Don’t blame me for that headline. Blame Dick Morris, the latest cheerleader for Mr Frothy Santorum. I was going to go with “Awash with Santorum”, but I thought that might be a bit much first thing in the morning.
All along, the Tea Party voters have yet to unite behind a single candidate. They still aren’t united, but in Iowa, there is evidence that Rick Santorum may be surging ahead.
In the Tea Party Patriots (TPP) telephone poll of 23,000 supporters nationally, Newt led with 31% of the vote, followed by Bachmann at 28%, Romney at 20% and Santorum with a surprising 16%.
…
There has always been a sort of mini-primary among the Tea Party followers among Gingrich, Perry, Bachmann, Cain, and Santorum – the candidates they find acceptable. Gingrich’s and Bachmann’s drop, Cain’s withdrawal, and Perry’s stagnation all contrast sharply with Santorum’s surge.The former Pennsylvania Senator has been the also ran in the field, the Rodney (I get no respect) Dangerfield of the Republican primaries. But with the lack of poll numbers has come a lack of scrutiny. These days the spotlight can get too hot very quickly. Santorum, whose conservative record is as solid as they come, is benefiting from the fall of Gingrich in a way Bachmann seems unable to do.
Ron Paul remains terrifying. He is really the ultimate liberal in the race. He wants to legalize drugs, repeal the Patriot Act, slash our military spending, pull out of Afghanistan, and remove all limits on abortion. On these issues, he’s way, way to the left of Obama. What makes him a conservative is hard to tell. But, whatever he is, he would be a disaster as the Republican candidate. His bland assertion in the last debate, that “anyone” will beat Obama is both self-serving and inaccurate. He wouldn’t. Anyone who votes for Paul and is not brought up short by his denuding us in our defenses against terrorism and his passivity in the face of Iranian nuclear weapons, has to realize that nominating him is tantamount to re-electing Obama.
Most likely now, Romney will win Iowa and go on to win New Hampshire. But then, a kind of buyer’s remorse may set in as Republicans contemplate a nominee who backs Romneycare and once supported abortion choice. His past apostasies, combined with his religion, may give Newt an opportunity to come back in South Carolina. Then the two of them will slug it out down the road. But they may have company in the person of Rick Santorum.
I will give all of my Christmas presents to the poor and live on bread and water until the election if only God is kind enough to anoint Santorum to run against Obama.
henqiguai
Hmmm, phantom page? It’s here, yet not.
ETA: Oh! Somehow managed to access it, apparently, while it was being put up. Strange; oh wait, it’s me…
DanielX
I would happily pay to watch a debate between Santorum and Obama, since Santorum is (ahem) a one dimensional candidate. Other candidates have substantial portions of their brains taken up with thinking about the economy, the Middle East, halting the spread of nuclear weapons, etc etc. In Santorum’s brain, those areas are occupied by obsessing about other people’s naughty parts and how they should be regulated.
Unfortunately said debate will probably never happen, since Dick Morris’ record of accurate predictions rivals that of Bloody Bill Kristol.
John
Hmmm:
So, if I have this right: small gov’t, small gov’t, small gov’t, small gov’t, and small gov’t.
Morris is right. He’s no “conservative.”
c u n d gulag
And here I thought Dick Morris was the Rodney (isn’t it funny that he feels the need to explain who this is that he’s talking about for the morons in his readership – which is, to say, his entire readership) Dangerfield of the Republicans Party.
Also too – Dick Morris is made entirely of Santorum matter.
Also 3 – I think it’s absolutely hysterical that the Conservatives have latched onto this sh*t-eating, hooker toe-sucking, deviant troll.
Also two times two – Santorum?
As the Republican candidate?
Like Barney Frank, I don’t think I’ve led a virtuous enough life for that.
But it would be a hoot!
Ron
I’d bet large sums of money Santorum isn’t going to be the nominee. But it sure would be a true gift.
IM
@John:
Lee
The Dallas Morning News has Ron Paul surging in Iowa.
Jerzy Russian
I fear God is not that kind. However, if He annoints Santorum as the candidate against Obama, I will start going to church again. In addition, if He makes Ron Paul the running mate, I will become a priest.
Schlemizel
The trick if you are a member of the bozo of the month club is to be chief bozo at just the right time. Through no fault of his own Paul may have been given the seltzer bottle at just the right moment. Given the, oh lets be nice & call it independent streak, of New Hampshire he could actually be the winner there too. It would be fun to see the panic amongst our GOPer friends if such a thing were to come to pass.
