Colossal Even

Rick Santorum blew his main chance over the past couple of weeks, primarily by being a colossal dick, and have I mentioned recently what a colossal dick he is? He couldn't resist a chance to let his freak flag fly on the proper use of other people's ladyparts and on his peculiar vision of what the separation of church and state actually means. He picked a fight with John F. Kennedy on the latter issue, which may be the most singularly stupid thing I've seen a candidate do in 50 years. And last night, after spending a month channelling Pius XII, according to the exit polls, he lost decisively among Catholic voters to a Mormon bishop. This proves three [things]: one, that there is no such thing as a "Catholic vote"; two, that the Catholic laity remains completely convinced that contraception is their own damn business and that the clan of the red beanie should butt out of it; and three, that picking on the sainted Jack Kennedy (God be good to him) is generally considered far more mortal a sin than using the Pill is. Santorum could have avoided all of these unforced errors, but that would require that he not be a colossal dick.

  Charles Pierce