CNN panelist, failed presidential candidate and aspiring Handmaid’s Tale villain Rick Santorum said something monumentally stupid about the March for Our Lives this weekend:
That was a dumb fucking thing to say, as thousands (if not millions) of people pointed out. If someone is bleeding out from gunshot wounds, CPR isn’t helpful. This morning, Ol’ Froth & Fecal walked it back — sorta:
No, he didn’t “misspeak.” “Misspeaking” would be accidentally ordering a burrito when you meant to say “taco” or asking for a wrench when you need a screwdriver.
What Santorum did was say something dumb and indefensible. Instead of lamely walking it back with a weasel word, he should resign from the CNN panel, take up knitting with a specialty in seat covers and then have all the fucking seats.
Open thread!
The Moar You Know
He’s a vile piece of shit. Bet he’s learned some lessons from Trump on how to win the next primary.
Because of course Deplorable America is going to go there next.
piratedan
how about this CNN, how about stop putting that asshole on the air. I don’t watch the news to get outraged, I watch the news to get informed. The only purpose Rick Santorum purportedly informs me about is that the majority of the GOP are still unmitigated assholes.
schrodingers_cat
He needs to be shunned from polite company like most of his R brethren
feebog
Those two words pretty much sum up Ric Santorum. He is a smug, self-righteous prig. Oh, I misspoke, I meant to say prick.
Jeffro
Per CNN:
“Yuk yuk yuk…what I meant to say was, yuk yuk yuk, students should learn how to apply tourniquets and stanch those heavy blood flows that come from BEING SHOT BY MULTIPLE HIGH-VELOCITY ASSAULT RIFLE SLUGS! Yuk yuk yuk!” And then he pulled off his Santorum mask to show his true Pennywise the Clown face.
They ARE focused on what we can do, Rick…and the possibilities are much, much broader than your little bought-off mind can imagine. Like, we could actually say that only the military should have military-grade weaponry. How about that?
? Martin
To me what’s so offensive about what he said is that I don’t doubt that Rick Scott would be facing Emma Gonzalez in the FL senate race if the Constitution allowed Emma to run for that office, but she’s not old enough. She has no choice but to ask those individuals that are, by statute, over 25 or over 35.
And they’re asking as respectfully as they can and still get heard. Their message is pretty clear – everyone else isn’t solving our problems so we’ll do it ourselves. They’re punching up, something the GOP despises.
MaryRC
“Looking to someone else to solve their problem …”. I saw the headlines and caught the gist of Santorum’s comments about learning CPR but I had no idea that he had sunk so far as to blame the kids for not “solving” their own “problem” of being shot to death. What a useless SOB.
gratuitous
Questions for CNN: What are you paying Rick Santorum? What value does he add to your shows? Is that value sufficient to justify his salary? It’s pretty obvious that CNN is Valhalla for failed Republican politicians. It doesn’t have to be.
randy khan
The most breathtaking thing here is that he doesn’t get that the problem was him saying there’s nothing you can do to prevent “violent situations” from happening in the first place.
Also, what in the world did he mean they should learn instead of CPR?
? Martin
Oh, I’ll add this piece:
Today’s Rebels Are Model Children
And they are. And it’s not a boast on my part to say that my kids (17, 20) are as well. Like their peers they are impressively compassionate and thoughtful and hardworking. The biggest complaint that is leveled at them is that they aren’t distracted enough to miss how the pervasive mediocrity of white males in power in this country are screwing them over. The fact that they expect better is somehow their fault, and not ours for doing such a shit job of not holding our incompetent leaders (of all stripes) accountable.
reader at work just now not at usual nym
@schrodingers_cat: But broadcast everywhere!
When some congresscritters get up the guts to propose an assault-rifle ban, the ads are basically done: Rubio vs Hogg, history teacher vs. Loesch, and Santorum vs. reality.
ETA: brilliant writing BC, as usual! I might take the word “word” out of the title, meself…
Betty Cracker
@? Martin: Great comment.
