« BACK  |  PRINT

RS

EDITOR OF REDSTATE

If Rick Santorum Fell In A Forest . . .

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  June 6th, 2011 at 11:05 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

With a hat tip to my friend Charlie for the title, you might have noticed Rick Santorum is now a declared Presidential candidate.

The buzz on his announcement has been, to be charitable, non-existent on the series of tubes known as the internet. That’s not indicative of a whole lot, but given the mass of grassroots he will need, many of whom are on twitter and Facebook, it cannot be encouraging to enter the race with only a whisper.

Tags: ,

COMMENTS

POSTING RULES  |  LOGIN TO COMMENT  |  REGISTER TODAY
  • Goldwater_Conservative

    and the GOP if he could just bury his ego and focus on going after Bob Casey next year.

  • SusanAnne Hiller

    …against the Democrat/leftist machine. Why would he think he could win this GOP primary and then the general? It’s just not gonna happen.

  • SusanAnne Hiller

    Sums it all up.

  • izoneguy

    Who are they kidding?
    Santorum is in it for exposure – nothing more, nothing less.
    Same for Newt.

    They want book deals and to be remembered if they run for another elected office.

    (Not Newt – I don’t think he will or could run for anything again).

  • powertothepeople

    as Newt is a self centered egotistical moderate trying to renew his political life by making us think he is a conservative. Rick on the other hand has his own issues, but I think he is genuine in his love for this country and doing the right thing, the only thing is he was sunk before he even started. Think it has more to do with pride and not wanting to quit before he even really started rather than Newt’s use of this election year to get his face back in front of the cameras.

  • johnt

    n/t

  • powertothepeople

    but not winning an election in a leftist leaning area does not absolutely mean unelectable in a nation wide race. Look at Cain, he was embarrassed in his only race, now he is in second in most polls.

    National race is much different than a local race. In a local race you have to convince a small amount of people who may lean against you in the first place that you are the right one for the job where in a national race you have an advantage since you are going into states that lean your way and in states that do not, you still only have to convince the people who vote for your party. By the time you get to the general, the sides are split and now you just need to keep the votes that are yours already and win some independents. While winning independents is not a cake walk, this election year our side has a leg up. They are our votes to lose.

  • acat

    just what’s so wondeful about the guy?

    He always hit my radar as almost an exemplar of the boogeyman religious-righ type… that is, I got the impression he wants to legislate a good bit of morality .. but doesn’t seem to have much going on in his head regarding national security, fiscal, or individual liberty issues.

    A three-legged stool where two of the legs are nubs is of little use.

    Mew

  • azaeroprof

    and then tell me if you really want to go around for several months with that written on a campaign button and a bumper sticker on your car.
    Yes, I know that’s not fair. But how does a guy who not only didn’t win reelection for his own Senate seat, but lost in a landslide, think he can win a national election. He’s a decent enough guy, but I just don’t see it. That said, I actually do know some Tea Party folks who like him most of all candidates so far.

  • bags64

    sound honest advice from his closest friends and confidants.

    IMO, he has zero chance of being nominated. What an incredible waste of time and energy.

  • tankertodd

    Not getting it. Not seeing it. I guess he’s the family-friendly guy? SocCon?

    Sorry, don’t see any winning SocCon issues at the top of the heap right now.

  • johnthebaptistmoore

    Rick seems to be, often, full of “inner anger”. He has no chance of, actually, winning.

  • runner12

    admire his convictions in this area, being a social conservative myself.

    However, I do not know if he has the fiscal and small government credentials, which are equally important to me in a candidate. I also have concerns regarding his ability to articulate and explain conservatism.

    For those reasons, Santorum is towards the bottom of my list.

  • robp

    The beginning of the end of Rick Santorum was his supporting Arlen Specter over Pat Toomey in the 2004 primary. Toomey lost by a razor-thin margin because of W and Santorum were actively campaigning against a real conservative and supporting a turncoat, all in the name of control, and solidarity, and incumbency. I was absolutely shocked and flummoxed.

    In fact, that was a real turning point for the Republican Party, when I (and many like me) realized that the party would rather stay in control and support a weasel like Specter, one who consistently sided with the radical liberals, than operate on principle and support a conservative. We lost the next election in a landslide.

    Rick, we remember, and there are lots of us who remember. You don’t have a prayer. Give up now. Good riddance.

  • robp

    The beginning of the end of Rick Santorum was his supporting Arlen Specter over Pat Toomey in the 2004 primary. Toomey lost by a razor-thin margin because of W and Santorum were actively campaigning against a real conservative and supporting a turncoat, all in the name of control, and solidarity, and incumbency. I was absolutely shocked and flummoxed.

    In fact, that was a real turning point for the Republican Party, when I (and many like me) realized that the party would rather stay in control and support a weasel like Specter, one who consistently sided with the radical liberals, than operate on principle and support a conservative. We lost the next election in a landslide.

    Rick, we remember, and there are lots of us who remember. You don’t have a prayer. Give up now. Good riddance.

  • victrola

    So you lose your home state by nearly 20 points, the next logical step is to of course try and run for President? And Santorum outspent his dim opponent handily. Do we really need any more proof that this guy would be unable to close the deal?

    His type of conservatism is in my opinion a big reason why independents turned on Republicans, being hyper conservative on social issues like stem cell research, abortion, gay issues, etc, and basically a liberal Democrat on spending issues.

    Santorum is another Huckabee, except with ZERO charisma. He also comes off incredibly bad, like an angry, smug jerk. (even if that could be further from the truth)

  • dajeeps

    But otherwise… yawn.

    He did well in the SC debates, like maybe losing the way he did taught him something. Even so, it really is too bad he’s got the baggage of a retred. And he seems to have a kind of depressing personality and so when I listen to him talk, I get a feeling of doom and gloom. He ranks 3rd or 4th on my list.