If it were Paul/Willard as 1/2 in the first two races how the hell would they ever get back on track? They would really be forced to back Willard in a big way to forestall an even worse disaster.
GregB
@IM:
Surely Dick Morris wouldn’t out and out lie about something?
That man, Morris, makes my skin crawl. It’s a double creepy twofer when he’s on with Loofah O’Reilly.
Facebones
I, for one, cannot wait for the deluge of Bobo columns tellings us what a principled centrist Rick Santorum really is.
Kilkee
Speaking of predictive abilities, didn’t Morris write an entire freakin book on how Condoleeza Rice was certain to be the 2008 GOP nominee?
JR
Somehow we got on a couple of pseudo-conservative lists, and started getting calls from the NRA and Dicky Morris, push polls mostly by the NRA and sales pitches following recorded speeches by Morris.
Revolting! I push the speakerphone button and lay the phone down, so I can hear the noise without understanding most of the blather. The NRA told my spouse that the UN was going to facilitate North Korea’s removal of all our guns!!
Morris, I’m not sure what he was talking about, except that the really important truth was in his new book. I listened with interest, made “Oh My, Really?” noises to the ‘droid on the other end of the phone connection, and in general tried to waste as much of their resources as I could.
Sarah, please, for the love of flying spaghetti monster, don’t quote Dick Morris as an authority on conservative politics, it just ain’t so. Thanks!
On the other hand, with such a moral-free grifter in their political process, how can we lose?
JR
smith
Ron Paul is staunchly anti-abortion, where in the world did Dick Morris get the idea that Paul would remove limits to abortion? But then again this is Dick Morris we’re talking about – he’s not exactly known for his accuracy.
RSA
…if you’re an idiot and can’t simply visit Paul’s Web site. Eliminating the social safety net, cutting taxes, returning to the gold standard, killing off unions, promoting home schooling, increasing border security, getting rid of the EPA. Jesus.
Mike in NC
This morning’s paper had a lengthy piece by a prominent SC conservative who’s on a mission to unmask Willard as a flip-flopper and a “businessman” who has spent the past 18 years doing little but run for assorted elected offices. I suspect Mitt will not fare well in the Palmetto State primary.
D. Mason
What Dickie has failed to do here is follow his line of “reasoning” all the way to the end and realize that none of the Republican candidates are conservative, nor have they been in many years. That’s why this conservative voter cast my lot in with Kerry and Obama. They were the sane conservative choices, and the sane liberal choices. It takes frothing insanity to make those worlds collide… the modern GOP — bringing people together. They can use that one, for a fee.
Frankensteinbeck
@RSA:
Ron Paul is no more a ‘conservative’ in the current GOP sense than he is a liberal. His platform is to abolish the government. Basically all of it. No matter who you are, you can find something the government does you disagree with, so Ron Paul has a position for you hidden in the mess. On a couple of issues he’s socially conservative, but since he wants to nuke all enforcement apparatus that might not matter much.
People keep looking at individual parts of his platform, and you can’t. Ron Paul is a man with a dream, one all-encompassing plan to protect us from the Jewish bankers that rule the world.
Soonergrunt
So you’re telling us that santorum is sticking?
Anonymous At Work
*May* set in? *MAY*?? We’ve had six fk-ing months of buyer’s remorse from the Republican base over Romney, and the base has given “credibility” to the likes of Bachmann, Paul, and even Newt Gingrich in turn. If the last six months isn’t “buyer’s remorse”, then what the heck will the next six months look like?
o kanis
Were Paul to grab ankle for Netanyahu, like the rest of know gobblers (nice timing there, Newt), he’d become a principled conservative faster than you can blink your eye.
Lol!
o kanis
Were Paul to grab ankle for Netanyahu, like the rest of know gobblers (nice timing there, Newt), he’d become a blue ribbon conservative faster than you can blink an eye.
Lol!
chrome agnomen
@Frankensteinbeck:
i have held a similar position vis-a-vis the entire republican party since the 80s. i postulate that they are the party of hate, and since nearly everyone has something to hate, it’s bound to be a popular attraction for the mouth-breathing knuckle-draggers among us.
RSA
@Frankensteinbeck:
I think that’s debatable. Paul takes several positions that today’s Republicans don’t like, but many others are pretty mainstream, consistent with Republican rhetoric at least. I think he’s much more conservative than liberal. But I do agree that it’s better to look at his crazy platform as a whole.
scarshapedstar
Fixed. Unless we’re talking about Bizarro Ron Paul.
Nemesis
If your Santorum surges for more than 4 hours, seek medical attention.