Rick Santorum told a suburban Philadelphia newspaper that the Lord of the Rings provides valuable insights for the Iraq War.
In an interview with the editorial board of the Bucks County Courier Times, embattled Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum has equated the war in Iraq with J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings.” According to the paper, Santorum said that the United States has avoided terrorist attacks at home over the past five years because the “Eye of Mordor” has been focused on Iraq instead.
“As the hobbits are going up Mount Doom, the Eye of Mordor is being drawn somewhere else,” Santorum said. “It’s being drawn to Iraq and it’s not being drawn to the U.S. You know what? I want to keep it on Iraq. I don’t want the Eye to come back here to the United States.”
I’ve got to admit, I’d never thought of it that way before. . . .
There’s more.
A spokesman for Democratic opponent Bob Casey Jr. questioned the appropriateness of the analogy. “You have to really question the judgment of a U.S. senator who compares the war in Iraq to a fantasy book,” said Casey spokesman Larry Smar. “This is just like when he said Kim Jong II isn’t a threat because he just wants to “watch NBA basketball.’ ” According to a Harrisburg Patriot-News editorial, Santorum said the North Korea dictator “doesn’t want to die; he wants to watch NBA basketball” as a reason why Iran is the bigger nuclear threat.
Faced with a no-fantasy re-election battle against Democratic challenger and state Treasurer Bob Casey Jr., Santorum has positioned himself as strong on national security. To counter Casey’s claims that Santorum voted with President George Bush “98 percent of the time.” Santorum pointedly mentioned their areas of difference, specifically on Iran and its nuclear weapons program. He called the Bush Administration’s policy to negotiate with Iran “at worst appeasement and at best constructive engagement, either of which are wrong.” “They believe you can negotiate with [Iran President] Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the mullahs on the issue of nuclear weapons and you cannot,” Santorum said. “You cannot negotiate something away from someone who has a messianic vision to a religious conviction that they need this weapon.”
It increasingly appears that Santorum’s Yoda-like wisdom will have to come from the sidelines, as he’s trailing Casey by 13 points in the latest Rasmussen survey.
UPDATE: Legion suggests this might make an excellent topic for a PhotoShop contest. By all means, send in your entries and I’ll post the best ones.
UPDATE: Stephen Colbert weighs in, explaining this using action figures (video):
