Rick Santorum: "College is for snobs"

On Saturday, [Santorum] attacked President Obama for advocating higher education. Yes, you read that right: Santorum came out against going to college.

"President Obama once said he wants everybody in America to go to college," Santorum said in Michigan. "What a snob."

Huh? Santorum elaborated: "There are good, decent men and women who go out and work hard every day, and put their skills to test, that aren't taught by some liberal college professor trying to indoctrinate them. Oh, I understand why he (Obama) wants you to go to college. He wants to remake you in his image."

www.realclearpolitics.com...

The response:

Asked about Santorum’s remarks Monday at his daily briefing, White House press secretary Jay Carney said: “I don’t think any parent in America who has a child would think it snobbery to hope for that child to get the best possible education in the future, and that includes college.”

Several of the Republican governors who were present for Obama’s remarks distanced themselves from Santorum and said they agreed with the president on encouraging more young people to attend college.

“I wish he’d said it differently,” Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R), who has endorsed Mitt Romney in the GOP presidential nomination fight, said of Santorum. “I’m pushing in Virginia this year 100,000 new degrees over the next 15 years. I want more college graduates.. . . There’s no question, when you look at what’s going on in other countries, China, India, the premium they put on higher education, we’ve got to do better if we still want to be the global leader we are.”

www.washingtonpost.com... R_blog.html?tid=pm_politics_pop

Come on Santorum, win Michigan!

Santorum hit the nail on the head.

Few college graduates have useful degrees these days. So many liberal arts majors and "graphic designers", soon the only jobs in America will be teaching African-American studies, and photoshopping web graphics for government program sites.

reply to post by DaTroof


You have quite an ignorant view of education in this country.

That's to be expected if you vote in the R column. Republicans love to attack intellectuals because intellectuals are the only people willing to call out Republicans on their shameful demagoguery!

I'm wondering, do Santorum and his army of brown-nosers consider the film "Idiocracy" a documentary? They're working really hard to make it a reality!

The hilarious thing here:

Santorum attended Pennsylvania State University for his undergraduate studies, serving as chairman of the university's College Republicans chapter and graduating with a Bachelor of Arts with honors in political science in 1980.[29] He then completed a one-year Master of Business Administration program at the University of Pittsburgh's Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business, graduating in 1981.

In 1986, Santorum received a law degree (JD) with honors from the Dickinson School of Law.[30]

en.wikipedia.org...



Rick Santorum, snob and Obama clone.

Originally posted by The Sword
reply to post by DaTroof

 

You have quite an ignorant view of education in this country.

That's to be expected if you vote in the R column. Republicans love to attack intellectuals because intellectuals are the only people willing to call out Republicans on their shameful demagoguery!

I'm wondering, do Santorum and his army of brown-nosers consider the film "Idiocracy" a documentary? They're working really hard to make it a reality!

Actually, I'm voting for Obama. I just happen to think that the problem isn't the number of college graduates, it's the lack of material learned in grade schools and high schools. The public education system is a joke, and the teacher's unions are to blame.

reply to post by DaTroof

That is a rather limited view of things. I'm in Graphic Design Tech and it isn't as an extension of High School. I'm pushing 40 and starting a second career. Now I'll agree completely that those entering college with a blank mind for what they want out of it or plan to do, with some specifics, afterward are probably a wasted space in the school. Graduation rates are dismal and I think that attitude of college being an adventure or something is why.

However, coupled with other skills....like the nuts and bolts of web design from the server and coding side, it's a VERY useful and productive degree. I have at least 2 people with a standing request to make them a site as soon as I feel my graphics are up to speed for a 100% turn-key with no outside help. They're picky on that point...but it's a couple thousand and that's side work. LONG before I have the degree completed.

It's all what someone makes of it. College can lead to the same dead end life without it would have.....or personal drive and ambition...with a little dose of capitalism..can make it a real promising way to go. Just my thoughts here.

Try starting life a second time without skills though. In the current economy, even fast food doesn't work. People my age are apparently over-qualified. It's more accurate to say people at my level just won't take the level of abuse they heap on people there...but heck...college is one of the only options to do more than min. wage. It's just simple.

--- Oh and Santorum is becoming a nut job. The OP is 100% right on this one...unfortunately. It means if Paul quits, there is nothing really left to vote for. Yikes

The uneducated will more likely believe his lies, educated people are more likely to ask questions and show mis trust in politicians.

On the other hand this guy seems so over the top and fake that he must be working undercover for Obama.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


Santorum isn't becoming a nutjob... he's always been a nutjob... it's just with increased exposure his bat# crazy "beliefs" are coming to light.

Remember, this is a guy that claimed his wife had written a section of his book, but he only found that out after being questioned in an interview, because, he claims, he'd never read his own book and didn't know what his wife had written, in his name. Oh, and he's credited as the sole author of the book... he didn't write all of, and never read... so he can't answer questions about it...

reply to post by lewman


The fact is the whole GOP is a piece of #. They are all too aware of their dwindling prospects. These ARE their best candidates.

Get your head around that.

This isn't even ATS worthy, this is absolute trash. Santorum is an idiot, no argument from me there. But he was trying to make a point, to appeal to the working class-uneducated, and talking out his ass while he was doing so.

