Rick Santorum eliminates vast majority of Catholics from the faith

Now that the media has finally figured out that there's no "Catholic vote" and therefore Santorum isn't winning it by virtue of his Catholicism, Santorum himself is being questioned about this supposedly puzzling phenomenon. His response? One of my favorite logical fallacies: No True Scotsman. 

I think the bottom line is that we do well among people who take their faith seriously, and as you know just like some Protestants, some Protestants are not church going, they are folks who identify with a particular religion but don’t necessarily practice that from the standpoint of going to church and the like, and I think, you know, with folks who do practice their religion more ardently I tend to do well.

Oh yeah, he went there, basically claiming that Catholics who don't vote for him aren't real Catholics. Implicitly, this is another attack on JFK, because JFK a) wouldn't have voted for him and b) believed in a separation of church and state, which makes Santorum want to throw up. It's also an attack on pretty much all Catholics, honestly. Santorum is creating a high bar for the "real Catholic" test. You not only have to believe the same things he does about women's roles and sexuality to clear it, but you also have to believe those issues are more important than war and poverty. I'm not entirely sure the Pope could clear Santorum's bar for "real Catholic". After all, Santorum differs with the Pope on probably more issues than he agrees with him, though it's up in the air whether or not the Pope really believes the "bitches ain't shit" philosophy trumps the "war is bad" one when determining who to vote for. 

Of course, I can't help but have mixed feelings about this. If Santorum gets his way and the test for how Catholic you are is based on how much you hate Teh Sex, that means there aren't very many Catholics indeed. Which would, if taken seriously, basically mean they're a tiny cult with no real political power. Which would probably work out for the best, honestly, because right now their political power is being wielded to destroy women's rights and let people contract HIV and die. But Santorum, with thoughts of theocracy flitting through his head, doesn't really grasp this conundrum.

The only real question that comes to mind for me when Santorum says things like this is, well: stupid or evil? I mean, he's abandoned the pretense of the dog whistle and is basically saying that he's running openly as a theocrat. And that the only true Christians are also theocrats. He bleats constantly about how he wants to bomb Iran, but his philosophy of governance is the same as theirs, especially with regards to corraling people who claim to have the same church as you. Does he know that he sounds like someone who rejects the First Amendment, wants to create a Christian theocracy, and then start a holy war with Muslim theocracies? Or is he just incapable of controlling himself? I have no idea.