Outgoing Senator Rick Santorum
I had previously dogpiled on Senator Santorum for his efforts to shut down this free and excellent
Government Weather Website. Two of my posts (which have links to the other posts are here:
Stormy Weather and its followup
Rick Santorum in the news again....
Still... I ran into the speech he gave as he left the Senate and his domestic doings may not be very savoury but he certainly understands what we are up against with the Islamofascists.
From
The 910 Group Blog comes this post:
Rick Santorum’s Farewell Speech
This is the final word from a good man. His absence from the U.S. Senate is one more reason why the political class in the United States is unlikely to take action necessary to stop the Great Islamic Jihad.
Mr. President, I rise today to talk about why I voted against Dr. Gates and lay out in detail the concerns I have about the security posture of the United States today and how I do not believe that Dr. Gates is the appropriate choice to confront them. While I think he certainly has a lot of positive qualities, and in normal times I would certainly defer to the President’s judgment on this, we are not in normal times. I believe we need a Secretary — and I think we need leaders in this country, particularly the Secretary — who has insight into the nature of our enemy and is willing to provide the vision necessary, not just for our people in the military but the country, on how to defeat them. On one particular vital aspect of that vision I think he is in error, and that error causes me to object and to vote no to his nomination.
What I would like to do is lay out what I see as the problem confronting America and the complexity of that problem, which I think has grown more complex since the last time that we have been in this Chamber, over 6 weeks ago. I would like to go back to two speeches I gave last summer, one at the National Press Club, and the other at the Pennsylvania Press Club — one obviously in Washington, the other in Harrisburg. I gave those speeches because I thought it was important that at a time when our country is at war and our country is struggling with this war that we have a better definition as to who the enemy is and what we need to do about it. I made that issue, the issue I discussed in these two speeches and subsequent speeches during my campaign, the centerpiece of the campaign. Many political advisers suggested to me that this was a wrong tactic in a State where the favorabilities for the war and the President were in the low thirties to make this the centerpiece and, in fact, draw divisions between myself and the President where I put myself in a position which some suggested was to the right of the President. But I thought it was important for the country and for me personally as a U.S. Senator to address the issues that I thought were critical to the time.
So I went out and gave two speeches about the importance of defining our enemy. If there has been a failing — obviously, for the last several weeks and months we have been talking about the failings of the administration with respect to the policies within Iraq — I would make the argument that the larger failing, not just of the administration but of the Members of Congress and leaders in this country, is that we have not had the courage to stand up and define the enemy as to who they are and study and understand them and explain to the American people who they are.
I defined the enemy back at the National Press Club speeches as Islamic fascism. I said that is the biggest issue of our time, this relentless and determined radical enemy that is not just a group of rag-tag people living in caves but, in fact, people with an ideology, a plan, and increasingly the resources to carry out that plan, as well as, increasingly, a bigger and larger presence throughout the Islamic world, these radical Islamic fascists.
The speech is a long one and this excerpt is just the opening few paragraphs but Santorum clearly understands the problem and lays it out point by point by point. There is no lack of thought or clarity of vision, Rick Santorum understands what it is that we are up against and the problems with our failure to understand.
Senator Santorum -- I have no apology for my thoughts regarding your actions against the National Weather Service but I strongly support your views on Islamofascism. You have brains and the courage to speak -- that is sadly rare in Washington.
Posted by DaveH at December 10, 2006 8:53 PM