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Wednesday, May 07, 2003

So Rick Santorum is out of the woods, is that it? Even that part of the woods where the Log Cabin Republicans live?

Evidently.

Senator Sanctimony and his practiced defiance will retain his leadership position among Senate Republicans, and without coming anywhere close to contorting for forgiveness in the Trent Lott style.

Too bad. I'd love to have seen Rick's guest spot on "Will & Grace." Lott had to expose himself to thorough inspection on Black Entertainment Television after pining for the days of segregation. But the junior senator from Pennsylvania apparently won't be making any moves toward contrition for essentially equating homosexuality with criminality in the now-infamous interview with The Associated Press.

The difference between Lott and Santorum is thus clear. Lott at least knows he's an idiot.

"He frightened me very much," said Melina Waldo, who was among a small group of parents of gay children who coaxed a 10-minute meeting with Santorum last week in Washington. "I don't know what kind of country we're going to live in if people can't be free in their own homes, two people who love each other.

"We're in Iraq trying to free people, and we're not free in our own homes. Santorum would make a great mullah. We're trying to prevent a Shiite government over there. Who is going to prevent one here? He may be after gay people, but tomorrow it might be people who smoke in their homes, or drink, whatever."

Santorum has said his comments likening homosexuality to bigamy and incest are not, kept in context, an indication that he's anti-gay, much less going after gay people. But his demeanor in that meeting with Melina and Richard Waldo, former constituents from Upper St. Clair who now live in New Jersey, and Fran and Allen Kirschner of Philadelphia seemed to indicate a certain dearth of compassion.

"He really didn't keep his cool well at all," Melina said on the phone. "He refused to take any responsibility for his hurtful comments. We have a gay son who went to Upper St. Clair High School. We didn't know he was gay until he went to Penn State. Like a lot of kids, the rhetoric of people like Sen. Santorum makes them afraid to come out. Being gay seems to bring with it the worst kinds of harassment.

"When my husband said to him, 'Senator Santorum, you know John Heinz would have never spoken like that,' you could tell from the look on his face that he really took that to heart. That really hit home.

"And it's true. Think of how far we've fallen. John Heinz had his strong views, but he was a gentleman to the core."

Richard Waldo wound up going on "The O'Reilly Factor" over this, and had to find it just a trifle ironic in that, being a conservative Republican, he twice voted for Santorum. I asked Melina if she voted for him.

"I certainly did not," she said. "We almost got a divorce over it. We decided he just wasn't worth it."

Rick Santorum. Keeping Families Together.

Democratic strategists might prefer to quote Melina directly: Rick Santorum. He Just Wasn't Worth It.

The 10-minute meeting Santorum granted these four members of the group Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays wound up lasting closer to 30 minutes.

"I went there because Santorum is just so high up in the party, and you know the Republican right are not fools. They're very clever people," said Melina, who has described the senator as condescending, belligerent, argumentative and arrogant in other reports.

"I expected him to just shake our hands, pat us on the head and let us go. But he was the one who extended it to 30 minutes. He told me that I wasn't a lawyer and I really couldn't understand this from a legal standpoint. I told him I used to teach English and I understood that words have meaning and words have power. And that I can understand the basic right to privacy. If he can't understand how he comes across, maybe he should get some coaching."

Every public figure should be able to misspeak. Everyone does it. Had Lott merely misspoken about how we'd all be better off had Strom Thurmond won the presidency on the platform of segregation, for which Lott apologized in every conceivable and even comic forum, he might still be Senate majority leader today. His problem was a long rhetorical and political trail that loudly suggested he likely hadn't misspoken at all.

Had Santorum offered even a classic half-apology -- I'm sorry if you misunderstood -- he could have sidestepped an extended public flogging. Forget that. Political gunslingers like Rick don't apologize.

"He's very arrogant," Melina said. "He's very handsome, and I think he's gotten by on his boyish good looks. It's taken him very far. Republicans are always on the lookout for someone with far-right views who can camouflage them with good looks. They're looking for another Reagan. Maybe they think they've found him."

That noise from the far right? Sounds like cheering.