When I sat down to watch “The Rachel Maddow Show” last night and saw that 2016 GOP Presidential candidate Rick Santorum was one of her guests, I knew this was going to be an episode I would never forget, and was I ever right.
Santorum told Maddow that he had missed a U2 concert in New York City that evening so he could appear on her show, and when it was all over with, I’m betting he wished he had been rocking out to the boys from Ireland instead of attempting to debate American civics with someone as astute as Rachel Maddow.
The conversation turned to the recent Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage, and that’s where Santorum showed his ignorance of how our system of government works under the Constitution. Congress, Santorum insisted, can override anything the Supreme Court rules:
“… the Congress has a right to say what’s Constitutional, the President has a right to say what’s Constitutional… and that’s part of the dynamic. It’s called ‘checks and balances.’ “
It’s also called being wrong, Rick, and Rachel came right back at Santorum with the facts:
“If there is a question as to the constitutionality of a law, it gets adjudicated. And the second syllable of that word means that it is decided in the judiciary. The Supreme Court decides whether or not a law is constitutional. So you could not now pass a law that bans same-sex marriage.”
Santorum, however, would not relent, and said Congress can pass any law it wants to; their rulings in no way limit what the Congress can do.
Is that so? Well, then I guess the Founding Fathers were not quite as brilliant as you are, huh, Rick?
While she had him on the set (for what I’m betting is the last time Santorum will ever appear on her show now that he’s been proven his ignorance on national TV), Maddow also inquired as to whether or not the former Pennsylvania Senator thought gay people choose to be gay or are born that way. Santorum replied:
“I don’t know. If it is, that leads to a whole bunch of other situations. We have, allowed in the law of the land, sex-selection abortions. If you determine that one of your children is gay, shall we pass a law saying you can’t abort a child because you found out that child’s gonna be gay? You can’t abort a child because you found out that child is a woman?”
Maddow again attempted to get an answer:
“You’re worrying about the consequences of this without knowing whether or not it’s true. Do you think that some people choose to be gay?”
Santorum’s very tepid reply was:
“There are people who are alive today who identify themselves as gay and lesbian and who no longer are. I’ve met people in that case. So I guess maybe in that case, maybe they did.”
Rick Santorum will never be President of the United States. We already knew that, but it was confirmed once again last night.
Watch The Interview
This article was originally published by the same author at LiberalAmerica.org.