Althouse: Santorum's "candid comments and unconventional moves were badges of authenticity in the early contests..."

March 21, 2012

Santorum's "candid comments and unconventional moves were badges of authenticity in the early contests..."

".. but they now raise doubts about Santorum’s capacity to be his party’s standard-bearer in the general election."

39 comments:

Andy said...: Santorum is a total joke and there was never any chance he was going to be the nominee. His support was entirely based on a protest effort by Republicans who know how weak Romney is and voted for frothy as a way to indicate they do not want Romney to be the nominee. They were forced to engage in this silliness of offering protest votes to frothy as a shown of the lack of support for Romney because Romney is the only remotely credible candidate in the entire primary and there was no one else to seriously support as an alternative.

Attempting to engage with Santorum's candidacy on the merits is delusional. Discussing his authenticity completely ignores who he is and what his role in this campaign was.; 3/21/12, 7:49 AM
a psychiatrist who learned from veterans said...: I think it makes him an ideal VP candidate on a Romney ticket. There will be some who enjoy voting their fantasies: they will wake up, if by mistake early enough, to find Santorum Claus in their bathrooms taking their birth control pills after leaving a crucifix on the wall. With the the aid of Paul McCartney he escapes 'through the bathroom window.' Ann, could you play a few bars for us? Otherwise etc.; 3/21/12, 7:51 AM
David said...: Hey, it's American politics so it's crazy. It also keeps people like Karen Tumulty employed at high paying jobs.; 3/21/12, 7:52 AM
rhhardin said...: Candid used to mean finding good.

That was before Santorum.; 3/21/12, 8:21 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: The country of America is clearly an impediment to the glory of the Republican party.

The problem is that Americans are not good enough for the GOP. America is just not up to their standards.

The GOP should do itself a favor, and find itself a "better" country to run. Clearly they hate the one in which they'd like to be elected to hold office.; 3/21/12, 8:25 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: New Republican candidate slogan:

"America, are you good enough for ME!?"; 3/21/12, 8:27 AM
chickelit said...: I propose that this thread be like a padded cell for Ritmo and Andy R today.

For them to get their ya yas out.; 3/21/12, 8:34 AM
Once written, twice... said...: Romney, along with Huntsman, was the only moderate, hense serious, candidate in the race. The rest were rightwing wack jobs. This race is shaping up to be like Ford/Carter 1976. Not to exciting but reflects that the country is returning to its moderately liberal consensus.

The Tea Party was the clear loser in all of this. In fact nobody even mentions the Tea Party any more.; 3/21/12, 8:35 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: The problem with America, is that it keeps wanting to hurtle itself headlong into this moral abomination of the space-time continuum known as "The 21st Century".

Everyone knows that virtue and proper social mores are impossible unless you pick the ones that applied in as far and as distant a time as one can remember.; 3/21/12, 8:36 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: Yes, Mr Little! It will be like a special place for those of us commenters who actually understand humor, sarcasm, and social reasoning.

Which makes me wonder if these threads are ordinarily a haven for certain other people (like Mr Little?) from the demands of ordinary life.; 3/21/12, 8:38 AM
chickelit said...: Midnight Rambler from 1969's "Get Yer Ya Ya's Out"; 3/21/12, 8:39 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: It's barely past 5 AM on the West Coast. Either Little's got some horrendous insomnia or he's clearly not feeling all too neurotypical today.

Maybe try some chamomile?; 3/21/12, 8:40 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: Thanks for the video link, but it's way past midnight (on my coast) for that song to be anywhere near applicable for me.; 3/21/12, 8:42 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: Whoops. I guess it is past 6 PST, actually. Was looking at Althousy's CST timestamps instead of my own clock-monitor.; 3/21/12, 8:43 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/21/12, 8:45 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: Little - we can ramble our way through this thread together this morning. I took the rare and immensely needed step of calling out. It will be like old times!; 3/21/12, 8:45 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: Although I used to get on the Althousy commenting crack at work very often in the old days, I gave that up at least a few years ago.

But Little keeps it up throughout the day. I'd love to know how he structures his work around the Althousy commenting crack. Are you lab-based or office-based, and what other diversions in your typical workspace keep your chemically concerned mind supple throughout the day?; 3/21/12, 8:48 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: Damn. That's a LONG song! Ya ya indeed.; 3/21/12, 8:50 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: Ok, that's enough for me for now. My memory of the conservative need for their own commenting parity quota is returning. Any more than a few comments by someone not on the "team" and they get pissed. It's like the way they imagine liberals feel about wealth.; 3/21/12, 8:54 AM
edutcher said...: Gee, I can't believe all the trolls (all one of them) have so little to say, yet jam up an entire thread.

You'd think they're against free speech or something.

As for Santorum, he was the one left after everyone had looked at the credible non-Romney candidates. And now he's defeated himself.; 3/21/12, 9:21 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: Just consider me a highly resource-efficient Super-PAC, ED.; 3/21/12, 9:26 AM
Scott M said...: Santorum couldn't be a standard bearer for a company that sells standard bearing flags displaying standard bearers on them.; 3/21/12, 9:34 AM
MadisonMan said...: Well, gee, who could have predicted this?

