Catholics Continue to Reject Rick Santorum

In the wake of Mitt Romney's win in the GOP Illinois primary yesterday, one thing has become even more clear: Roman Catholics are fleeing from self styled Uber-Catholic Santorum. As noted before, Santorum has pledge obedience and fealty to the corrupt and morally bankrupt Church hierarchy no matter how egregious the malfeasance and insanity of the hierarchy. But rank and file Catholics don't share that fealty or respect for the dictates of the enablers and protectors of child rapists. A column in the New York Times focuses on this sharp break between Santorum and rational, thinking Catholics. Here are some column excerpts:

Rick Santorum doesn’t just wear his religion on his sleeve, he billboards it in neon. Still, for all the flash and sparks generated by an ostentatiously Catholic candidate’s crusade for the presidency, one thing has been missing from most discussions: the actual Catholic voter.

But with Tuesday’s primary results, we now have extensive exit polling from three major states in the Catholic belt across the Midwest. The verdict from Michigan, Ohio and now Illinois is consistent: a majority of Republican Catholic voters are giving a thumb’s down to Santorum.

In Illinois, where more than a third of Tuesday’s Republican electorate was Catholic according to the exit polls, Santorum lost the Catholic vote by a what-part-of-no-don’t-you-understand 23 points – a much bigger margin than with all voters.

If Romney has indeed finally sealed the deal after Tuesday, he will owe his nomination in large part to common-sense Catholics who rejected a less rational one of their own. Three other takeaway points:

Santorum’s far-right Catholicism will not put the Catholic vote in the Republican column in November. . . . Catholics, as with most of the population, are not buying into the dour 13th-century philosophy of Santorum regarding women, their bodies and reproductive practices. Even conservative Catholics — who make up nearly a third of the Republican electorate — are not buying it.

Santorum, to the disgust of many who follow St. Peter’s faith, said that Kennedy’s famous speech on the separation of church and state made him want to vomit. Anybody else feel that way? . . . The problem for him is that a majority of American Catholics don’t listen to their bishops, and they vote their conscience. The Jesuit-educated among them, you could argue, have been trained for independent thinking — precisely the kind of voter who finds Santorum lacking in reason, logic and a broad view of humanity.

Second, the fact that most Catholics would vote for a Mormon, while evangelical Protestants — Santorum’s true base — would not, says a lot about his followers. . . . . They’re religious bigots; there’s no other way to say it. . . . . More polling shows that a large percentage of Santorum Republicans continue to live in a fact-free bubble . . .

[J]ust a few days ago, in Louisiana, Santorum applauded a preacher, the Rev. Dennis Terry, who said “America was founded as a Christian nation,” and those who were not Christian should leave. . . . The majority of Catholic voters, bless ‘em, have rejected the crazies pooled behind Rick Santorum.

Ouch!! Unfortunately for Santorum but fortunately for the country, the writer's analysis seems 100% on point. Both Santorum and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops need to get the message that they are increasingly irrelevant to most Catholics who choose to ignore their hypocrisy and meanness.