So then a political rag picks it up, tears him up and acts like he was giving a sermon. The guy is an idiot, but so are any people who believe this is news worthy.

reply to post by captainnotsoobvious

Well, we haven't always agreed on everything, but I sure won't argue this one. Santorum was frankly just not one I paid much attention to until recently and only recalled him in the past as someone who I recalled as being radical on immigration, even by my own rather far right feelings on it. Now he comes off as almost being unstable.

Paul always has been the only one I could stomach. I wrote him in last election. I voted for him in the Mo primary this time, for all it helped. If his name is there in Nov, I'll vote for him again. All he has to do is not quit.

...and certainly, any man who would ridicule others that want an education tends to worry me without knowing anything more about their politics or thoughts. It's just a disturbing attitude in any setting and I hadn't heard Santorum say anything like that before.....

If he was sincere, he's a fool and I wouldn't want to see him elected on that alone. If he didn't mean it that way then he has the sense of Bush and Biden on their worst day and THAT would be enough not to vote for him.

reply to post by boncho


Yeah, why would anyone care what a Presidential candidate front-runner, for one of the two American parties of note, says, on the eve of one of his biggest primaries to date?

Why would it matter if he's full of #? OR alternatively why would it matter if he thought higher education was for snobs?

Sure, that's the media's fault.

Not the candidate.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


It's worse, his party, Ron Paul's party, has no problem with fighting against education. Remember, when Paul was running as the Libertarian candidate for President he was for completely de-funding public education. That would mean that only people with money would be educated, creating a real and permanent divide in America.

If you support education, don't support the GOP.

And btw: Paul won't be on any ticket in the fall.. so who will you vote for?

Sounds like Rick is pandering to his audiences lately, in this case he is trying to create a further separation of African Americans, that do not or can't relate to Obama by using demographics of where he may happen to be at the time. It is deplorable that he would use statistical data and make generalized statements based on the demographic he is talking to to gain support. Perhaps next he will say, "Eat all the fried foods you want Alabama" since it is number one in stroke. Perhaps in Arizona he will say "Dui's are offensive to the working class" since Arizona is number one in alcoholism. It has become apparent to intelligent people he needs to shut his mouth if he wants to stay in the race, otherwise he is going to keep coming off as a Mr Random statement insane candidate.

For example, I liked Tom Cruise as an actor, I was happy not to know his inner thoughts...I didn't care to see endless clips of couch jumping on Oprah, or hear his Scientology views. Tom ruined a good thing for himself and the public, he alienated instead of endeared. This is what Rick is doing, but in a Pandering to his audience way the veil is lifted and I and others are seeing him becoming Tom Cruise.

State statistic sources: www.americashealthrankings.org... and www.census.gov... (unless otherwise noted)
Full list of "State Shame"
pleated-jeans.com...

reply to post by captainnotsoobvious

Who I'll vote for really is the question.... For the second time, I may be going to vote strictly for the down ticket races and issues. Those are always worth the little bit of time it takes me to go out and do my bit anyway.

At the same time though, the whole world political picture can change from month to month in these strange times and the elections are better than a year off. So much can happen given the last 14 months or so of events. I suppose I'll decide closer to the time. I'm not sure what else I can really say and be honest about saying it.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


If the election was tomorrow and Paul wasn't on the ticket...

And it was Romney or Santorum...

(I appreciate you're honesty though... it is a long way off)

reply to post by captainnotsoobvious

Fair enough...and one last note then before I seek sleep for tonights classes....but if my choice is immediately between those two and based only on what I know of them right now. It isn't really a question I suppose. Romney. He's a known quantity and I actually did like the man for 2008.

Santorum is too unstable when you put the question that way and make me think about a here and now decision. There are too many questions his statements raise about his judgement and what is driving it where Romney doesn't have such issues attatched to him.

I think Romney is pretty close to Obama-lite and certainly is no breath of fresh air. However, I believe we've already had almost 4 years of extreme progressive approach, following something I'm not quite sure what to describe with Bush beyond being BAD. The last thing we need is a hard core idealogue of ANY pursuasian, and I sure don't want one of the far religious right variety. Not those two things together, and extreme on both at once.

Romney may be run of the mill rotten politician...but after what we've had since 2000 from both sides, I'd welcome garden variety politician, come to think about it.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


I understand that.

My response is that I think it's pretty much untrue that Obama is in any way extreme. In the rest of the world he'd be seen, correctly, as center-RIGHT.

But America is a weird mix of socially (and esp in the media) very liberal and very evangelical religious.

Good luck managing that mess

"Liberal" professors trying to brainwash us? And Santorums campaign isn't?

At least liberal professors don't hate gay people....

Originally posted by captainnotsoobvious
reply to post by boncho

 

Yeah, why would anyone care what a Presidential candidate front-runner, for one of the two American parties of note, says, on the eve of one of his biggest primaries to date?

Why would it matter if he's full of #? OR alternatively why would it matter if he thought higher education was for snobs?

Sure, that's the media's fault.

Not the candidate.

-facepalm-

You don't get it? He wasn't saying that, he was being taken out of context.

Yes, he was speaking out of his ass trying to pander to one demographic. He left himself open to be taken out of context

He didn't say "higher education is for snobs" he said "Obama says he wants everyone to go to college, what a snob"

He was calling Obama a snob. Not calling people who go to college snobs. The context of what he said, would be directed at working class people in trades that have no use for college programs, instead earning their qualifications through apprenticeship programs, etc.

in other words, he is saying there is nothing wrong with those people, that they are just as good as someone who goes to college

If you can't see that, then you need to consider college. Seriously.