Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum dismissed the contents of a flyer attacking his wife on Thursday. Copies of the flyer- which also challenged Santorum’s pro-life credentials – appeared on car windshields outside of a pro-life forum for the presidential candidates held on Wednesday evening in Greenville, S.C.
(To view the flyer, click here and here. To read its text, click here).
“It’s ugly, it’s cheap, it’s tawdry,” Santorum told BuzzFeed while campaigning in Mount Pleasant, S.C. “It has no relationship to the issues at hand in this race, and we’re gonna treat it just like the ridiculous stuff that you see where you treat it for the value it is, which is zero.”
The flyer – a copy of which was obtained exclusively by FITS late Wednesday- attacked Santorum’s wife, Karen Santorum, for a six-year romantic relationship that she had with an abortion doctor in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania back in the early 1980s. It also called into question whether Santorum was genuinely pro-life, accusing him of “time and again (endorsing) pro-abortion Republicans who work to defeat any efforts by Congress to save the lives of the unborn.”
“The sad part is that you see a lot of negativity, you see a lot of folks who are just being hurtful on a variety of things. That’s the ugly side of politics and it’s not one that I’m going to pay frankly any attention to,” Santorum added.
Various 2012 campaigns have been pointing the finger at each other in the wake of the attack – and while most of the fingers were pointed in the direction of operatives loyal to Texas Gov. Rick Perry, it’s not clear at this point who bears responsibility.
This website has made no bones about its contempt for Santorum, but we’ve also defended him when we felt that he was being unfairly attacked – as he clearly is in this instance. A candidate’s views on an issue are obviously fair game for criticism, but this attack strikes us as emblematic of the sort of “dirty trick” for which South Carolina is famous.
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By The Colonel January 19, 2012 at 2:58 pm
I saw Ron Paul at the Kinko’s on Hwy 17 in Mt. Pleasant with a whole ream of pink paper. He was cutting some of it up into those little dolls while waiting on his copies…
By RedTick January 19, 2012 at 3:22 pm
Would be funny if it wasn’t Dr. Paul. Sorry, it ain’t his style.
By snodgrass January 19, 2012 at 3:04 pm
Santorum needs to pay a visit to Fort Sumter. Reliving the start of a war would help lift his spirits.
By cash January 19, 2012 at 4:04 pm
Let’s see…Santorum and Gingrich smeared at the same time. Sounds like the dirty work of Romney. He really wants to win SC, no matter what it takes. After all, he has been hanging out with Trikki. This is exactly the kind of thing she’s famous for. Birds of a feather flock together.
By RecallNikki January 19, 2012 at 9:49 pm
Agreed – what did Romney promise Haley if he wins SC? I’m going to vote in protest of Haley’s endorsement of Romney…
By Tom January 19, 2012 at 6:28 pm
This primary is turning out to be dirtier than 2000′s Bush Vs. McCain and that is saying alot!
By cb January 19, 2012 at 11:20 pm
We are closing schools, laying people off. Families are being foreclosed on and being put out in the streets. And all Santorum, running for President can talk about is who is Gay. We need to start looking at what is best for the country. We are not in high school any more. Hello!!! Yes it is a good way to raise money. But I think the Republicans have a “gay agenda”, more than the gay community has. They have nothing to say, so they go for the gay! It will be a dark day for ALL of us if this man wins. It is not just a Gay thing; Santorum has frequently stated that he does not believe a “right to privacy” exists under the Constitution, even within marriage. The boy and girl kind!
By SimonOfCyrene January 20, 2012 at 1:23 am
Yeah Obama’s done great things for the economy giving all these new gay rights away…NOT. Strong families = strong economy.
“We’re closing schools, laying people off,” and all gays can do is judge-shop to legalize SSM. And WHO has a problem with their priorities?
Santorum doesn’t want to invade your bedroom. He wants YOU to keep YOUR behavior IN your bedroom, and not out in public or in our schools.
By SimonOfCyrene January 20, 2012 at 1:19 am
Wake up SC, don’t hand your primary off to Newt, pleeeeeeease. You may not like either one, but go for Santorum, at least he doesn’t cheat on his wife (& thanks to ABC’s chat with Newt’s ex tonight he’s toast). Santorum now officially won Iowa, he came out against NDAA, and James Dobson just endorsed him today. We need a season of righteousness in the US. Rove gave us the finger after we gave Bush the WH. And Obama (Perry’s right) has conducted a war on religion. Give us 4 years on the right track. Wake up, church in America. Righteousness exalts a nation (Prov. 14:34); get that right and the economy will follow.
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