From Our Great Debates in the US Senate Department: Oh Yeah, Well Same to You!

It took three years, but Bostonians have stumbled onto a quote by Sen Rick Santorum (R-PA) and they're fighting mad. He seemed to blame Bostonians for the Catholic priest sex abuse scandal. Here's some of what Sen Santorum wrote back in July 2002 for Catholic Online:

''Priests, like all of us, are affected by culture. When the culture is sick, every element in it becomes infected. While it is no excuse for this scandal, it is no surprise that Boston, a seat of academic, political and cultural liberalism in America, lies at the center of the storm.''

Of course, the Priest sex abuse scandal turned out to be nationwide and the first case to go to trial was in a relatively conservative Lousianna parish. In all, the Catholic Church says 44 of it's priests have been "credibly" accused of sex abuse and the Church has paid out more than $1 billion in the case.

So the folks in Massachusetts are demanding an apology for being singled out. Sen Ted Kennedy (D-MA) called his collegue for one. When Sen Santorum refused, Sen Kennedy took his comments to the Senate floor:

'The people of Boston are to blame for the clergy sexual abuse? That is an irresponsible, insensitive and inexcusable thing to say."

And Gov Mitt Romney (R-MA) -- who like Sen Santorum is considered a contender for the GOP Presidential nomination in 2008 -- also disagreed, but put it in much softer terms to the GOP's number three man in the Senate:

''[H]opefully upon further examination, he will realize it's not a Boston issue. It's a national issue, it's a world issue, and the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church is not a Massachusetts- or Boston-centered problem."

And what is the Pennsylvania Senator saying about all of this? He commented to the Religion News Service:

''It's sort of sad that they would use religion and this tragic time for purely partisan, blatantly political purposes."

Kinda what Senator Santorum did back in 2002, huh.

Sen Santorum recently released his book It Takes a Family where he address many of his religions, moral, and political views. The fight certainly won't hurt sales among the [politically] faithful. Hey, he even got a plug here. (Boston Globe, Chicago Sun Times)