Rick Santorum 2012: He's batshiat enough for me!

Santorum '12: Putting the "Whack" in "Whack A Loon".

Santorum/Bachmann for President/VP: The Goddamn Mayans Were Right.

Santorum/Palin '12: Because you plan to be raptured anyway!

That's actually not a fringe view among political strategists. Many believe that you should forget about the independents and work on turning out your base.

I think they underestimate the pull of voting against an ideology. Maybe Romney won't turn out the crazies, but he probably won't get near the number of people turning out for Obama to oppose him as Santorum would.

On the flipside, Republican voters are already in such a tizzy that they'll vote for almost anyone as an anti-Obama vote.

Looks to me like Santorum is getting his bid for the VP slot in early.

unyon: Looks to me like Santorum is getting his bid for the VP slot in early.

I'm not sure that the country is ready to have the VP slot filled with Santorum.

I love how his "Blue Collar Roots" consist solely of being the grandson of a coal miner...

My grandfather was a rigger and truck driver at the Naval Underwater Systems Center in Newport,RI, but I don't go around calling myself "Blue Collar" or pretending I have some kind of keen insight into the minds of Blue Collar workers.

...And yes, Santorum is a dangerous fundamentalist ideologue. I wouldn't this clown to mow my lawn, never mind run the country.

The GOP is going to be stuck with Romney, but Santorum will make life difficult for him in the states with large Fundamentalist demographics.

Well, truly, I can think of no better option than Santorum to grease the rails of the Republican party and get things moving.

MadMonk: You know, it's too bad that you have to pander to voters by touting your crazier than everyone else. Where's the guy saying "vote for me, I actually have common sense". I guess that guy wouldn't be crazy enough to run for president i406.photobucket.com

He did run. You just didn't hear about him because that's not the type of candidacy that generates either media or voter interest.

Dance for your dinner, Ricky! DANCE!

FTFA: Santorum said Romney was sending a "signal" to moderates that he would not really be conservative once he's elected, while knowing he can still count on votes from more conservative Republicans in the general election against Obama.


I know they're running for the GOP nomination, but no shiat. It's called a winning strategy in the long term. Romney may not fire up the GOP base, but he also doesn't really fire up the Democratic base either. A Santorum nomination would light quite a fire under the asses of even the most lukewarm Obama supporter to revote for Obama.

Santorum charity for the poor spent most of its money on management, political friends (new window)

Before it folded in 2007, the foundation raised $2.58 million, with 39 percent of that donated directly to groups helping the needy. By industry standards, such philanthropic groups should be donating nearly twice that, from 75 to 85 percent of their funds.

What a good Catholic!

Santorum also said he could appeal to blue-collar Democrats with his pitch to bring more manufacturing jobs to the country by lowering taxes for companies.

Pure delusion.

Ed Grubermann: They know that can't beat Obama. So they're letting the crazies beat the crap out of each-other before falling on their swords. They get to save any serious contenders for 2016 and they get to discredit the Teabaggers for losing the election at the same time.

I keep hearing that theory. I am no longer sure that the party is savvy enough to pull that off. I think that the base of the Republican Party has lost all sense of both itself and the pulse of the nation outside of its core members. It is one step from the episode of The Simpsons where they had the meeting of the Republicans who picked Sideshow Bob to run for mayor opposite Joe Quimby.

bgddy24601: Ed Grubermann: They know that can't beat Obama. So they're letting the crazies beat the crap out of each-other before falling on their swords. They get to save any serious contenders for 2016 and they get to discredit the Teabaggers for losing the election at the same time.

I keep hearing that theory. I am no longer sure that the party is savvy enough to pull that off. I think that the base of the Republican Party has lost all sense of both itself and the pulse of the nation outside of its core members. It is one step from the episode of The Simpsons where they had the meeting of the Republicans who picked Sideshow Bob to run for mayor opposite Joe Quimby.

It's not a conscious strategy on the part of the party. Reince Priebus wants to win as badly in 2012 as he does in 2016.

It IS a conscious strategy for people like Chris Christie and Marco Rubio. They wanted no part of this bullshiat and they didn't want to face an incumbent president.

Bat Boy 2012.

Good luck with that. Go with crazy, again and you will force folks to choose the less crazy choice. You activate the Whackaloons, you are going to not only get the Crazy Ass Libs out, and in force, you're going to force moderates and independents to choose "Not Crazy."

The GOP tried this already. It got Obama into office.

Keep f*cking that chicken, kids.

hubiestubert: Good luck with that. Go with crazy, again and you will force folks to choose the less crazy choice. You activate the Whackaloons, you are going to not only get the Crazy Ass Libs out, and in force, you're going to force moderates and independents to choose "Not Crazy."

The GOP tried this already. It got Obama into office.

Keep f*cking that chicken, kids.

You know, right before the 2010 midterm elections, I told a very nice Republican guy I know who unfortunately works for Dana "Dipshiat" Rohrabacher, "You guys need to dump those Teahadists. They're making you all look bad and they're dragging your party down. You're going to be really sorry you took their endorsement."

His response: We don't need to worry about them, they're just a bunch of fringe weirdos, etc. etc. etc.

I haven't seen him this year. I wonder what happened to him. I should become a political pundit, I could call myself Cassandra because nobody listens to me but I'm always right.

Gyrfalcon: story

You forgot the prime objective of Republicans: stick it to the libs, no matter what the cost. The Tea Party folks stuck it to the libs, and as long as they did so there's no way the GOP would have dumped them, no matter what the price. We're talking about people that would rather stay the course in Iraq - at a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars and thousands of lives, not to mention future health care costs for wounded troops - rather than admit the libs were right. Once you realize that everything the GOP does is working toward the goal of sticking it to the libs rather than making our nation a better place, their actions make a lot more sense.

I_Am_Weasel: unyon: Looks to me like Santorum is getting his bid for the VP slot in early.

I'm not sure that the country is ready to have the VP slot filled with Santorum.

Well played.