Rick Santorum

[Leviwosc]

:? I don't think there's any legal why to bar someone who's otherwise qualified from running for president because of their disgusting ideology.

Lying, should be one.

[JackFrost]

The ability to call each other's bullshit is just awesome.

[Saim]

:? I don't think there's any legal why to bar someone who's otherwise qualified from running for president because of their disgusting ideology.

Lying, should be one.

I don't really think "liars" should be barred from elections. They should lose yes, and there I agree with you that it's disconcerting how far he got, but I totally disagree that he should've been legally prosecuted in any way.

[ILuvEire]

I'm still very disappointed with American politics. I'm very disappointed that it was HIS own choice to stop with this campaign now. He's obvious a liar and that is in the USA apparently no reason to be excluded from the campaigns. I thought this was only possible in banana republics.

Who, do you suppose, should force him to quit? I think you should be proud of American politics--he quit because no one was voting for him and no one was voting for him because he was an idiot. I understand that he was an obvious liar, and that he should have no part in politics, but the way to do that is by not voting for him.

I say all of this with just a twinge of smarminess, because I have little faith in American politics and am pretty disgusted by the entire affair.

[Leviwosc]

I see your point and I do understand it. But then I'd like to ask the "what if" question.

What if enough people decided to vote for him and he continued with his campaign? Santorum only quitted because he had Mitt Romney as an opponent who is less crazy, has slightly more charisma than Santorum and certainly more money for his campaign.

But what if that didn't happen. What if Mitt Romney made a big mistake or got ill... or whatever scenario and Santorum got in charge?

Santorum would be a presidential candidate if fate decided differently. I'm honestly happy he won't become a president now, trust me. But he's not punished yet for lying; his political career isn't over, it is not even severely damaged. Perhaps he'll try it again in 4 years time.

Of course I have no choice than to accept it. But sometimes I think about it and it makes me angry.

[Abavagada]

I see your point and I do understand it. But then I'd like to ask the "what if" question.

What if enough people decided to vote for him and he continued with his campaign? Santorum only quitted because he had Mitt Romney as an opponent who is less crazy, has slightly more charisma than Santorum and certainly more money for his campaign.

But what if that didn't happen. What if Mitt Romney made a big mistake or got ill... or whatever scenario and Santorum got in charge?

That has been said about every US President in the past 30 years.
Bush/Quayle
Clinton/Gore
Bush/Cheyney
Obama/Biden

The threat of "what if?". The losing party always claims that the one that won only made it because everyone that voted for them was "stupid". But this is what goes into a democracy.. people making these choices, even if others don't agree. Are you proposing some kind of system in which only a few "smart" people make the choice for the nation?

And don't think this just happens in the US. I am sure every country has people that think their candidates are terrible and are only elected because of "stupid" people.

Unless you live in a country in which a monarch rules, whose only qualification is being born into a certain family and then appoints people to high positions.