Stumping in Enemy Territory

With the general election closing in, Republicans pull out the stops for Santorum.


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Published: Oct 18, 2006

The Federation of Young Republicans and WNTP News Talk 990 AM hosted a town meeting Tuesday night at the Ben Franklin House ballroom to hear red-meat talk from conservative radio hosts and U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum. Within weeks of the general election, Republicans are pulling out all their stops to get him re-elected.

With some 400 people in attendance, GOP 2007 City Council-at-large candidate Scott Cummings got the party started by saying, "We need [Councilman] Frank Rizzo to come in and clear off the mayor's desk!"

WNTP radio host Dennis Prager entertained the crowd while colleague Hugh Hewitt interviewed Santorum in another room. Prager said he was there, unpaid, to pitch for Santorum, who is fighting Democrat Bob Casey for his Senate seat.

"This is a battle for the soul of America. A lot of Republicans don't understand this. The Democrats do, and that's the irony," said Prager, who suggested that liberals tend to think conservatives are bad, cheap, mean, judgmental and wrong, while conservatives believe that liberals are foolish, but not really bad. "Liberals like to do things that make them feel good. That's why they favor bilingual education, because they think a poor child will feel better if he can speak Spanish and, one day, he will learn English, but for now let him speak Spanish."

Prager, who is Jewish, said Santorum is a staunch supporter of Israel who understands the "good fight." He said he thinks that American Jews want the country to embrace the secularism of Europe even though Europe is not good to their Jews.

"Jews in France," he said, "can't wear yarmulkes because of the anti-Semitism."

After two standing ovations, Santorum told the crowd that the country will be in danger if the war-backing Republicans are not re-elected. He then compared Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Hitler .

"We are in danger of Islamic fascists!" he proclaimed. "The president kept calling the terrorists cowards, until he was told that no American was going to be afraid of an image [of people] living in caves. ... They are seriously misguided and sick, but they are not cowards."

Santorum said Iran and North Korea were both real threats because if North Korea can build a nuclear weapon, so can Iran.

"Iran should be taken very seriously because of how rich they are with oil," said Santorum.

He stressed that if it were up to the Democrats, there would be no tough stance against Iran or North Korea and WWII could happen all over again. "They will try to negotiate — and believe that they can — but that's what happened in the 1930s: They tried to negotiate with Hitler."

After Santorum left, the program continued with Prager and Hewitt expounding on political issues of the day.

"Democrats do not care about black people," Prager maintained. "They use them for votes."

One Kid at a Time

Kenyatta Johnson is not entirely discouraged by the escalating gun murders in the city. "It only makes me work harder," he said.

Johnson founded Peace and Not Guns in 1998 in response to the murders of some of his closest friends. He was part of the gang culture but got out early enough to mentor others and keep them from choosing the street life.

"A lot of kids come home from school and don't have anything to do," said Johnson. "They go hang on the corner and that's when they get into trouble."

Johnson's day job is as the liaison for crime prevention and outreach for state Sen. Anthony Williams , but he partners with community and civic centers and spends his own money to do the outreach for Peace. He also raises funds for mentoring programs and organizes panels that arrange for business professionals and reformed ex-cons to speak to young people and act as role models.

"Kids don't intend to end up in gangs," Johnson said, explaining that once they get caught up in that lifestyle, it's hard to get out. "Many young black men end up in prison for crimes, go back out on the street, and the cycle begins again because they can't find work and go back to crime. Programs for offenders that are back in society are very important to combat crime."

Big Ticket Visitors

Gov. Ed Rendell and U.S. Sen. Barack Obama will team up on Saturday for an election rally for Democratic candidates at 12:30 p.m. at Temple University's McGonigle Hall. Meanwhile, John Kerry will join Casey on Nov. 1 for happy hour at the Public House. For a $1,000 contribution, supporters can get their picture taken with Kerry and Casey. They will also accept donations from $50 to $250 at the event.

(m_patel@citypaper.net)