Rick Santorum pink bowling ball

Rick Santorum pink bowling ball

Rick Santorum pink bowling ball, Presidential candidate Rick Santorum (get the latest news on Santorum) is fending off criticism after reportedly telling a young man not to use a pink bowling ball (what did he say?). The warning came during a campaign stop at a bowling alley in Wisconsin where Santorum was hoping to throw a few strikes and turn a few votes, but critics say his words constitute a homophobic gutter ball In one corner: cultural warrior Rick Santorum, shaming a fellow bowler for appearing to consider using a pink—pink!—bowling ball. And in the other corner, deeply unlikeable creep Mitt Romney, laughing as he recalls a story about his father, the former president of the American Motors Corporation, shutting down a factory, resulting in the loss of “thousands” of jobs, according to The Detroit News. Whose joke is the most offensive? Now, a battle to the death—of humor!


Santorum’s Joke
“You’re not gonna use the pink ball,” Santorum said to a young gentleman in a Wisconsin bowling alley yesterday. “We’re not gonna let you do that. Not on camera.”

Romney’s Joke
Yesterday Romney told the following story about his father during a telephone town hall: “One of (the) most humorous stories, I think, relates to my father. You may remember my father, George Romney, was president of an automobile company called American Motors. They had a factory in Michigan, and they had a factory in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and another one in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And as the president of the company he decided to close the factory in Michigan and move all the production to Wisconsin.

“Now, later he decided to run for governor of Michigan and so you can imagine that having closed the factory and moved all the production to Wisconsin was a very sensitive issue to him, for his campaign.

“Now, I recall at one parade where he was going down the streets, he was led by a band, and they had a high school band that was leading each of the candidates, and his band did not know how to play the Michigan fight song . . . they only knew how to play the Wisconsin fight song, so every time they would start playing ‘On, Wisconsin,’ my dad’s political people would jump up and down and try to get them to stop because they didn’t want people in Michigan to be reminded that my dad had moved production to Wisconsin.”

Analysis
Romney’s joke drones on for longer, and is ultimately more callous because he’s laughing at the expense of a specific, non-theoretical population of angry, unemployed workers. On the other hand, Santorum’s joke was broader and directed at a much larger (though ambiguous) group of people—could be lovers of pink, the gay community, Victoria’s Secret models, etc.—and is likely to offend more people, just in terms of pure numbers. Santorum rudely implies that choosing a pink ball is something embarrassing, i.e., something that should not be done on camera. That said, Mitt Romney is just such an asshole.

Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum, whose campaign has included extensive anti-gay rhetoric, stopped a boy from using a pink bowling ball at a Wisconsin bowling ally on Wednesday (28 March).

'You’re not gonna use the pink ball. We're not gonna let you do that. Not on camera,' Santorum told the boy. 'Friends don’t let friends use pink balls.'

Santorum's comments were quickly tweeted by Reuters reporter Sam Youngman.

The Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBT advocacy group and political lobbying organization in the US, blasted Santorum for his actions.

'This is another example of Rick Santorum intentionally making ignorant statements that have a real impact on LGBT people,' said HRC Vice President of Communications Fred Sainz. 'Whether he’s comparing our marriages to inanimate objects, saying our children would be better off with a parent in prison as opposed to two loving same-sex parents, or calling open military service a ‘tragic social experiment;’ he’s proven that he thinks LGBT people are second-class citizens not worthy of dignity or respect.'

'In this case,' Sainz added, 'he’s advancing tired gender norms by implying a boy should be ashamed or embarrassed to use a certain color bowling ball.'

HRC notes that in addition to his frequent and vitriolic remarks about issues like marriage equality or LGBT families, Santorum consistently voted against workplace protections while serving in the US Senate, and was an early and vocal supporter of the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act.

'Kids have enough to worry about,' Sainz said. 'They don’t need Rick Santorum telling them that using a pink bowling ball is a bad thing.'

If you’re Rick Santorum, making a crack about a pink bowling ball is sure to draw some unwanted attention.

Sure enough, after making such a comment to a young man at a bowling alley here on Wednesday, that is exactly what happened.

During a campaign stop with a group of young Republicans, Mr. Santorum took about 20 minutes for a round of bowling. As one of the young men reached for a pink ball — one that some of the women used — Mr. Santorum ribbed him.

“You’re not gonna use the pink ball,” Mr. Santorum said. “We’re not gonna let you do that. Not on camera.” The remark was posted to Twitter by a Reuters reporter and soon ricocheted around the Web.

It didn’t take long for the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights group, to pounce. It issued a statement on Wednesday calling Mr. Santorum’s remark “ignorant.”