Confused by Santorum

[hopein08]

Last year (November, I guess) I used Congress.org to contact Santorum and Specter about the Medicare issue, which passed in December (to my dismay). Santorum sent be a lengthy letter explaining what was good about the plan (in December 2003). Since then, not a peep from him. But...lo and behold...I got a letter from him today. The letter began by saying, "Knowing of your interest in the Medicare, I am writing to inform you of actions I have taken during the 108th Congress to improve Medicare."

A few things came to mind on reading the letter...

1. He actually kept me in a database that referenced what I actually wrote him about!!!! Quite shocking!

2. I still don't like what he did for Medicare and what his plans seem to be (according to the letter).

But my question is, what are his motives?

---Re-election in 2006?

---*gulp* Actually caring what his constituents think?

Any thoughts out there?

P.S. Sorry if this is in the wrong forum. Please move it if it is.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Lots of folks don't like this guy, but you might try posting a dupe

in the PA state forum to hear what locals have to say. :)

----------------------------------------------------------
Save our country one town, county, and state at a time!
http://timeforachange.bluelemur.com/electionreform.htm#why

[saltpoint]

2. No need to be charitable to Rick Santorum.

He is a Machiavellian prick, a provocateur for the Far Right, and miserably overconfident to boot.

He's running for re-election in Pennsylvania and has his eye on leading the Senate after the Cat Butcher steps aside to run for the White House. That would put his extreme moralistic personal agenda in the office of the Majority Leader of the United States Senate.

I consider Santorum to be the closest thing to a nihilist the Senate has ever umbrella'd in my lifetime.

[hopein08]

3. Well said...

I knew there were rumors about him and the presidency (or veep) but I hadn't even thought of his need to get re-elected and then maybe lead the Senate.

Again, you said it perfectly.

By the way, the "Cat Butcher" should be the new DU nickname for Frist. I love it.

[saltpoint]

5. Hi, hope08. Nice to meet you on DU.

If Frist goes on to be the Republican nominee in 2008, I expect a HUGE contribution to the Democrats from PETA!

: )

[demodonkey]

4. This guy is BAD NEWS. So what if he...

can manage a database?

It still remains that PA has one of the most entrenched ultra RW holier-than-everybody fools for a Senator.

This is the guy who thinks evolution is a "theory".

This is the guy who equates gay people with "man-on-dog".

This is the guy who told flood victims in Pittsburgh (who had no insurance or maxed-out insurance) to "stand on their own two feet" (basically, to go to hell!) because government "can't pay for everybody"... meanwhile was dipping his snout into the public trough as the Penn Hills School District shelled out $100,000 in tuition for Rick's six kids to go to cyberschool -- when they LIVE in Virginia!

This is the guy who, when his wife gave birth to a stillborn baby, brought the DEAD FETUS home so his kids could hold it, caress it, and "bond" with their "dead brother"!!!!

THIS IS THE GUY WHO IS A TOTAL EMBARRASSMENT TO PENNSYLVANIA.

And this is the guy who has his eyes firmly on residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

I give him NO quarter, and I hope no other Dems, Greens, or anybody else with half a brain will either.

[hopein08]

10. Don't worry...

I wasn't being pulled in by this letter.:nopity:

I just wanted to share my shock.

[CatholicEdHead]

12. Catholic, not born again

Which is really suprising on evolution. Yet he sure acts like born-again, just like many of the right wing Catholics.

[catbert836]

6. Don't worry, he's toast

Despite the state RCC (which I am a member of) backing him, a lot are angry about his kid's education being charged to Allegheny School District when they live in Virginia. If Chris Heinz or Bob Casey runs against, he's gone.

