Romney, Santorum Court Religious Conservatives in Wisconsin

It yet another pitiful sign that the Republican Party has become a de facto sectarian party, in the run up to the Wisconsin primary, both Rick "Frothy Mix" Santorum and Mitt "Etch A Sketch" Romney are busy pandering and prostituting themselves to so-called religious conservatives in Wisconsin. Translated, they are pandering to those who want special rights over other citizens, a demolition of the doctrine of the separation of church and state and in all probability hate groups supporters. As I've note over and over again, this is precisely why all of my extended family has pretty much left the GOP - as have many other former GOP moderates I know. Here are highlights from the Daily Press on this shameless self-prostitution (at least on Romney's part since Santorum drinks Kool-Aid by the gallon himself):

Reporting from Waukesha, Wis.—Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum each sought to shore up their standing with religious conservatives on Saturday as the two leading rivals for the Republican presidential nomination battled for support in the Wisconsin primary.

"I want to protect the sanctity of human life," Romney told hundreds of conservative Christians at a gathering of the Faith & Freedom Coalition in this suburb of Milwaukee. Romney, who vowed to "preserve and protect a woman's right to choose" when he ran for governor of Massachusetts 10 years ago, sought to reassure the group's abortion opponents of his conversion to their cause. He vowed to "defund Planned Parenthood" and stop federal spending on overseas family-planning programs that tolerate abortion.

Romney also promised to "restore and protect our religious freedom" by repealing an Obama administration rule requiring religious institutions, such as Catholic schools and hospitals, to include contraception in their health insurance coverage for employees.

The Republicans' continuing focus on divisive social issues at a time when polls indicate that voters are most concerned about jobs has raised hopes among Democrats that the eventual GOP nominee will emerge from the primaries politically damaged with women and independent voters.

When the government now controls your healthcare, your access to it, tells you what you must buy, tells you to do things that may even be against your faith convictions, you no longer rule the government; the government rules you," he [Santorum] told the crowd.

Unlike Romney, who did not mention his GOP primary opponents, Santorum hammered his chief rival as a flawed standard-bearer for conservatives. Romney's leading role in shaping a Massachusetts healthcare overhaul that closely resembles President Obama's makes it impossible for him to challenge the president on a visceral issue for voters in the fall, he argued.