Recursive Foot-in-Mouth Syndrome

The Republican primary contest has offered many examples of the well-known Foot-in-Mouth Syndrome, whereby candidates say things that cause them, at a minimum, some embarrassment and, even worse for them, lost votes.

Today while reading the Chicago Tribune, I discovered a rare variation of the syndrome, Recursive Foot-in-Mouth Syndrome (RFIM), in which a candidate, while explaining why his foot was planted firmly in his mouth, plants a foot within that foot.

I can understand why you might be thinking that this candidate must be Newt Gingrich, who seems adept at converting massive contributions by extreme-right, arch-Zionists like Sheldon Adelson into massive losses in the polls. But, no, the master practitioner of RFIM is Rick Santorum.

So, let's see...in the last week or so he called President Obama a "snob" for (supposedly) demanding that everyone attend college (he didn't). And then Santorum took on the most popular president in U.S. history, saying that JFK's speech on the separate of religion and government made him "throw up."

Two big feet in one really big mouth. Not, however, recursive.

But then on Friday, Santorum told his devotees in Chillicothe, Ohio: "I know sometimes I can get a little wound up. You see, I don't often use a teleprompter. The worse that come out of my mouth are my own. They are not written by some poll-tested speechwriter."

So he attempts to explain away his gaffes by insisting that these are his own words, not provided by anyone else.

How does that in any way mitigate the stupidity, banality and maliciousness of those comments? Not one bit. Nope, he's just layering one foot on top of (or within) another.

Recursive Foot-in-Mouth Syndrome. Perhaps one day that will serve as yet another definition of santorum.