[Ian David]

7. Santorum

Santorum

The sometimes frothy, usually slimy, amalgam of lubricant, stray fecal matter, and ejaculate that leaks out of the receiving partner's anus after a session of anal intercourse. Named, by popular demand and usage, after legislator Rick Santorum because of his homophobic political statements.
"That move was about as slick as santorum!"
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=santorum&r=f

See also:
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=mozclient&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&q=Santorum

Santorum
Santorum 1. The frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex. 2. Senator Rick Santorum.
www.spreadingsantorum.com/ - 1k - Cached - Similar pages
http://www.spreadingsantorum.com/

Santorum

[Gman]

8. One word: Reelection

Even Tom Delay had to go block walk last year and act like he was a responsible representative when it got too close for comfort.

[blue neen]

9. Santorum does not care what his constituents think.

He acts like he cares now, ever since he got caught with his hand in the taxpayers' pockets. Santorum ripped off the Penn Hills taxpayers and ALL taxpayers in PA with the cyber-school scam. School districts get a lot of their funding directly from the state.

People in PA WILL NOT forget how he has screwed them over and embarrassed our state with his sorry representation of it in the Senate.

A friend of mine also got the same letter from him today. She did not write to him about Medicare but had written to him about totally unrelated issues. My guess is Tricky Dicky Santorum got your name from a database.

It would be nice to believe that he turned into a human being, but no such luck. We're doomed to have a lizard for senator for two more long years!

:hi:

[DaveinMD]

11. most politicians

have such a database. Not unusual.

[PA Democrat]

13. I got the same letter hopein08

and I was puzzled because i have not written to him in several months. It makes me mad that the sanctimonious asshole is using taxpayers' money to promote himself.

[hopein08]

17. Tell me about it...

I got a good laugh out of the fine print on the bottom, "Prepared, Published, and Mailed at Taxpayer Expense." I may write back telling me to stop charging me for the privilege of trying to convince me to believe him, which I never will.

[IStriker]

14. His motive is more than likely to try and get your vote in '06...

I receive stuff from him from time to time about the things I've written or called his office in regard to. I have to at least give him the consideration of voting for him because he bothers to pay attention to his constituents. Specter is the one I love. You can't get the time of day from anyone in the office if you call and you NEVER EVER receive any sort of acknowledgement that you've written, let alone an answer to your letter, not even the form crap that most of them send back to you that really has nothing to do with what you wrote about.

[hopein08]

18. Specter

I've emailed Specter twice (and my sister has once) and all three times we got the same form email with twenty-five directions on how to contact him on this matter or that one...that is, if you really want to talk to him! ROTFLMAO!

[IStriker]

21. I have emailed and written and called...

never have received a response to mail or email and when I called was told nothing i.e. people in office did not know where he stood on whatever it was I was calling about. Glad to hear you and your sister have had better luck with him than my husband or me.

[vixengrl]

15. Santorum is a strange bird, I think--

I kind of became much more politically aware in 2001 and started sending email to my congresscritters about stuff I care about--usually concerning the environment and civil liberties. I usually did get carefully written (probably form letters that anyone who writes on a given voting topic) responses back, but always ones explaining exactly why the way I would prefer him to go is exactly the way he won't. Sadly, I no longer see any point in correspondence, because I realize he is unlikely to see anything my way, and a million letters would be unlikely to change that. He shows attention by responding--but it matters very little to me if he will never support anything that I support. Happily, I have more reason to support anyone who wants to defest him for his seat.

[tkmorris]

16. Nothing special about it really.

Most politicians at that level maintain a set of form letters they send out (or email) in response to whatever you write them about. The form letter you receive depends of course on the topic you write them about.

In fact that's about all the attention most letters and emails to them get, a simple categorization by issue in order to determine which canned response to give you. It's not really a surprise that he maintains your email addy, associated with that issue. Which is of course why he sent you this email; he doesn't actually know or care what you thought about that Medicare bill, only that it interested you enough to email him. It's pretty cynical when you think about it.

[youngred]

19. Why would you be surprised?

this is fairly common practice to sort constituents by their major issues in a database (usually cross-referenced with party affiliation and donor status) and then send them mailings (with that lovely franking privledge) based on those issues to assure support

[TalkingDog]

20. I'm not...he's a jerk who deservedly had a byproduct of a sex act...

named after him.