Republicans say “x”; the media reports they meant “y”; and the best way to be sued for defamation is to accurately quote a Democrat

President Barack Obama has faced the nation often the past three years declaring his debt-exploding policies to be Biblically-based, in the national interest and necessary to remedy the economic crisis he inherited from his GOP predecessor. When addressing the persistence of continuing economic ills in the fourth year of his presidency he asserts that Republicans impede solutions because they put party politics above what’s best for the country or that  he didn’t realize just how bad the crisis was. Finally, when addressing follow up questions from the media reminding him of his original contradictory claims and suggesting that he is attributing nefarious non-Christian motives to Republicans in Congress, he…oh, wait a minute, we don’t actually remember hearing such follow ups when Obama meets the press.

By contrast, the man currently leading polls to be Obama’s Republican opponent on Election Day faced the nation yesterday for a CBS cross-examination that consisted of Bob Schieffer’s serial cognitive dissonance-laced mis-characterizations of past statements of Senator Santorum on education, birth control and Obama’s professions of faith:

• Santorum has long stood for getting the federal government out education, citing the nation’s abysmal dropout record over the past 30 years. Sheiffer accuses him of wanting to eliminate public education.
• Santorum, a Roman Catholic, is personally against the use of medicinal birth control, thinks Supreme Court precedents removing its regulation from state control was wrongly decided but explicitly believes it should be legal. Yet, Schieffer accuses him of being for denying women access to birth control.
• Santorum disagrees with President Obama’s recent claim that his health care, economic, financial regulation and foreign policies are consistent with the teachings of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible in general and, specifically those of Jesus Christ. Yet, despite the fact that Santorum explicietly stated that he believes Obama is a Christian, Scheiffer accuses Santorum of questioning Obama’s faith.

Finally, the “revered” CBS anchor of the network’s longest running show descended into the depths of depravity with a fast one about  the death of one of Santorum’s children designed to perpetuate the liberal line that he is a weird and extremist Christian because he followed the advice of counselors with a family wake. Schieffer refers to the deceased child as having been “stillborn” in passing. But the former Pennsylvania senator wouldn’t let the remark pass despite the “reporter’s” best attempts to move on, and corrected him, as the child actually lived for two hours after birth. Schieffer ended up having to deliver a red-faced apology (see link above for the entire sad exchange).

Santorum can effectively defend Judeo-Christian values, conservatism and himself

Many in the Republican Party are concerned that Santorum can be discredited by the media and the Obama campaign machine by resort to such tactics as those used yesterday on Face the Nation. Of course, the drive-by media and every Democratic Party campaign tries to do the same with every GOP candidate. I remember the amiable dunce that won 49 states.

Yesterday’s performance by Rick Santorum should calm their fears.

Santorum has religious beliefs, but he favors tolerance and stresses the denial of economic liberty that contraceptive and ObamaCare mandates pose. Obama also has religious beliefs, but he favors having the Secretary of Health and Human Services impose those values by deciding what insurance policies must be offered for sale by private companies.

Santorum has a sterling conservative voting record that helped implement the successful economic policies that extended the Reagan Recovery into the mid-2000s, reformed welfare and defeated al Qaeda after 911; during which time Obama opposed legislation that would have required that babies who survive abortions receive life-saving treatment, voted against funding for the War on Terror, voted for the Democrats’ last two budgets and TARP before he his Inauguration and advanced policies as President that have failed to produce an economic recovery in the United States  worthy of the name recovery.

Yes, after winning four elections to Congress from a Democratic state, he lost to a pro-life son of a Keystone State legend in the 2006 semi-Democrat landslide, thanks mainly to the failure of President George W. Bush to publicly defend the Iraq War. Yes, he voted with most of his GOP colleagues for their party’s pre-tea partier/post-911 president’s NCLB education accountability and Medicare Rx Drug policies. He now regrets those two votes. I’m not going to dignify complaints about puny McCain-losing earmark issues.

Santorum has also been a prominent advocate of conservative values and policies in the media for over 15 years and doesn’t carry the baggage of having been for Romney/ObamaCare-style mandates like his main opponents for the GOP nomination. His character is unblemished.

Yes, he will be attacked as an extremist by the Left. Reagan and Dubya were as well, and both were elected and re-elected. Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich would also be attacked. In fact, despite Obama’s National Prayer Breakfast speech, if either Jesus Christ or Moses were the GOP nominee, they would also be targeted for libel and slander of the Democrats and the media for accurately quoting them or citing their records.

Santorum has sung conservatism his way, much as did The Gipper, and he can defend that record with flip-side encores.

By contrast, Obama’s Hope and Change tune has been no  end-of-Prohibition-inspired “Happy Days are Here Again” that became the anthem of the New Deal coalition Democratic Party.

We think Santorum’s cover of Sinatra and Elvis trumps  Obama’s envious crooning come November.

Mike DeVine

Atlanta Law & Politics columnist –  Examiner.com

Editor - Hillbilly Politics

Co-Founder and Editor - Political Daily

“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson

More DeVine Gamecock rooster crowings at Modern Conservative, Unified Patriots,  and Conservative Outlooks. All Charlotte Observer and Atlanta Journal-Constitution op-eds archived at Townhall.com.