Former Senator Rick Santorum thinks he should be President and tens of thousands – perhaps hundreds of thousands – of Americans agree. This is Santorum at a campaign stop yesterday or the day before:

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum told the mother of a child with a rare genetic disorder on Tuesday that she shouldn't have a problem paying $1 million a year for drugs because Apple's iPad can cost around $900.

Speaking to more than 400 people at Woodland Park, Colorado, the former Pennsylvania senator said that demand should set prices for drugs.

"People have no problem paying $900 for an iPad," the candidate explained. "But paying $900 for a drug they have a problem with — it keeps you alive. Why? Because you’ve been conditioned to think health care is something you can get without having to pay for it."

The mother replied that she could not afford her son's medication, Abilify, which can cost as much as $1 million a year without health insurance.

"Look, I want your son and everybody to have the opportunity to stay alive on much-needed drugs," Santorum insisted. "But the bottom line is, we have to give companies the incentive to make those drugs. And if they don't have the incentive to make those drugs, your son won't be alive and lots of other people in this country won't be alive."

"He’s alive today because drug companies provide care," the candidate continued. "And if they didn’t think they could make money providing that drug, that drug wouldn’t be here. I sympathize with these compassionate cases. … I want your son to stay alive on much-needed drugs. Fact is, we need companies to have incentives to make drugs. If they don’t have incentives, they won’t make those drugs. We either believe in markets or we don’t."

I do not know what caused Santorum's emotional disfigurement. Just get him the hell away from me and everyone else. There aren't enough therapists or enough couches in this land to repair his twisted psyche. Has Santorum or any of his cohort ever responded to a question or comment with, “Oh. Wait a moment. You've got a good point there. I may have been wrong/hasty/ill informed/misguided about that idea. I guess I just didn't think it through. Thank you.”? 

Only this one datum – a family can't afford extraordinarily expensive medication for seriously ill child – should smash forever the idea that unfettered markets solve all problems.  Anyone who can't understand that or cannot have a sophisticated discussion about expensive on-going treatments should leave politics.  They have chosen the wrong career.