Santorum renews promise to root out obscene pornography

[Jamie B]

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/santorum-renews-promise-root-obscene-pornography-163813068.html

As president, Santorum says he would instruct his attorney general to prosecute those who distribute content his administration deems "obscene."

Santorum, however, has yet to provide a specific definition of what kind of pornography his attorney general would prosecute.

Lord help us.

I don't recall a national referendum requesting Santorum to be the conscience of the US.

If I need someone to tell me what to do, say, or read, I will ask SWMBO.

[Fitz]

ANYONE BUT OBAMA!

[Jamie B]

Sometimes the devil you know is better than the devil that you don't. 

[Viking]

There goes 90% of California's economy .

[Tallpine]

War on Poverty
War on Drugs
War on Terror
War on Sex

 

[RevDisk]

Ayep.  And he means it.

We booted him out of PA.  Please do not let him back into power.

[MicroBalrog]

Well this just means Romney will be the nominee.

[Strings]

My gawds... this guy might just be enough to make me vote for the big 0...

[seeker_two]

Looks like the GOP misses the point yet again....makes Newt's Mars base look reasonable....

[birdman]

And he just made my choice easier.  One, regardless of material at hand, that's a freedom encroachment that is intolerable.  Two, the fact he would do it via executive power, and three, that he feels it's important at all.

While nothing will make me vote for O, this limits my choice to "not O" (mitt).  As regardless of what I feel about Romney (he sucks), until we have a decent candidate, I will take ANYONE that is in any way right of O, as I am truly worried by what he might do if given a second term.

I honestly wish Hillary had beaten him...she at least would have likely taken her husbands lead and triangulated to retain power...not exploit our nations idiocy to do so.

[TommyGunn]

  
What a time for the repukes to screw things up........

[Jamie B]

Ayep.  And he means it.

We booted him out of PA.  Please do not let him back into power.

Someone needs to tell him that he is not the Golden Child of conservative politics.

[Jamie B]

Well this just means Romney will be the nominee.

Not according to Ricky!

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/17/10737243-rick-santorum-if-i-win-the-illinois-primary-i-win-the-nomination

Rick Santorum: If I win the Illinois primary, I win the nomination

Ricky, thy name is *expletive deleted*bag! He is truly a legend in his own mind.

The worse part is that he is Catholic, and is giving us Catholics a bad name.

[lupinus]

From a personal moral stand point, I actually agree with him. But, what business is it of the governments? Especially what business of it of the executive office if not passed into law by the congress?

Legislating morality doesn't work. It's never worked and it never will work. The state church sounds well and good....so long as you're in agreement of course. Sure sucks to be a Catholic when the King decides he wants a divorce.

[Jamie B]

There were a lot of concerns regarding JFK's Catholicism when he was running.

I saw a replay of the speech that he gave, advising that the Vatican would not rule his decision making as POTUS.

Obviously, he was specifically not worried about the 7th and 10th Commandments.

[DittoHead]

If I brought up the fears people expressed about John Kennedy's religion, we would all happily excoriate those people for being bigots and rubes and fear-mongerers.
But fear-mongering about present-day candidates' religion passes for sophisticated, moderate politics.

Sorry to quote from a different thread but it reminded me of a previous Santorum discussion. It seems that the "fear-mongering" surrounding him may not be unfounded.

[Perd Hapley]

[Scratches head] OK, just what can the Justice Department do about "obscenity"? According to the article, he thinks the Bush administration enforced the law, and he wants to do what the Bush administration did. If the Bush admin. shut down the porn industry, I don't recall hearing about it.  

Sorry, Dittohead, just sounds like more fear-mongering. Not that I want the president to go after pornographers, but it seems like another molehill masquerading as a mountain.

Well this just means Romney will be the nominee.

Meh. The establishment press usually decides how important each issue will be. We'll see.

[MikeB]

Sorry, Dittohead, just sounds like more fear-mongering. Not that I want the president to go after pornographers, but it seems like another molehill masquerading as a mountain.

You're wrong. That thread was all about how Santorum would in fact try to push his morality on the rest of the country, and this is just one example of how he would do so. Santorum is exactly that type of politician, it's part of the reason we tossed him out of office in PA.

[TommyGunn]

From a personal moral stand point, I actually agree with him. But, what business is it of the governments? Especially what business of it of the executive office if not passed into law by the congress?

Legislating morality doesn't work. It's never worked and it never will work. The state church sounds well and good....so long as you're in agreement of course. Sure sucks to be a Catholic when the King decides he wants a divorce.

Legislating morality works very well -- when the majority agree on the "morality."  What do you think laws prohibiting murder are about? 
The problem is pornography is a dicey subject.  Even a renowned justice once quipped he couldn't define it but "knew it when he saw it."
To most people, this election cycle seems primarily about the state of the economy and a 16 trillion dollar debt.  Considering the difficulty of removing a sitting president, it's better to concentrate on those issues.

[Perd Hapley]

You're wrong. That thread was all about how Santorum would in fact try to push his morality on the rest of the country, and this is just one example of how he would do so. Santorum is exactly that type of politician, it's part of the reason we tossed him out of office in PA.

I didn't dispute that. I'm saying there's a lot of exaggeration going on here, both as to how much he's actually going to attempt, and how much power he would really have to do all that.

He said he wants to emulate Bush II on this. What was Bush doing about pornography that was so dreadful?

[Lee]

I think I saw the video of him emulating dubya II.
It was on EyeTalibanStallion.com

[roo_ster]

He said he wants to emulate Bush II on this. What was Bush doing about pornography that was so dreadful?

Not downloading it personally?  Yeah, that's downright unAmerican.

So many skirts over so many heads in just one thread.

[RevDisk]

I didn't dispute that. I'm saying there's a lot of exaggeration going on here, both as to how much he's actually going to attempt, and how much power he would really have to do all that.

He said he wants to emulate Bush II on this. What was Bush doing about pornography that was so dreadful?

As a person involved in PA, no.  It is not exaggeration.  He really does believe what he says.  He may not have the legal backing to do a tenth of what he wants, but he would try anyways.  He's not above breaking rules for personal advantage.  He would do so fully believing he was morally justified.

Bush did the expected thing.  Say the right things to pander to the religious vote bloc, toss them a few sops, but do nothing substantial.  Which is the preferred notion.  Oh, libertarian utopia, politicians would mind their own business and stick to their own debauchery.  Real world, a lot of Americans socially and publicly frown on sin but get very angry if their "sins" are impacted.  If Santorum could magically make all porn disappear, he would be thrown out of office within hours

[MicroBalrog]

I didn't dispute that. I'm saying there's a lot of exaggeration going on here, both as to how much he's actually going to attempt, and how much power he would really have to do all that.

He said he wants to emulate Bush II on this. What was Bush doing about pornography that was so dreadful?

Here's what Santorum's website said he would do:

Congress has responded. Current federal “obscenity” laws prohibit distribution of hardcore (obscene) pornography on the Internet, on cable/satellite TV, on hotel/motel TV, in retail shops and through the mail or by common carrier. Rick Santorum believes that federal obscenity laws should be vigorously enforced. “If elected President, I will appoint an Attorney General who will do so.”

http://www.ricksantorum.com/enforcing-laws-against-illegal-pornography

[Perd Hapley]

Huh. OK. Doesn't seem like the best use of the AG's time. Still funny that enforcing current law is characterized as "imposing his morality on us!!1"