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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mr. Palau who wrote (693715)	7/25/2005 9:12:47 AM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Respond to of 769670

Santorum book keeps 2008 White House talk alive By Patricia WilsonSun Jul 24, 9:35 AM ET news.yahoo.com Iowa and New Hampshire, where presidential possibles go to test the political waters, are practically foreign territory for U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum. But the Pennsylvania Republican's name keeps popping up -- in spite of a tough Senate re-election fight next year -- fed by his "never say never" response to whether he'll be a White House contender in 2008 and publication of his first book, a conservative manifesto on family and values. So even before "It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Good" is officially released on Monday and Santorum hits the talk-show circuit, opponents have pored through its 428 pages in search of controversy -- and struck gold. One of the more ideologically and outspoken conservative members of the Senate, Santorum argues that fostering a culture in which the traditional family -- a married man and woman with children -- is preferable to government intervention as a way to replenish what he sees as America's dwindling stocks of social, moral and cultural capital. "It started really focusing on how conservatism works to help those who are less fortunate," Santorum said in an interview with Reuters. "And as I got into it, I realized at the core of so many of the problems we're facing was the breakdown of the family." He acknowledged that critics had pounced on passages in which he criticizes the "weird socialization" children get in public schools, argues for making divorce much harder, blames "radical feminism" for encouraging women to work outside the home and questions whether a college education can really help the poor. High on the Democratic Party's list of senators to defeat in 2006, Santorum knows he faces "a grueling campaign" and that's where his focus remains. "I've been very clear that I never say never," he said. "But I've got six little kids at home and you know the idea that I'm going to turn around and hop on a plane to Iowa ... I'd be betraying everything I believe in this book." Still, almost everything about "It Takes a Family," including the title, is a direct rebuttal of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's defense of liberal values, "It Takes a Village and other Lessons Children Teach Us." The New York Democrat is another frequently mentioned 2008 presidential candidate. "I've learned in politics you get in trouble saying no but right now my own focus is on being a good senator, husband and father," Santorum said. "You know, I've been to Iowa twice in my life and I've been to New Hampshire once and all three times were to campaign for the president (George W. Bush)." ARDENT ABORTION FOE In his book, the 47-year-old senator, a Roman Catholic and an unyielding foe of abortion, asserts that abortion puts the rights of the mother before those of her child just as in earlier times the rights of slave owners superseded those of slaves. "But unlike abortion today, in most states even the slaveholder did not have the unlimited right to kill his slave," Santorum writes. He blasts the sense of no-fault freedom that has produced a "me-generation" and directly criticizes Clinton's talk of moral values as "little more than feel-good rhetoric masking a radical left agenda." "Privacy has been seen as autonomy," Santorum said in the interview. "That's not the freedom our founders wrote in the Constitution. It was a bigger vision of freedom. More of an 'us' than a 'me."' In a chapter called "Sex, Drugs and Rock'n'Roll: Mostly Sex," he lambastes the "hostile cultural climate" -- influenced by television, the Internet and violent video games -- in which parents have to raise their children. Santorum practices what he preaches. His children are home-schooled, have limited access to computers and television and are encouraged "to get off the chair, get outside and do something, read a book, take a walk, go to church, but don't sit in front of a screen and veg out." "I have one television that has cable on it and it's in my bedroom and every single channel is pass-coded," Santorum said. "We only have one computer right now that has the Internet and they're not allowed on it unless we're there or we know what they're doing." Copyright © 2005 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Copyright © 2005 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.