Goat: Gotten

I've been discussing with Andrew the possibility that Santorum was intentionally baiting us with yesterday's Hitler rhetoric. Essentially, he's using that language as a lightning rod -- to draw criticsm to it, rather than to the substance (or lack thereof) of the argument behind the nuclear option.

Andrew makes a good point. And in my case, Rick Santorum is uniquely qualified to get my goat. See, when he was elected to office in 1994, mine was one of the votes that put him there. I bought the Republican line that Social Security wouldn't be there for me by the time I retired hook, line, and sinker. And Social Security was all his opponent, Harris Wofford, was talking about. I don't recall Wofford ever addressing any other issue, and I remember thinking, "What's in it for me?" And in the most selfish and short-sighted votes I've ever cast, I helped elect the cherubic, venomous Rick Santorum to the U.S. Senate.

Hey, it was 1994. I sure as hell wasn't the only one who made a big mistake that November.

Nonetheless, I feel responsible for him being there, even though I had the pleasure of voting against him in 2000. Every jackass thing the man says, I wince and think: My vote's behind that. I handed this moron a microphone.

More than anything else, that's what's behind any venom I direct at Rick Santorum. It's why I'll contribute money to whoever his Democrastic challenger is, and why I'll be in Pennsylvania on election day 2006, helping the Dems get the vote out. Until he's out of office, I feel tainted.

And no one wants their taint displayed for all the world to see -- especially when there's Santorum involved.

Rob