? Martin
@gratuitous: That’s the better question, I agree. Goes right to the point of pervasive mediocrity of white males in power – not just as a measure of Santorum but also of the chain of command at CNN that thought it was a good idea in the first place and continues to allow it.
Mike E
@randy khan: battlefield triage, obv
Jeffro
Speaking of Republican bullshit, looks like McCain’s going to release a “no holds barred” verdict on Trumpov in May.
Thanks John. We really appreciate your life-long commitment to GOP orthodoxy (including that big fat tax cut you just secured for your heirs) and can’t thank you enough for foisting Palin (and the attendant lowering of standards for higher office) on the world, but unless this “no holds barred” verdict is a nine-page, 540-point-type “F U C K T R U M P”, save it.
opiejeanne
I didn’t realize that CNN was paying Santorum to appear on their network, and I have to ask why they would hire him. I can’t imagine that he adds any value to their brand.
We don’t ever see CNN unless we’re on the road and it’s on in the lobby of a hotel while we eat breakfast. We limit our cable news to a very few shows on MSNBC.
different-church-lady
“What I meant to say was, ‘battlefield surgery’.”
Ohio Mom
Considering wingnut logic, they should be asking for fully trained ER docs in every school — the docs can keep those highly trained police officers company day in and day out.
They’d be just as effective as the armed officers are (what can the doc do by himself, without a team and equipment?).
Yes I am in a bad mood today.
opiejeanne
@Jeffro: Why wait until May? Why doesn’t he release it now?
gene108
@? Martin:
They are minors. They cannot legally agree to much of anything without parental permission.
Rick knows this. All they can do is petition the adults in the room to take action, and they are doing this very effectively.
Ridnik Chrome
A friend of mine posted something about Old Frothy’s CPR comment on the Book of Faces the other day. Frankly, I don’t see the point in trying to shame him. When people like Santorum say things like this, they know it’s bullshit, and they don’t care. If they were capable of shame, they would have died of it a long, long time ago.
Gelfling 545
What does Santorum actually do now? I mean, is he anybody? How does a brief and pathetic stint in DC make him someone whose opinion is worth broadcasting? They’d do better to ask random strangers on the street.
Jeffro
@opiejeanne: no idea
schrodingers_cat
Our media is as responsible for the current state of affairs as the Rs are. I include cable news and prestige print media, NPR and PBS in this.
Mary G
CNN did get massacred on Twitter, and you’d think they could find a better class of Republican, but there aren’t any.
patrick II
“Misspeak” follows only “I was just using a metaphor” when some RWNJ gets called out.
Is there a list of common RWNJ excuses/phrases when this sort of things happen? Blantant lies also works (see Huckabee), but her thing is lying with mild outrage and sarcasm that a reporter would even dare to ask a question at a news conference.
Ol'Froth
For the record, I am NOT Rick Santorum!
gene108
@opiejeanne:
CNN talking head shows are about pitting panels of right-wingers against not-right-wingers and watching the sparks fly.
It is the format of the old “Crossfire” show, but now on everywhere.
Major Major Major Major
@Mike E: Israeli bandages! As the wingnuts like to inexplicably brag about.
Aleta
He gets covered like his statements are newsworthy, but then instead of hard questions he gets a gentleman’s pass, because he’s on the inside.
At the least, someone challenge him to demonstrate his CPR skills and answer first aid exam questions on camera.
opiejeanne
@gene108: Oh God, I thought the Crossfire format had died the death everywhere except Faux Nooz.
And the joke of that format is that they rarely allow a competent not-right-winger to argue a case.
bemused
@? Martin:
The rebel kids are models that adults should pay attention to. This is an article in the new Family addition to Atlantic. Quite a contrast from Atlantic hiring sexist, misogynist Keven Williamson. I looked up Atlantic contact number which is 202-266-6000 and thought I’d try it to register my complaint on Williamson hiring. Considering how difficult and unusual it is find a phone number answered by an actual person in most media now to give an opinion, I was a bit startled that calling that number was immediately answered by an actual person. No repeatedly directed to press numbers and at end often told to leave a comment if you even reached a place to leave a comment. I told pleasant person I appreciated the article on the rebel kids but was very puzzled and affronted with Atlantic’s decision to hire Williamson.
