UNITED STATES
The New York Times
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
Published: March 16, 2012
Rick Santorum’s prospects for re-election to the Senate were not rosy when friends and advisers urged him in 2005 not to risk making things worse.
Mr. Santorum, hurting politically in Pennsylvania because of his defense of the Iraq war and President George W. Bush, had written a book, “It Takes a Family.” It was a blistering attack on liberal “elites” and what he saw as their moral relativism as well as “radical feminists” who, he said, had devalued mothers who preferred staying home rather than going to work. …
The Casey campaign had stoked the flames. For example, after the sexual abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church broke in Boston in 2002, Mr. Santorum had written on a Catholic Web site: “It is no surprise that Boston, a seat of academic, political and cultural liberalism in America, lies at the center of the storm.”
The comment was little-noticed at the time, but the Casey team unearthed it three years later and sent it to columnists, according to Saul Shorr, a top Casey strategist. It prompted Senator Edward M. Kennedy Jr., the Massachusetts Democrat, to demand that Mr. Santorum apologize. After Mr. Santorum refused, Mr. Kennedy took the rare step of upbraiding his colleague on the Senate floor, calling his remarks “irresponsible, insensitive and inexcusable.”
Mr. Santorum fired back.
“I don’t think Ted Kennedy lecturing me on the teachings of the church and how the church should handle these problems is something I’m going to take particularly seriously,” he said during a conference call with news media from Catholic organizations.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.