Rick Santorum and Jean Le Penn

I admit that I know little of politics outside this country. Oh, I can often tell you the name of a president or prime minister but I don't know their politics. France is especially opaque to me. My few French friends are generally far more left than I am and they think of themselves as conservative. Still, if you read at all, you will likely recall Jean Le Penn.

Le Penn was (or maybe still is) the right wing scourge of French politics the election before Nicolas Sarkozy took the Presidency. The time was in the early years of this century and he was often quoted over here with some outrageous statement or another. At least it seemed outrageous when quoted. Is the man really that outrageous? I think you need to be French and have a good command of their language and politics to make that judgement. Why do I bring this up? Some of the 'quotes' attributed to Rick Santorum defy rational analysis. The man may be bright and just trying to sway the Tea Party contingent but he certainly gets my attention and not in a good way. How do you make Gingrich look like a moderate? Inject Santorum and Bachmann into the contest. Anyway, the point is that people not from these shores will only hear the outrageous statements attributed to our politicians. How the French feel is not too important, certainly no more important than my opinion of Sarkozy or Le Penn, but it does matter some.

Santorum's actual statements, unparsed by the left, may be less outrageous than what is filtering up but so far, he is turning me off. Would I vote for him over Obama? Of course but I would hate myself in the morning. Let's hope that Romney or Gingrich pull out the nomination. Romney is flexible and Gingrich, except for his very French-like infidelities, is now a moderate republican (at lease compared to Santorum and Bachmann).