Rick Santorum is from Mars; Mitt Romney Starts to Etch-a-Sketch; Seven Months of an Awful Election Campaign Begin

And Other News and Comments on the Tuesday Election Results

The forlorn Presidential candidate Rick Santorum gave his traditional after primary “I lost but we are winning” speech from Mars.  No, not the planet, the town in Pennsylvania.  It is easy to see how one could make that mistake, given that Mr. Santorum does not often seem to inhabit this planet.  Like the man who came to dinner, Mr. Santorum has long overstayed his welcome and if he is smart he will either exit now or after the Pennsylvania primary in three weeks.  Of course, if Mr. Santorum were smart . . . .

In Alaska a measure was on the ballot in the city of Anchorage to provide legal protection against discrimination on the basis of sexual preference.  It lost.  It was opposed of course by Conservatives who argue that we should not have preferences, meaning that they prefer to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.  One interesting part of the news report on this issue was this.

Opponents, campaigning as Vote No On Prop. 5, complained that the law was vague and poorly written and would impinge on the religious freedom of residents opposed to homosexuality.

Exactly what religions need the freedom to engage in hatred and bigotry was not stated.

Watching part of Mitt Romney’s speech after the Wisconsin primary made him the de facto nominee of the Republican party, a fact known to everyone except journalists who want the story of the Republican race to continue so they have something to write about showed Mr. Romney ready to pivot to the general election.

 Romney was careful to qualify his assertions about the power of the free market with admissions that there are some instances in which faith in the unfettered market is an inadequate solution to national problems.

“I’m not naive enough to believe that free enterprise is the solution to all of our problems. But nor am I naive enough to doubt that it’s one of the greatest forces for good that this world has ever known.”

And:

“We of course understand that in a free market regulations are necessary and critical, but they need to be continuously updated, streamlined, modernized.”

That’s right, Mr. Romney is now going to try and be Mr. Reasonable.  Apparently though with all his smarts and education Mr. Romney does not realize that modern technology now has the means to record what people have said in the past.

Newt Gingrich received about 6% of the vote in the Wisconsin primary.  Mr. Gingrich is now in full “slink” mode, trying to figure out how to leave the Presidential race in a manner that preserves some dignity for the former Speaker of the House.  Sorry Mr. Gingrich, even in this age of technological miracles some things are still just not possible.

It is with some degree of pleasure to watch the faux outrage of Republicans now that the President has started to attack them.  For three years they have engaged in unrelenting personal attacks against Mr. Obama, and now that he has started his own campaign they are outraged, yes outraged that he is actually criticizing them.  In their world the rules of the game are that they get almost all the campaign money, they get to unleash the most vicious of attacks and if the President responds it is not fair.

There were a couple of interesting points in the exit polls.  Once again Mr. Romney won the Catholic vote, and once again this affirmed the divide between the political positions of the Church hierarchy and its members.  Also, exit polling asked the question of how many voters approved of the current Governor, Scott Walker, who will face a recall election in June and 21% expressed disapproval of Gov. Walker.  That number should worry the Walker supporters.  And yes, Mr. Romney did win big among voters making over $100,000 a year.