Rick Santorum, Jon Stewart and Oscar Levant

There are two sides to every question: my side and the wrong side—Oscar Levant

Oscar Levant would have loved Rick Santorum. Not on a personal level, but for the product that would have supplied Levant’s wit. The Junior Senator from PA has a childlike idealistic world view with which Jesus himself would have been awed. Santorum has written a book, It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Good, which he publicized in an appearance as a guest on last night’s Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Children need a mom and a dad. There are differences between mothers and fathers. And young girls and young boys need both.—Santorum, Daily Show Transcript, July 25, 2005

I’m a big fan of Jon Stewart; I believe that through his comedy, and his satire, he approaches the truth about society, culture, and current events more closely than most of the sound-byte media blaring at us. I looked forward to how he would interview Santorum, the arch-right-wing poster-boy for platonic virtuousness. I hoped he would ask the “good” question and follow the "true path" to show this jerk up for what he is—a jerk.

Nope. In fact, in hindsight, I don’t see how Stewart could have ridiculed Santorum if he wanted to have any kind of substantive interview that was not cut short due to bias on either side. Perhaps letting the senator speak for himself was the best method of getting the message out. A good cross-section of other opinion is in the comments on Americablog’s discussion of the show.

While we recall that roughly half the voters in this country voted for Kerry, so did the other half vote for Bush. And a lot of the sentiment, prior to 9/11 and the wake-up call to terrorism and Iraqi intervention, was on the side of the element to which Santorum panders. This is the country in which we live.

Every society in the history of man has upheld the institution of marriage as a bond between a man and a woman. Why? Because society is based on one thing: that society is based on the future of the society. And that's what? Children. Monogamous relationships. In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. That's not to pick on homosexuality. It's not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be. It is one thing. And when you destroy that you have a dramatic impact on the quality —

AP: I'm sorry, I didn't think I was going to talk about "man on dog" with a United States senator, it's sort of freaking me out. –AP Interview with Senator Santorum April 22, 2003

The Christian Right is neither. ~Author Unknown