海角大神

Sarah Palin says the lame-stream media are getting all 鈥渨ee-weed up鈥� about Rick Santorum鈥檚 Satan speech. By that, we believe she means the mainstream press is making too much of it. Is she right?

Well, we鈥檒l note here that the media get wee-weed up about many subjects, because if they don鈥檛, it can be very hard to stay awake during a slow news day. Mr. Santorum鈥檚 remarks were made four years ago, in a different context than a presidential race, and are easy to misinterpret if you have a dissimilar religious background.

But still 鈥� let鈥檚 examine what Ms. Palin said in detail. On Sean Hannity鈥檚 Fox News show Tuesday night, she said that 鈥渢he lame-stream media is taking things out of context and trying to subscribe to [Santorum] that traditional type normal negative narrative that they want to pin on any conservative.鈥�

Then she added: 鈥淭his is a speech he gave back in 2008 where he named evil as Satan. For those lame-stream media characters to get all wee-weed up about that, first you have to ask yourself, have they ever, ever attended Sunday school. Have they never heard this terminology before?鈥�

This is similar to the approach Santorum himself took Tuesday. He, too, talks as if the issue is simply the use of the word 鈥淪atan.鈥�

鈥淵ou know, I鈥檓 a person of faith,鈥� Santorum said after a rally Tuesday in Phoenix. 鈥淚 believe in good and evil. If think if somehow or another because you鈥檙e a person of faith [and] you believe in good and evil [that] is a disqualifier for president, we鈥檙e going to have a very small pool of candidates who can run for president.鈥�

Here鈥檚 the problem with that: Lots of members of the mainstream media went (or still go) to Sunday school. So did tens of millions of US voters. We are among them 鈥� we鈥檒l stack our Sunday school attendance against any former Alaska governor. The use of Satan as a symbol is something we鈥檝e heard many times before.

But what Santorum said is that academia had been overcome by Satan, as had the culture, politics, and mainstream American Protestant churches. He said those churches were 鈥渋n shambles.鈥�

That is a statement Santorum will find difficult to elude. Former Bush political director Karl Rove picked up on that right away during an appearance on the "O鈥橰eilly Factor."

鈥淒oes he really think every Presbyterian, every Methodist, every Lutheran is really, as a mainstream Protestant, no longer a 海角大神?鈥� Mr. Rove said to Fox News host Bill O鈥橰eilly.

Meanwhile, Santorum鈥檚 campaign staff is getting worked up about reporters investigating aspects of their guy鈥檚 religious statements, while giving a pass to Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul.

鈥淲hy is [Mr. Romney鈥檚] Mormonism off-limits?鈥� a frustrated Santorum aide says in a聽good piece on this subject by Washington Examiner political correspondent Byron York.