This is (partially) why I don't like Rick Santorum and would have a very difficult time voting for him. Even if he's just making a joke about criminalizing teleprompter use by presidential candidates, it's troubling for a politician to kid around about making things illegal. Unfortunately, I don't get the impression that he was kidding. A lot of times, we jump on candidates too quickly and too much for being loose with their language, and we make mountains out of mole hills. I don't think this is one of those times.
Santorum's comment exposes him as an acolyte of the nanny-state, same as his liberal opponents. His mantra seems to be "that with which I disagree should be criminalized". It also seems as though he thinks the American electorate is foolish enough to not recognize Obama's reliance on his teleprompter (among his other, more egregious shortcomings) and must be protected from their own ignorance. If the American people are too stupid to realize that Obama is rhetorically-challenged without his teleprompter, then they get what they deserve. Actually, that's not even true -- if Americans are too stupid and foolish to vote for or against a candidate based on his or her teleprompter use, then we are stupid and foolish people and we get what we deserve.
It was troubling and offensive to me when Obama joked about IRS audits -- that kind of rhetoric is chilling and anti-democratic. When you're not in a position of power and are a citizen at the mercy of the IRS (as most of us are), a joke about getting audited really isn't funny. To me, that comment of Obama's exposed how he views the presidency and the power that comes with it -- he's no longer a fellow citizen, he's a ruler.
And while Rick Santorum's values may be different from Obama's, their methods in the form of government-as-savior are much too similar for my taste.
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