Hungry Joe
I’d like to thank Rick Santorum for reminding me of what a colossal dick he is. He’s been out of the limelight for so long I’d downgraded him to putrescent fool.
SiubhanDuinne
@opiejeanne:
Meghan’s doing the final edit and adding three additional chapters of “fuck.” That can take a while.
woodrowfan
@feebog: bith prig and prick work…
bemused
@schrodingers_cat:
Media keeps doing this over and over and their “conservative” hires get worse and worse.
tom
I really think the Repubs have a death wish. GOP polling among millennials and those younger is abysmal, and yet the GOP talking heads mock and insult them, virtually guaranteeing the millennial vote will go blue. The GOP is banking on its base turning out in greater numbers than democratic voters, but the base will die off sooner rather than later.
hedgehog the occasional commenter
That fucking sanctimonious shitweasel needs to go the way of the dodo, and the sooner the better.
These fucks will blame anything but the fucking guns.
Nicole
I mispoke!
It was metaphor!
It was a joke!
For the alleged party of personal responsibility, the leaders sure won’t take responsibility for the words that come out of their own damn mouths.
“I’m just kidding” is the go-to for one of my right-wing relatives when racist things come out of his mouth and is met with stony silence from my bleeding heart, card-carrying ACLU member, latte-sipping, commie pinko self.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@The Moar You Know:
I don’t see it, Moar… Trump has some ability to effectively mug for and appeal to a certain audience. He has a crude charisma to some.
Santorum, by contrast, has an unappealing demeanor, face, and stage presence. He doesn’t think swiftly even in a snotty, spoiled 7th grader fashion (apologies to 7th graders everywhere) that Trump has mastered.
Aleta
Despite the apology, Santorum is still defending this take on twitter. So he’s arguing against citizens’ responsibility in a democracy to petition Congress?
cleek
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/special-counsel-manafort-gates-worked-with-russian-intelligence-agent/
Shell
Regardless of whether r it would be of any use for someone with a gunshot wound, he’s talking of something after someones been shot. Does nothing to prevent that shooting in the first place. What an ass.
hedgehog the occasional commenter
@Ohio Mom: Come sit by me.
Aardvark Cheeselog
@Nicole:
Try telling this relative “someone should flog you across the face with a razor strop until your eyeballs burst,” and then explain you were only joking.
Chyron HR
@Aleta:
Well, if voters start thinking that Congress is supposed to pass laws that people want, the country would go all higgledy-piggledy.
sdhays
@cleek: Umm… That sounds a lot like a smoking gun on “collusion”/conspiracy inside the Trump Campaign…
Brachiator
It’s funny how the March For Our Lives activists keep poised, focused, and on message, while the supposed adults froth at the mouth (and other places, a la Santorum) and sound like a bunch of fools.
ETA: I call these yoots “activists,” not “kids,” because they are so goddamm wonderful. Not just the high school activists. At 11 years old, Yolanda King is a Boss!
ETA: Teachers should take note that the attacks on these activists by Santorum, Steve King, and others are the working definition of ad hominem. They do everything they can to try to demonize, belittle, humiliate them instead of addressing their arguments. And when that fails, they falsely accuse them of hating the Second Amendment, which of course is the same thing as hating America for these dopes.
schrodingers_cat
@cleek: David Brooks will still tell us on the Snooze Hour how this is still a nothingburger.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@piratedan:
A thousand times this.
It’s the #1 reason I stopped giving money to NPR a dozen years ago and quit listening to any of their “news” programs, cold turkey, 3-4 years ago. I hated screaming at the radio in my car going to and from work.
