Reply #31: Tom Oliphant's commentary on Santorum's idiotic statements [View All]

[rox63]

The apostle of bizarre insensitivity
By Thomas Oliphant, Globe Columnist | July 17, 2005

WASHINGTON

IN THE END, I've decided, after a decade of absurdities, Rick Santorum is not funny, just weird.

The Pennsylvania senator's latest outburst of cruel insensitivity -- imagining some tie between the ''culture" of Boston and the behavior of priest-rapists -- is garden variety demagoguery.

I'm glad he has been denounced and called to account by Senator Edward Kennedy and Representatives Ed Markey and Barney Frank, but I worry that the condemnation of Santorum's bizarre behavior may elevate his comments to a level of seriousness that is not merited.

(note from Rox - Why didn't he mention Kerry?)

--- snip ---

It is not even accurate to assert that Boston was the center of the child abuse horror. A demagogue feasting off headlines could be forgiven three years ago for equating headlines with deeper truth, but the fact is, as Kennedy put it, that this horrific scandal knew no state or ideological boundaries. Using a simple, clarifying concept -- priests accused as a percent of priests in the affected diocese -- the ''center" turns out to have been Covington, Ky. -- known to business travelers everywhere as the home of Cincinnati's airport. The percentage of accused priests there from 1950 on was 9.6 percent, compared to 7 percent in Boston.

Read the rest here: http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/07/17/the_apostle_of_bizarre_insensitivity?mode=PF