Rick Santorum

I don't get American politics - that much is blindingly obvious. In my defence though - Rick Santorum? Really? As Peter Foster says, there's something a little disconcerting about someone who follows his beliefs through to their logical conclusions:

The latest Santorum pronouncement to send shivers along the pews is his remark this weekend that pre-natal testing (amniocentesis) is part of an Obama-backed plan to “cull the ranks of the disabled in our society” through the rising number of abortions that result from the tests.

It's actually rather hard to argue with this - the whole point of amniocentesis is to flag up any foetal abnormalities that might be there, with the obvious conclusion being that it might just be better to terminate. If you believe (as Catholics sort of have to) that the unborn are people too, then what is the moral difference between this, and a policy of eugenics? That's just the sort of question that I prefer not to think about too hard, for fear of disagreeing with my own conclusions.

The problem for the Republicans is that the role of standard-bearer for impractical ideological purity is supposed to be filled by Ron Paul; it is, in other words, supposed to be a sideshow and not the main event. As right-wing outriders go, Santorum has the hallmarks of a Goldwater, rather than a Reagan. And we know where that leads.