Philly Today: Santorum Lathers Up Delco for Mastriano
Plus: students need "parental pronoun approval" at one local school. And more of what the city is (or should be) talking about.
Rick Santorum at a Doug Mastriano rally in Delco (image via WGAL)
Check phillymag.com each morning for the latest edition of Philly Today. And if you have a news tip for our hardworking reporters, please send it here.
Doug Mastriano Enlists Rick Santorum to Help Him in Delco
Some Republicans are a bit concerned about the upcoming midterm elections. They’re worried about a liberal backlash in light of Roe. They’re trying to distance themselves from the loony rhetoric of Donald Trump, realizing that leaning a bit more moderate might be the way to go this time around. But that’s not Doug Mastriano, who brought none other than Rick Santorum to Delco on Thursday night for a little help in his campaign for governor against Josh Shapiro.
You remember Rick Santorum. He’s the incredibly conservative Christian nationalist who served as a senator for Pennsylvania for way too long. Santorum ran for president twice. He produces Christian movies. Santorum was a hired gun on CNN until 2021, when he made some remarks about Native Americans that didn’t go over so well.
But, perhaps most famously, homophobic Santorum became the, er, butt of a lot of jokes when sex columnist Dan Savage masterfully SEO’d “Santorum” to have a new meaning related to anal sex. Indeed, if you type “Santorum” into Google, the second and third results on the first page are exactly this.
In fact, one of the funniest comments I’ve seen online about Santorum rallying for Mastriano in Delco was the one that tagged Savage, suggesting that he pull a Santorum on the name Mastriano. (Side note: This led me down a rabbit hole searching for useful domain names for any anti-Mastriano internet campaign. I have to say I was surprised that NoMastriano.com, MastrianoNo.com, MastrianoSucks.com, SayNoToMastriano.com, and MastrianoBlows.com are all available. For now. Maybe Shapiro needs to hire John Fetterman’s trolling-savvy team.)
In any event, the Santorum-Mastriano rally in Delco took place at the Drexelbrook Event Center, where the last event of note was a 98 Degrees concert in January. Thursday night’s rally was not one of the no-press-zones that Mastriano has become known for. At least two TV news reporters were there, including 6ABC’s Jaclyn Lee. When Lee checked in at the registration desk, I overheard the pleasant woman at the table smilingly say to her: “Please write a nice story.”
Santorum pooh-poohed polling that shows Shapiro with a lead over Mastriano. He told the very white crowd that what matters is what happens on Election Day. And on November 8th, Santorum believes, Mastriano will emerge the victor.
“This will be seen as the scariest thing the Left ever confronted,” Santorum said of a Mastriano win. Well, I don’t know about the scariest thing. But scary!
Parental Pronoun Approval
Ah, Bucks County. That bastion of free expression, free thinking, and general tolerance. According to this report, teachers at one Bucks County High School must now get parental approval before using a student’s preferred name or pronoun. It’s part of the school’s very 1984-sounding Gender Identification Procedure.
Speaking of Idyllic Bucks County
I think this Inquirer headline says it all: “Bucks Jan. 6 rioter ousted from elected post after conviction and saying she’d shoot Pelosi in the ‘friggin’ brain’”
Talk About Brazen Acts of Crime
You know things are bad when a 911 dispatcher is robbed right outside of police headquarters. Like, the main police headquarters. Oh, and the suspect got away!
What Are You Doing This Weekend?
It’s the last weekend of summer, so I am damn well going to the Jersey Shore. Taking a bike ride on the boardwalk. Undoubtedly enduring some ignoramus’ spray sunscreen. If the Jersey Shore isn’t in the cards for you, here are 91 other ideas for things to do this weekend.
And from the Sports Desk …
The Phils played the Marlins in Florida. Again. They had to come from behind. Again. This time, they didn’t — though Brandon Marsh (we’re starting not to mind the hair so much) did his damnedest, racking up his first-ever four-hit game. Noah Syndergaard started and got dinged by, among others, Bryan De La Cruz, who whacked a three-run homer. Final: 5-3. Of note: Even the husband, who’s not a big fan, noticed the paucity of butts in the stands for this game. Official attendance: short of 8,000. Ouch.
Oh, and there was Thursday Night Football, but it was on Amazon Prime, on a contract that runs through, gulp, 2032, a date no doubt chosen because by then, all the old farts like me who can’t figure out how/aren’t willing to stream games will be dead. The Eagles’ only Thursday Night game is against the Texans, on November 3rd. The Texans. We’ll live. — Sandy Hingston
