For much of the last week the news has been filled with discussion of the vicious remarks made by liberal commentators Alan Colmes and Eugene Robinson concerning the Santorum family's farewell to their dead child.

How did liberals get to the point of attacking the most private of family matters for purposes of political gain? They got there by way of Sarah Palin and her son Trig.  Liberals used the developmentally disabled Trig as a means of getting at the governor repeatedly and in the most nasty terms.  Bizarrely, this occurred long after the 2008 campaign had closed and at a time when Palin was running for nothing.  All the same, it paid considerable dividends for liberals (and let's not forget the movement conservatives who either joined in or looked on) in further lowering the bar of permissible political behavior and opening new horizons in invective and sleaze.

The Santorum attack is the fruit of this. Whatever anyone may think of the matter, it remains a fact that the death of child is one of the most intimate tragedies conceivable. The sole civilized response is to turn away. I do not expect either Colmes or Robinson to understand this. (Robinson, to deepen his offense, couched his attack in ghetto English. Where do they find these people?) We might expect the more civil breed of liberal, who pride themselves on their finesse and punctilio, to make some effort to control their trash in the future. But we would be disappointed in this.

One of the major claims concerning the action by the Santorums has to do with its oddity. But was it odd in any real sense? Such farewells to a departed infant are in no way out of the ordinary.  Early last year an infant girl died shortly after birth due to an inability to generate hemoglobin.  Her parents had been warned this would happen but, both being Christians, chose to bring her to term regardless under the doctrine, "thy will be done." When the child was born, they dressed her in the only clothes she would ever wear, and held her as she faded away. The photograph featured with the story was deeply haunting, displaying an effect that can occur only by chance. By some means beyond simple explanation, the child's features revealed a maturity far beyond that of an infant. It was as if the years themselves were bending backward to reveal the woman she might have become. A thought that had occurred to me years before, on seeing a deformed child, recurred at that moment -- that the universe may well have been created for them alone, and that we are only the caretakers.

So no, I don't believe that Rick and Karen Santorum are in any way odd or abnormal. I don't particularly care for Rick Santorum (he tends to crack under serious pressure), and I hope to God he isn't nominated. But he has his admirable points all the same.

This incident says nothing of any importance about the Santorums, or Americans in general.  It says quite a bit, as such incidents are saying in louder and louder terms as they occur more often and more blatantly, about liberalism and the kind of individual who chooses to profess it.

The O'Doinns are notable for two particular family traits. In Ireland, we are known for producing generation after generation of Aughrim horse thieves. In America, for producing generation after generation of liberal politicians. I am proud of the horse thieves.