They, and cable news outfits like CNN, just don’t get it. Well, they do get it. If they don’t have raging wingnuts like the frothy mixture on, they’ll get calls, letters, etc., from the 27% threatening to not watch, listen, read them anymore. I have an acquaintance who is believe it or not, a former WH reporter for a large paper in the South. She explained to me how the right had over the course of her career (and she’s probably right-of-center politically) scared editors to death over accusations of liberal bias, blah, blah, blah. That being said, she never could explain why editors put more credence in right wing complainers than left wing complainers.
Regardless, whenever somebody like that is on my tv screen, I either change channels or mute the volume as they add nothing to the news.
SiubhanDuinne
@Nicole:
tree-hugging, Birkenstock-wearing, Soros-money-taking, Subaru-driving, coastal elitist
Betty Cracker
@bemused: I’ve been in a seething rage about that hire too but haven’t called to complain. I don’t subscribe so didn’t feel like I really had standing. But now that I think about it, that’s a bullshit cop-out. For better or worse, The Atlantic is an influential publication in the country where I live, so that’s really all the standing I need! Thanks for the inspiration!
Aleta
Another thing about S’s complaint about protestors: “They didn’t take action to say, ‘How do I, as an individual, deal with this problem?’ ”
This guy, when he had power to make law, suggested that prenatal testing was immoral (and increases abortions) and has no value. Didn’t care that prenatal testing is how patients and doctors get information so they, individually, can deal with possible problems at birth and after.
zhena gogolia
@cleek:
Big story up at WaPo too.
Betty Cracker
@cleek: Sounds an awful lot like a smoking gun! Hope everyone involved knows CPR!
The Moar You Know
@Aardvark Cheeselog: That is epic. You have a turn of phrase, as they say. Which I will shamelessly steal.
JMG
Josh Barro of Business Insider just tweeted “This is the first slow news week of the Trump presidency.” I guess Barro never heard of the old baseball superstition about not talking about a no-hitter while it’s in progress. He will live to regret that tweet, I’ll bet.
Yutsano
@cleek: @sdhays: In proper blog tradition:
Tick.
Tock.
Mother.
Fuckers.
Brachiator
@tom:
There are younger voters who are just as vile and right wing as older wingnuts, especially among those who are not college educated or college bound. These Deplorables will replace the part of the base that dies off.
Cacti
If the operating definition of misspeak is – Rick Santorum said it because he’s a moron.
Then yes, he misspoke.
Just like he misspoke when he called rape pregnancy a “gift of life”.
Jeffro
@schrodingers_cat:
“We had NOTHING to do with Russia!”
“We had nothing to do with Russia.”
“Ok, we bumped into a Russian guy once on the street”
“Ok we had one meeting, but it was about Russian adoptions”
“There were a few meetings, mostly about Russian adoptions and also how much we hate Hillary”
“We met them a bunch of times and they offered stuff on Hillz, but we didn’t bite”
“We bit…but decided not to use it. We DEFINITELY didn’t know it was shit they had hacked”
“Ok we knew it was hacked and we used it, but that’s ok, this is Hillary ‘The Demon’ Clinton we’re talking about here”
“All RIGHT, you’ve got us: we ‘colluded’…but that’s not even a crime! Suck it, libt…er…wait, what’s ‘conspiracy against the United States’? ”
“MommyhelpmethebadmanBobbyThreeStickswon’tletmebsmywayoutofthisWWWAAAAHHHHHHH!!!”
Repeat for NRA funding, Cambridge Analytica, Nunes, etc
opiejeanne
@JMG: I got kicked off of Bless You Boys* for just hinting about their no-hitter that was in progress while they were playing my Angels.
Heh.
*Detroit Tigers blog
Ladyraxterinok
@opiejeanne: ‘Black’ humor – he figures he’ll be dead of his illness by then and away from Trump’s retaliation. Forgets T wants to kill and/or torture families of captured terrorists.
Aleta
@bemused: I have to quote Cheryl Rofer, on fire on twitter yesterday.
