RICK SANTORUM: AMERICAN TALIBAN

Rick Santorum has crossed the line of decency and common sense, indeed sanity itself, and should withdraw from the Presidential race.

His attacks on President Obama's faith, his attacks on public education, his attacks on women's reproductive health, his attacks on urgently needed environmental programs, his call for the bombing of Iran all stem from his extremist religious beliefs that have no place in American politics. He represents the most dangerous assault on our political process since Senator Joe McCarthy over sixty years ago and Senator McCarthy never sought the Presidency. Santorum mirrors the mindless mindset of Taliban-style fusion of religion with politics that allows no room for debate, no room for moral equivalency, no sympathy for anyone or anything that doesn't mesh with his dominionist view of leadership.

We progressives cannot achieve Santorum's withdrawal from the race. Sensible and secular-minded and sane Republicans need to conduct an intervention with him to facilitate the end of his campaign. If he does withdraw, he is more than welcome to stay here. For his own peace of mind, he may want to move to a society that relishes and thrives on religious intolerance and totalitarian principles.