As Santorum Causes Ruckus in Holland, Will Candidates Have to Play It Straight with Foreign Law?

In case you missed it, Rick Santorum asserted earlier this month that it’s open season on old people in the Netherlands – that euthanasia accounts for 10% of all deaths and that the elderly walk around with “Do Not Euthanize” bracelets in the way of medical alerts.

Nothing new on the home front: it’s long been red meat for Republicans to trash foreign laws and practices.  What’s new here is that other countries are paying attention.  It sounds like Santorum’s jibe provoked some outrage in the Netherlands (for those of you who speak Dutch, story here, along with a Dutch parliamentarian’s Facebook protest).  (For those interested in the substance, Jonathan Turley does the math on Santorum’s claims here.)

Obviously Santorum doesn’t care about the Dutch vote (though in a perfect world perhaps he would). But candidates presumably will think twice before provoking diplomatic dust-ups.  Could the world’s scrutiny of US presidential contests force candidates to fact-check when they venture beyond water’s edge?  Perhaps that’s wishful thinking, but it’s another example, at least, of how no politics are merely national any more.