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Rick Santorum Launches New Hashtag to Get Away from Own Name

Rick Santorum is nothing if not persistent. Despite having his own name dragged through the mud in retaliation for equating being gay with bestiality, the former Senator from Pennsylvania is plasterin...
Rick Santorum Launches New Hashtag to Get Away from Own Name
Written by Mike Tuttle
  • Rick Santorum is nothing if not persistent. Despite having his own name dragged through the mud in retaliation for equating being gay with bestiality, the former Senator from Pennsylvania is plastering it all over yard signs again.

    Rick Santorum was famously targeted by radio host Dan Savage with a much-publicized effort to redefine his name. But he bounced back to run for President in 2012. He joined a whole raft of other challengers to obvious GOP favorite Mitt Romney. One by one, each candidate succumbed to the scrutiny of the press. Herman Cain didn’t know what was going on in Libya. Michelle Bachmann peaked too soon. Rick Santorum took his turn for a week, but in the end it was Romney.

    Now Rick Santorum is back in the fray.

    “Americans don’t need another president tied to big government or big money,” Santorum said as he announced his candidacy. “Today is the day we are going to begin to fight back.”

    But his past statements about same-sex marriage still haunt him.

    His Twitter posts not only feature poor subject-verb agreement …

    … they are a target for his opponents.

    As for the largely-successful effort to besmirch Rick Santorum’s name, he has found a novel way around that. Rather than adopt the hashtag #Santorum2016, as he did last time with #Santorum2012, he is opting for the smaller target: #Rick2016.

    But it isn’t helping.

    It seems that no matter where Rick Santorum may go, his name is a sticky mess that will follow him.

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