Excerpt from The Nation: (click for entire article)
Lisa Simpson says prayer is the last refuge of scoundrels, but what if you already pray every day, as the ostentatiously devout Rick Santorum presumably does? Despite practically moving to Iowa to campaign for president, despite having impeccable conservative and personal morality credentials, and despite constant Republican dissatisfaction with their candidates, the former Pennsylvania senator just can’t seem to catch on.
So Santorum has resorted to exploiting his youngest child’s disability for political gain. In a new ad, Santorum holds his young daughter who was born with Trisomy 18, a condition similar to Down Syndrome, as he talks about her health struggles and his love for her.
“Some people describe people like Bella as ‘disabled children,’ ” Santorum says. “I look at her and I look at the joy, the simplicity, the love she emits, and it’s clear to that we are the disabled ones, not her.” I find it offensive that Santorum uses “disabled” as a synonym for small-minded or otherwise flawed. It’s akin to saying “retarded” as a synonym for stupid (e.g., “it’s clear that we are the retarded ones, not her”). But we know what he means and let’s give him credit for meaning well.
Unfortunately, this sentiment does not in any way relate to Santorum’s policy proposals or platform. And that’s the problem. Disability is a legitimate political issue, but not in the way that Santorum uses it. People with disabilities need real policy commitments, not feel-good commercials. Chiefly, say advocates, those policies are: robust protection from discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), adequate funding and enforcement of the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA), and sufficient funding with the right priorities for health insurance and long term care. On every single one of these, Santorum, like nearly every other Republican, is either silent or in the wrong.
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