Inspiring ideas for conversation with the Atlantic.
Chyron HR
@Ladyraxterinok:
What, he’s going to dress up as Madea?
stinger
@MaryRC: And yet he is of a religious subset that thinks parents own their kids. Normally, he’s all about denying children agency. Inconsistent, or hypocrite? I know which one I think he is.
Mnemosyne
@Ridnik Chrome:
The point isn’t to try and shame Santorum, who is shameless. The point is to shame the people who agree with his idiocy because he’s on their team.
bemused
@Betty Cracker:
The Atlantic adding family based section and then hiring a creep like Williamson just blew my mind. It’s a fucked up mission statement.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Whenever I see Santorum’s name in the news I just think “he’s not a PA Senator anymore”. And that makes me happy.
Sorry about foisting him on the rest of youse.
Ladyraxterinok
@patrick II: When he was Speaker, didn’t Newt maks a list of words and terms Rs were to always use when refering to democrats and their policies?
James E. Powell
He’s been doing that for years. It’s how he makes money. We live in a messed up culture.
bemused
@Aleta:
Excellent.
bemused
@James E. Powell:
I haven’t forgotten when he almost said the n word talking about candidate Obama.
jl
From what I’ve heard from trauma surgeons talk about assault rifle wounds, often not enough of intact innards, and vessels, in torso for CPR to do much of anything. The victims need major work to stop internal bleeding that only trained professionals can provide. But it’s a brain dead soundbite for the troops to repeat, and I think Santorum knew what he was doing.
Edit: not that you shouldn’t do CPR, just that restoring heartbeat won’t do much for the person unless advanced first aid available almost immediately.
patrick II
@Ladyraxterinok:
Yes he did, but that’s what he called Democrats or turn City used for policy such as death tax. I’m thinking more of when they get caught in lies what other weasel words are commonly used besides the ones we’ve talked about here.Is there a list of those. A weasel word/ phrase dictionary.
scav
@Chyron HR: I mean, look at all those classically anxious masculine olds, whining to somebody to enact laws against immigrants. Do something personal: build your own damn wall! Stop whining and learn Spanish!
trollhattan
@Gelfling 545:
He seems to have the same job description as Gingrich and Father of Possum Queen: talking carbuncle. I understand it pays well.
stinger
@Ohio Mom: Ah, but this is *too* logical — they’d agree only if the doctors are armed. They just want Moar Gunz.
ruemara
@Chyron HR: I can’t tell if that’s unfair to Tyler Perry or to humanity.
Jay S
@randy khan:
Triage, it was right on the tip of his tongue. Staunch the flow of blood watering the tree of liberty.
Amir Khalid
@Gelfling 545: Per Wikipedia, he’s been working as a lawyer, political consultant i.e. grifter, and commentator. He turns 60 this year, and is still young enough to run for president again (i.e. not dead).
scav
@Jay S: Wouldn’t that be unpatriotic, as the tree of Liberty must be fed? Only patriotic thing to do is bleed out.
Aleta
@scav: Yeah, build your own wall! Fix your own damn potholes.
Aleta
@Jay S: I honestly believe they consider gunshot deaths to be the unavoidable ‘collateral damage’ of a war to keep their guns.
Ridnik Chrome
@Mnemosyne:
At this point I doubt any of them are capable of shame, either.
The Very Reverend Crimson Fire of Compassion
@jl: Ummm, depending on where the wound is, there are most definitely times when you should NOT do CPR. You can kill someone who’s bleeding out.
CarolDuhart2
@Brachiator: My take is there aren’t as many due to a more diverse generation. Also so many are the kids in mom’s basement crowd so they don’t have quite the political skills and social skills necessary for an equivalent degree of power.
Jay S
@scav:
He’s probably worried about over watering?
