Santorum's Children's Crusade (apologies to Kurt Vonnegut)

Well, Rick and his media mokes have certainly shown their true colors. Along with "go negative early," they have also adopted an approach that amounts to this; "All kids, all the time!"

Thus it is that Rick is pressing for important legislation that will further the reach of Operation Safe Childhood.

To see how this landmark legislation will change the face of the nation, one only need reference the article in today's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette by writer Paula Reed Ward, which notes;

"If passed: The act would increase penalties for crimes such as child pornography and child sex trafficking. It would create campaigns to bring more awareness to child online safety. It would require warning labels on commercial Web sites that contain sexually explicit material."

Great. Warning labels! As we know, those have stopped people from smoking and have led people to give up drinking! And "campaigns to bring more awareness?" Like this is something people don't already care about? And higher fines will do what higher fines always do; nothing.

No. This is nothing but politicaly flummery and manipulation at its worst, preying on parents' worst fears. Clearly no one in the world can argue with it, which is precisely why the Boy Senator is jumping on the bandwagon. Please note; Santorum didn't create or sponsor the original legislation, he just looked around and went, "Hmmm, what kinda child safety issue can I co-opt during an election year?" Rick's PA partner in crime (and fellow Brabender Cox client) Melissa Hart went down this same road several years ago, with predictable results; zilch. But, it makes for great copy and it allows the politicians to opine with great gravitas about "our children."

Here's my take. We live in what must be the most child-obsessed society that has ever existed. Parent's believe their spawn can do no wrong and will give them anything and do anything for them. Clearly this is showing up in polls, and political campaigns live and die based on polling. Hence, we have CHILDREN shoehorned into every issue.

Oh, one more thing. This is a total win for Ricky when it comes to the press. Mindless news directors are running the story, without so much as a caveat about it being an election year. And Bob Casey is smart enough to play "hands off" with it. However, bloggers like myself are under no such stricture.

Read my lips: "It's politics, Jake."