Anyone who has lived through his self-destructing Senatorial re-election campaign, that's who.; 3/21/12, 9:36 AM
Capt. Schmoe said...: Of the two primary alternatives to Romney, one lacks integrity, the other intellect and the instinct of self-survival. Neither lack narcissism or inflated egos.

It's time for the Republicans to suck it up and accept that Romney is going to be their man, something they should have done four years ago.; 3/21/12, 9:55 AM
TosaGuy said...: I have a PhD-holding, Irish, Catholic Democrat buddy in PA who agrees with many of the ideas that Santorum TRIES to say, but not what he actually says.

He thinks Santorum is a good guy, but never votes for him because in the end, it is about what the candidate actually says, not what they meant to say.; 3/21/12, 9:59 AM
Geoff Matthews said...: I don't believe that Santorum is disciplined enough to stay on message. He was easily distracted by the birth-control issue. And as any historian will tell you, don't let the enemy choose the battleground.
Birth control is the battleground that the Democrats want to fight on. They don't want to fight on the economy, on energy or on deficits. Romney had the discipline (the intelligence) to keep the fight on the fields he knew he can win.; 3/21/12, 10:35 AM
Bender said...: I don't believe that Santorum is disciplined enough to stay on message. He was easily distracted by the birth-control issue. . . . Romney had the discipline (the intelligence) to keep the fight on the fields he knew he can win.

And yet it was just yesterday that Romney was talking about birth control.

And folks around here were applauding him.; 3/21/12, 10:47 AM
~Nina said...: That's the thing for me, Geoff. I like the guy, but he proves over and over again that he can't resist the topics that doom him. He began as the candidate who was sticking to the economic issues, but then couldn't resist the social issues re contraception and pornography. It's not that I don't basically agree with him. It's that, if he's going to be president, he has to be disciplined enough to focus on what matters now, to all of us. He fails on that every time.

Not that it matters now. Illinois showed that even taking Gingrich out of the picture doesn't really help him all that much.; 3/21/12, 10:49 AM
ricpic said...: The Washington Post declares anything other than establishment lies in a Prez, present or future, is out of bounds!; 3/21/12, 10:50 AM
Scott M said...: And yet it was just yesterday that Romney was talking about birth control.

That's a tad bit disingenuous, isn't it, Bender? He was being heckled and responded. He didn't bring it up and I don't think he even mentioned "birth control" in his response.; 3/21/12, 10:51 AM
Bender said...: That's a tad bit disingenuous, isn't it, Bender? He was being heckled and responded. He didn't bring it up and I don't think he even mentioned "birth control" in his response.

No, what is disingenous is this bogus assertion that Santorum is going out there and bringing up contraception and making it the centerpiece of his campaign.

Santorum too is only responding to what others bring up. It is the MSM that keeps bringing this up. It is Obama who keeps bringing it up.; 3/21/12, 11:02 AM
Scott M said...: No, what is disingenous is this bogus assertion that Santorum is going out there and bringing up contraception and making it the centerpiece of his campaign.

I'm not making that Sontorum assertion at all. I'm saying your equating what happened yesterday between Romney and a heckler to Romney still talking about birth control is twisting the truth past the breaking point.

Honestly, one would think a Mexican-built robot would know better.; 3/21/12, 11:08 AM
~Nina said...: Yep, it's Obama who keeps bringing it up because he knows Santorum can't resist, and that's Santorum's weakness. Obama would be stupid not to bring it up. It works every time.

Luckily, Romney is too smart for that. Which is why he's winning and Santorum is losing.; 3/21/12, 11:10 AM
Bender said...: Really Scott, what is it with you people who think that you are the center of the universe and that every comment is directed toward you?

On a daily basis we get countless numbers of people bitching and moaning about Santorum "always talking about birth control." So what if you are or are not one of them. Plenty of others are.

And, again, N, why the hell are you so obsessed with what I say? No one was talking to you.; 3/21/12, 1:52 PM
Scott M said...: Really Scott, what is it with you people who think that you are the center of the universe and that every comment is directed toward you?

Really, Bender. When you make a comment and quote my previous question verbatim, yeah, I'd say the response was directed at me so your universe thingy is weaksauce.

Not only that, but the first part of my comment was a question, to which you responded, "No" followed by a comma and then a whole bunch of words backing up your disagreement with what I said. If that wasn't a direct response to a question I posed, in a comment in which you quote me directly, I don't know what one would look like.

Really, Bender. I could have avoided the above explanation and just have said, "you're wrong", but that wouldn't have been as much, would it?; 3/21/12, 2:01 PM
ricpic said...: Really Scott, Really Bender,
Really Bender, Really Scott,
Toss them in a Waring blender
Pour them out a zombie bot.; 3/21/12, 3:01 PM
Scott M said...: Really Scott, Really Bender,
Really Bender, Really Scott,
Toss them in a Waring blender
Pour them out a zombie bot.

I've already signed up.; 3/21/12, 3:08 PM
~Nina said...: Hahaha...I'm not obsessed...but I know who is...

It's not your blog, boyo. Don't tell me what I can and cannot respond to.; 3/21/12, 3:47 PM
Love said...: Now he's bitching about Malia going to Mexico on a school trip.

The man is an intellectual midget.; 3/21/12, 5:15 PM