@Aleta: Sometimes they say “collateral damage” fairly explicitly. Claiming that guns save uncounted lives that must outweigh the number of murders, because they just know.
sukabi
@opiejeanne: CNN has a long history of pulling the worst rejects out of the RW fever swamps and “mainstreaming” them…. Glenn Beck, Erick Erickson just are a couple…they also employed Lewdandloudski while he was working for the Drumpf campaign without letting viewers that he was on both payrolls.
Gelfling 545
@Shell: This is what pisses me off to a degree dangerous to my blood pressure. They just take kids getting shot as a given.
Gelfling 545
@Amir Khalid: I can’t imagine even Rs voting for him. He doesn’t have even Trump’s crude “charm”.
Villago Delenda Est
He “misspoke” when he opened his loathsome pie hole.
Fuck off and die, frothy discharge.
Mike G
@sukabi:
CNN panels are basically a highbrow version of Jerry Springer, deliberately seeking out the stupidest provocative freaks to say calculatedly “outrageous” remarks to to get ratings.
Gravenstone
@Aleta:
We all know you were a shitty Senator, Ricky. But what exactly do you think legislators do, other than pass laws intended to address the concerns of their constituents?
TenguPhule
@piratedan:
Sorry, their business model has changed.
Outrage sells advertising.
Cluttered Mind
How has nobody yet pointed out that this is Santorum we’re talking about and at least this time he claimed to “misspeak” rather than insulting everyone’s intelligence by claiming he actually said “blah people” instead of “black people”. Given his track record, this is actually an improvement.
Brachiator
@CarolDuhart2:
Diversity counts, but states and cities are not all equally diverse.
Also, in the 2016 election, 47 percent of whites, age 18 to 29 voted for Trump. Only 43 percent of this group voted for Clinton. And 54 percent of whites age 30 to 44 voted for Trump, compared with only 37 percent who voted for Clinton.
The Deplorables can and should be outvoted. But make no mistake. They are not a fringe, and they are not dwindling away.
The Lodger
@woodrowfan: Prih. This is Santorum we’re talking about.
CarolDuhart2
Compared to when whites were 80-90% of the population, they are dwindling. Not a fringe minority yet, but fewer than they were once. Neither number is enough to vote a President in by themselves now-10% of black people voted for Trump-mostly male-but still, and 30% of Hispanics. If either had voted the way they voted for Obama, Trump could well have been spending his remaining days at Mar-A-Lago.
jonas
What Santorum meant to say was “Why don’t these kids just learn to STFU?” But he said “CPR” instead. Happens to all of us.
Groucho48
@Aleta:
I’d definitely subscribe to a magazine that had articles like that
? Martin
@tom: It’s a bit worse than that. The GOP is the party of white christianity, which fell below 50% of the US population sometime in Obama’s 2nd term. Trump is a direct response to that. This isn’t about not listening to anyone outside of that demographic, it’s about engineering the country to ensure that demographic returns to the majority – through law enforcement, immigration, voting rights, and so on. Steve King is very upfront about it:
They aren’t interested in appealing to non-whites or non-Christians. They are only interested in marginalizing them or deporting them. From a policy perspective they’re looking to build an apartheid state, which is part of why they’re going so hard after California.
DesertFriar
@Aleta:
Well maybe Santorum should take it up with Snowball Snookie (Palin) as she did prenatal testing.
Jeff
@The Moar You Know: My gut says he’s the next Nixon back from the dead.
debbie
Santorum’s a parent, for fuck’s sake! What kind of parent says something like that about children?
RobNYNY
@jl: It isn’t really “advanced first aid.” It’s “battlefield medicine,” which goes further than the kind of first aid Boy Scouts learn. It’s more like EMTs who specialize in catastrophic bullet and explosive wounds.
Quaker in a Basement
“… he should resign from the CNN panel, take up knitting with a specialty in seat covers and then have all the fucking seats.”
Betty Cracker, national treasure.
LongHairedWeirdo
Isn’t Santorum the famous “I didn’t say ‘black’, I said ‘blah’ people”?
The reason I think rightwingers are cultists is that they don’t even demand good lies any longer.