A Long History of Political Brawling for Santorum
By MARK LEIBOVICH
NYT
MANCHESTER, N.H. — Rick Santorum loves professional wrestling, and has been thrilled to meet savage icons of the squared circle like Bruno Sammartino, Gorilla Monsoon and Hulk Hogan. He even lobbied for the World Wrestling Foundation for a while.
When the former senator, a Pennsylvania Republican, was seeking re-election in 2006, he appeared in a campaign advertisement standing in a ring surrounded by pugilists trading eye gouges and body slams. “It makes more sense to wrestle with America’s problems than with each other,” the candidate said.
That ad, though, concludes with Mr. Santorum decking one of the wrestlers with a brutal elbow smash — a move that illustrates his no-holds-barred political style. People in both parties over the years have accused him of hotheaded name-calling, reliance on immature antics and attempts to reduce politics to steel-cage matches between people cast as heroes or heels.
“He would attack people in a smug way that was harder-edged and more insulting than was necessary, said Mark Salter, the former chief of staff to Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican, adding that lawmakers in both parties shared this view. “He was a bully who was not a potent enough force to be a bully.”
(More here.)
NYT
MANCHESTER, N.H. — Rick Santorum loves professional wrestling, and has been thrilled to meet savage icons of the squared circle like Bruno Sammartino, Gorilla Monsoon and Hulk Hogan. He even lobbied for the World Wrestling Foundation for a while.
When the former senator, a Pennsylvania Republican, was seeking re-election in 2006, he appeared in a campaign advertisement standing in a ring surrounded by pugilists trading eye gouges and body slams. “It makes more sense to wrestle with America’s problems than with each other,” the candidate said.
That ad, though, concludes with Mr. Santorum decking one of the wrestlers with a brutal elbow smash — a move that illustrates his no-holds-barred political style. People in both parties over the years have accused him of hotheaded name-calling, reliance on immature antics and attempts to reduce politics to steel-cage matches between people cast as heroes or heels.
“He would attack people in a smug way that was harder-edged and more insulting than was necessary, said Mark Salter, the former chief of staff to Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican, adding that lawmakers in both parties shared this view. “He was a bully who was not a potent enough force to be a bully.”
(More here.)
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