Santorum campaigns in Cumming, Georgia

[Eframepilot]

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/02/sa ... s-now.html

Santorum Definitely Taunting Us Now

By Jonathan Chait

PHILADELPHIA - JANUARY 8: Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) gestures while speaking at the Justice Sunday III rally on January 8, 2006 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Sponsored by the Family Research Council, the rally was held one day before the start of confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito. (Photo by Jeff Fusco/Getty Images) Please join Americans Supporting Santorum. What? What's so funny?

Maybe you didn’t believe me when I speculated, after Rick Santorum created a Conservatives Unite Moneybomb, that he is actively provoking liberal media elites to snigger about the double-meaning of his name, calculating the cultural backlash will redound to his benefit.

But how else can you explain his decision to campaign yesterday in Cumming, Georgia? What possible explanation is there other than Santorum is going out of his way to create headlines that will pair his name with disgusting sexual neologisms? The irony is that Santorum may have set out to restore traditional values, but the basic effect of his campaign is about the same as if Larry Flynt had run for president.

This is the most hilarious campaign ever.

[RIPP_n_WIPE]

Seriously I get it. Some people might not be "hip" or into memes. Not all of us are "cool" but as a national politician you have to know that A) Your surname has been turned into a catch all term for the fluids that are left behind after gay (primarily male on male anal) sex. B) The towns name is Cummings.

I honestly don't know if this shit is real or if somehow reality has suddenly gotten bad writers.

[Magis]

Or maybe some people don't have a child mentality.

[Eframepilot]

Or maybe some people don't have a child mentality.

I find that hard to believe.

[Johonebesus]

Or maybe some people don't have a child mentality.

Considering Cumming is a very small town with many larger neighbors, I don't really see why he would make a major appearance there instead of one of the Atlanta suburbs or satellites right to the south, or Cartersville or Calhoun or Rome to the west. Hell, even Cedartown has more people.

[Magis]

Or maybe some people don't have a child mentality.

Considering Cumming is a very small town with many larger neighbors, I don't really see why he would make a major appearance there instead of one of the Atlanta suburbs or satellites right to the south, or Cartersville or Calhoun or Rome to the west. Hell, even Cedartown has more people.

Cumming has five times as many inhabitants as Atkinson, Illinois, where Obama held a town hall meeting in August. So what? It is not uncommon for politicians to campaign in small towns, and being less than 40 miles from Atlanta means that about 5 million people were within range to attend this thing in Cumming. Any theory that Santorum's campaign stop has anything to do with the silly meme about his name is just downright lunacy.

[DudeGuyMan]

I'm with Magis. The guy is on the campaign trail, he's probably stopped and given speeches in hundreds of random-ass places. At least a few of them are bound to have suggestive names.

[Serafina]

Giving speeches in small towns is very normal for politicians, for the very simple reason that they are seen to ignore them otherwise. It's not supposed to get the votes of the 1000 voters in SmallRatsNest#249, it's supposed to send the message that you care about the concern of small rats nests to all the others.

The notion that Santorum went there just for a pun (to something he happens to hate to boot) is ludicrous.

[Aaron MkII]

Seriously I get it. Some people might not be "hip" or into memes. Not all of us are "cool" but as a national politician you have to know that A) Your surname has been turned into a catch all term for the fluids that are left behind after gay (primarily male on male anal) sex. B) The towns name is Cummings.

I honestly don't know if this shit is real or if somehow reality has suddenly gotten bad writers.

How well known is this catch phrase? I've only ever heard of it here, am barely conscious of it and as a catch phrase goes it neither makes sense or is actually catchy.

[Sriad]

Seriously I get it. Some people might not be "hip" or into memes. Not all of us are "cool" but as a national politician you have to know that A) Your surname has been turned into a catch all term for the fluids that are left behind after gay (primarily male on male anal) sex. B) The towns name is Cummings.

I honestly don't know if this shit is real or if somehow reality has suddenly gotten bad writers.

How well known is this catch phrase? I've only ever heard of it here, am barely conscious of it and as a catch phrase goes it neither makes sense or is actually catchy.

It was started by America's number 1 sex advice columnist Dan Savage (not to be confused with right wing radio nut Dan Savage) after Santorum made a bunch of comments likening homosexuality to bestiality/pedophilia/etc. He held a contest to find a reciprocally offensive definition for the neologism "santorum"-with-a-small-s. The "frothy mix" was selected, and a website started with google-courting links from supporters. It succeeded so well that it was called his "google problem" in media where a full explanation would offend delicate sensibilities; for years it topped any search related to the name Santorum.

In spite of his presidential ascendancy that website, spreadingsantorum.com, is still the number 1 hit on google when you search for santorum--that's right, it's widespread enough that his official campaign website couldn't beat it-- and number 3 when you search for him by full name.

[Aaron MkII]

Damn...sucks to be him.

[Dalton]

Said right-wing nut is MICHAEL "liberalism is a mental disorder" Savage.

[Patrick Degan]

Rick Santorum quite literally does not have the requisite sense of humour to have made his campaign stop any sort of counter-taunt or pun. Indeed, he would react with hot indignation at the suggestion. Righteous types —most especially those with some rather deep issues about homosexuality— cannot laugh at themselves. Nor would he be at all capable of appreciating a blog headline like "Santorum Comes From Behind in Alabama Three-Way".