Santorum warns voters of country's likely demise

LAKEWOOD, Co - Rick Santorum's campaign slogan could very well be one word: doomsday.

To hear him tell it, the United States will collapse under the weight of its health care system and basic freedoms will be history. Iran will annihilate Israel and then South Carolina if Iran isn't blocked from building a nuclear weapon. And divorce will yield higher taxes for all Americans.

Unless, of course, Republicans pick Santorum as the party's presidential nominee and he goes on to defeat President Barack Obama.

"Go back and read what the sirens did once you arrived on that island," Santorum warned students at Colorado Christian University this week, invoking mythology. "They devour you. They destroy you.
They consume you."

"Ladies and gentleman we cannot listen to the siren song," he added. "We cannot listen to President Obama and we can't listen to those in our party who want to be just a little bit less than what the Democrats and the left is doing to our country."

It was standard fare for the former Pennsylvania senator. He doesn't mince words in campaign speeches in which he describes how -- in his view -- the country is heading down the wrong path and the government is growing too big. Gloom and doom usually pepper his remarks. And he often argues that America will falter if he fails to win the nomination.

 "You have honor to live up to, to hand off to the next generation as least as great a country as given to you. And you all know that is in jeopardy," he told a crowd in Colorado Springs.

The dire warnings contrast directly with the sunny optimism his top rivals often exude.