...Charlie Pierce thinks Rick Santorum is a colossal dick. I tend to agree.
Former Pennsylvania senator and Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum on Sunday stood firm on his position that the Justice Department under President Obama “seems to favor pornographers over children and families.”
Asked to defend the statement, which appears on his campaign Web site, Santorum said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the proof “is in the prosecution.”
“Under the Bush administration, pornographers were prosecuted much more rigorously than they are under existing law, than [...] under the Obama administration,” Santorum said. “So you draw your conclusion.”
WaPo
Unfortunately for Santorum, the precedent he cites is not a helpful one. In the early days of the Avignon Presidency, Attorney General John Ashcroft, a bigger religious cashew than even Santorum is, did indeed commit his office to a crackdown on pornography. (He also, you may recall, went balls-to-the-wall after head shops, running international criminal Tommy Chong to earth.) Of course, when one engages in an all-out assault on such a formidable enemy, priorities must be maintained. While chasing down the porn merchants, Ashcroft de-emphasized the FBI's counterterrorism efforts. In fact, he vetoed an FBI request for an additional $58 million to fund its counterterrorism operations. He vetoed this on September 10, 2001. However, events soon thereafter conspired Ashcroft to re-think his position.
Charles Pierce
Ah, yes, John Ashcroft. Those were the good old days. I had almost forgotten the literal
veiling of justice. What fun we had in those days. Lots of laughs, lots of laughs.
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