Rick Gets Testy
I listened to a number of people today attempt to describe Santorum’s response to a NY Times reporter as “intemperate,” “petulant,” and “immature.” I’ll be honest with you: If I had to face these interminable jack-wagons in the press, always fishing to present me out of context, I would probably blow a gasket now or then too. It’s not that Rick Santorum is my favorite candidate, because of the four remaining, I would choose Newt Gingrich, but just as the media tries its best to catch Gingrich saying something a little off-key, this is the same thing the press is doing to Rick Santorum, and I can understand how any of them might grow a bit fatigued with this approach. Rick Santorum has been saying for months, in virtually every appearance, and in every campaign stop that he believed that Mitt Romney was least able to battle Barack Obama because of Romney-care.
I’ve been telling you that same thing, because everything suggests that it’s true. The latest Gallup polling results show that as many as 72% of Americans now believe the insurance mandate in Obama-care is unconstitutional. If they believe that, then it’s likely that they won’t be altogether receptive to the 10th Amendment arguments of Mitt Romney on Romney-care, for all the reasons I’ve mentioned before. States may have their authority, but that authority does not permit them to step on individual liberties any more than the Federal government may. Others may accept that argument, but I think most Americans would tend to reject it, and I think that would be a real problem for Mitt Romney especially when Obama openly admits that Romney-care and its mandate were the model for Obama-care.
Apparently, in campaign stop in Wisconsin, Santorum repeated his general theme, but because he changed the way in which he said it, it left an opening for a smarmy NY Times reporter to take a shot at him because his statement during this particular speech seemed more open-ended, and he said Mitt Romney is “the worst Republican in the country to put up against Barack Obama.” He got a little angry with the reporter, Jeff Zeleny of the NY Times, because he seemed to be trying to set Santorum up, and I think Santorum got a little miffed. To be sure, it probably was a bit intemperate to hurl the expletive “bullsh..,” but almost every person I knew who had seen it voiced approval. It seems conservatives have gotten a belly-full of the press this campaign season, and after months of dirty tricks and negative ads primarily focused on the conservatives in the race, it’s not surprising that Santorum lashed out a bit. Many conservatives were heartened to see it, because it exhibited a passion for his position, but in fact, I also noted something else: Many of the conservatives to whom I spoke about the incident actually thought he shouldn’t have qualified it at all, because there’s a sense among many conservatives that Romney is the least electable versus Barack Obama, and I think the “Etch-a-Sketch” was the last straw for many.
These are the same reasons, in fact, that when Gingrich faced the questions in the South Carolina debate, and he took the moderator to task, he got the positive response he did: Conservatives are tired of getting kicked around in the press, and the willingness of Newt Gingrich to confront the press was an endearing quality to many conservatives. I think this latest flap with Santorum evinces the same theme, because conservatives simply don’t like the media, because they’ve long recognized the media will not afford conservatives a fair shake. Some will say that Santorum had been a little too combative in this instance, and others will nit-pick him over the wording of his remarks, but his point was generally true on both counts: He has stressed for months the “unique disqualification” of Mitt Romney due to Romney-care, and he made his remarks about Romney in this instance in the general envelope of the same context, although he worded the lines somewhat differently, and these are the “gotcha” games with which conservatives have become disgusted.
You can watch the video of the exchange here:
Santorum may not be my favorite candidate, but he’s certainly preferable to at least one in my view, and I’m glad to see him take on the media a little bit. It’s time to deal with reality, and the press is too busy taking Obama’s part against all Republicans, and Romney’s part against all other Republicans for me to think much of the media. I think Newt should remember this too, as it was part of what drove his climb back in South Carolina. Conservatives hate the mainstream media these days, and they have every justification. Candidates should remember this when they face the press.
