WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Rick Santorum began his presidential campaign by roaming Iowa in a pickup truck, boosted by peppy television ads that showed him walking through a garden with his wife and holding his youngest daughter.
Now, with his frustration apparently building over what he sees as slanted news coverage that favors Republican front-runner Mitt Romney, Santorum and his campaign are showing a dark side.
Over the weekend in Wisconsin, Santorum cursed at a New York Times reporter who the former Pennsylvania senator said had misinterpreted comments he had made about Romney.
And Santorum's campaign has released an online video that forecasts a looming apocalypse in small-town America if Democratic President Barack Obama is re-elected in November.
The stark and dramatic video, dubbed "Obamaville," (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDGORiD82rQ) portrays a nearly abandoned town with images of a child's shoe and an empty playground, a man holding a gas pump to his head, and an image of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that switches to one of Obama, then back to Ahmadinejad.
"Every day, the residents of this town must come to grips with the harsh reality that a rogue nation and sworn American enemy has become a nuclear threat," a narrator says. "Welcome to a place where one president's failed policies really hit home. Welcome to Obamaville."
The theatrics reflect how Santorum's campaign has become increasingly edgy as Romney has moved closer to the Republican nomination, and as party leaders' calls for the socially conservative Santorum to step aside have gotten louder.
On the campaign trail, Santorum wraps his speeches in somber warnings about Americans losing their freedom in Obama's America - particularly when it comes to the president's healthcare overhaul, whose requirement for Americans to buy health insurance is the focus of a case before the U.S. Supreme Court this week.
Santorum repeated such warnings on Monday outside the court's building in Washington.
His angst may be amplified by the calls for him to give Romney an unimpeded march to the Republican nomination, analysts said Monday.
"I think the math is catching up with (Santorum)," said Suffolk University pollster David Paleologos, referring to Romney's big lead in Republican convention delegates earned in the state-by-state race for the nomination.
Suffolk released a survey on Monday that showed rising unfavorability ratings for the Republican candidates as the campaign moves into April.
'TIME FOR SOMEBODY TO SCREAM'
Some Santorum supporters acknowledged that they see a measure of desperation in his recent tactics.
"When you're about to go over the cliff, it's time for somebody to holler and scream," said longtime conservative activist and Santorum supporter Richard Viguerie.
In Shreveport, Louisiana, last Friday, Santorum told supporters to "act ... as if your freedom is at stake, because it is."
Santorum underscored his campaign's claim that the United States is on the verge of national calamity by staging a recent party in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where Abraham Lincoln famously honored the Civil War's deadliest battle.
Santorum's crowds have had their dark moments, too.
As Santorum fired a pistol at a target in West Monroe, Louisiana, last week, a woman in the audience shouted, "Pretend it's Obama."
When told of the incident later, Santorum said, "That's a very horrible and terrible remark."
On Monday, Santorum defended his outburst at a New York Times reporter, which occurred after the reporter questioned him about a remark Santorum had made about Romney being "the worst Republican in the country to put up against Barack Obama."
Santorum told the reporter, Jeff Zeleny, to "stop lying," said he had called Romney "the worst Republican to run on the issue of Obamacare," and then cursed at Zeleny.
The outburst itself became a campaign issue on Monday, as Santorum's campaign cited it as evidence of his toughness in battling Romney, who backed his own healthcare overhaul when he was governor of Massachusetts.
"I don't regret taking on a New York Times reporter who was out of line," Santorum said outside the Supreme Court. "If you're a conservative and you haven't taken on a New York Times reporter, you're not worth your salt as far as I'm concerned.
"We're going to stand up and fight," Santorum said. "We're going to go out and speak the truth."
Santorum's campaign sent out a fundraising letter that lauded him for confronting the Times reporter.
"Let me assure you, I didn't back down, and I didn't let him bully me," Santorum said in the letter. "I think it is high time that conservatives find the courage to expose the liberal press for what they are, a defender and enabler of Romney's and Obama's liberal agendas."
Romney's campaign, meanwhile, cast the incident as evidence that Santorum has a problem with his temper. Romney aides have posted messages on Twitter calling the former senator, "Tantorum."
That's not the first nickname that Santorum has picked up, poking fun at his temper. At Butler Senior High School in western Pennsylvania, Santorum was known as "Rooster." In the Senate, he was called "Senator Slash" for his aggressive style.
Former Senate colleague Bob Kerrey, a Democrat from Nebraska, once said that "Santorum" was Latin for an unprintable part of the anatomy.
Santorum's attacks on the media are popular among many of his supporters.
Some wear "Don't Believe the Liberal Media" buttons, provided by the press watchdog Media Research Center, to campaign events.
"You don't report the news," Ed Freers, 72, a retired jeweler told a reporter in Moline, Illinois, last week.
To many of his supporters, Santorum's tactics are those of a candidate who is playing to win, not make friends.
"When you've got a campaign that is in second place, I would not worry about making mistakes," said Viguerie, the conservative activist. "I would worry about not being bold."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pressure-builds-santorum-shows-dark-side-233351194.html
roland martin whitney houston dead at 48 whitney houston dead 2012 whitney houston passed away cnn heartbreak hotel don cornelius
কোন মন্তব্য নেই:
একটি মন্তব্য পোস্ট করুন