.
Certanly our leaders arent exempt from having these beliefs as well as a matter of personal faith . The issues arise when these beliefs are foisted upon all of us via government . IN simple terms I dont want religious chocolate in the government peanut butter

What Grant says. There's a difference between "believing in a higher power" and "being a total nutcase". Believing in a higher power and wanting to push those ideas out to politics is NOT a smart idea; especially when you are an extremist like Rick. And lying about your endorsement of specific higher powers in an attempt to appeal to the conservative masses (a la Newt) is just dispicable.

Grant, we got a fix to try and make life easier for us where it gave us the ability to set our blogs or articles to moderate them if we chose to. It, however, was supposed to default to the status quo unless we chose otherwise. Somehow the "default" backfired on some sites (mine for one) has forced everything goes through a moderation and when we change it, it just defaults back. Engineering are working around the clock with us nipping at their heels constantly, to put us back to where we were not having to monitor every single action that goes on. Hopefully, this will be fixed soon. Some poor person who just commented, "What a beautiful painting" had to sit in a moderation cue for someone to decide whether that was too offensive or not! Ugh! I believe enough in free speech to prefer to allow people to speak their mind unless it reverts to personal attacks or slanderous comments that could get us all in trouble. If I see something going down that road, I just keep an eye on that particular topic.

RL, read the post above. I am so sorry - we've had a commenting nightmare these last two days. Can you email me a screen shot of what you see - send it to sharon.swanepoel@patch.com. What Patch were you on when you posted the comment since this is actually cross posted to more than one Patch and I'll see if I can find it in cyberspace and find a landing spot. Again, to everybody, sorry about the problems. The bad news is, if it stays out in cyberspace for too long before we locate it, they send it back to you with a note that it has been..... wait for it. 'REJECTED.' Please be assured that is not the case - it is just a big bug, our engineers are trying to find and exterminate!

Wow. This moderation "fix" just isn't working, is it?

Karesten writes

"Victimless crimes shouldn't exist."

Ummm, that might have started a long time ago. See Onan.

And yes Jeff.. I am judging him, he's a wanna be p[olitician, it's our job as citizens to judge him , besides I'm not bound by some magic spell or ancient campfire story that would preclude me passing judgement on Frothboy and those moronic enough to believe that a guy like that is qualified to lead this country . ,

Whatever, man. Judge, insult, spew your own special kind of froth all over the internet, don't care... Just spare us all the vulgar indignation next time you don't like an opinion that doesn't mirror your own, OK?