Suitably Flip

Well, He Made a Fine Go Of It

Say this for Rick Santorum - he held onto the mechanical bull that is the 2012 GOP frontrunner status for longer than any of the other non-Romneys.  His dishonorable dismount was always assured, of course, given the general weakness of his Presidential resume (current White House occupant notwisthstanding), nearly insurmountable disadvantages in campaign infrastructure and finance, and the fact that his surge was the combined effect of Republican primary voters having literally run out of other non-Romneys to flirt with and the fortuitous, but ultimately unsustainable, resurgence of social issues to the forefront of the political discussion.  And his ability to hang onto that lead likely owes at least in part to the uncharacteristically empty debate calendar since his rise.

So, with Santorum already poised for a fall no less swift than his frontrunning predecessors, his performance at last night's debate (the first in a month and perhaps the last of the cycle) should help accelerate the process.

Hot Air recaps Rick's lowlights, but none's so low as the I-voted-against-my-principles-for-political-reasons soundbite.  I suppose I can see where his prep team was going with this - curry favor with the GOP base by reassuring them you're "on their team" and that your team loyalty is stronger than your conviction on issues where you differ with the base.  Unfortunately (both for Rick and, one presumes, the aide who came up with this one), this comes across not as fielty to party ideology, but as a lack of core principles, precisely the attack he levels against the non-non-Romney.  Hence, the booing.

Once the first wholly post-debate polling begins to emerge, I suspect we'll see Mitt having retaken Michigan convincingly, and drawing even with Santorum nationally.

Comments

Well, He Made a Fine Go Of It

Say this for Rick Santorum - he held onto the mechanical bull that is the 2012 GOP frontrunner status for longer than any of the other non-Romneys.  His dishonorable dismount was always assured, of course, given the general weakness of his Presidential resume (current White House occupant notwisthstanding), nearly insurmountable disadvantages in campaign infrastructure and finance, and the fact that his surge was the combined effect of Republican primary voters having literally run out of other non-Romneys to flirt with and the fortuitous, but ultimately unsustainable, resurgence of social issues to the forefront of the political discussion.  And his ability to hang onto that lead likely owes at least in part to the uncharacteristically empty debate calendar since his rise.

So, with Santorum already poised for a fall no less swift than his frontrunning predecessors, his performance at last night's debate (the first in a month and perhaps the last of the cycle) should help accelerate the process.

Hot Air recaps Rick's lowlights, but none's so low as the I-voted-against-my-principles-for-political-reasons soundbite.  I suppose I can see where his prep team was going with this - curry favor with the GOP base by reassuring them you're "on their team" and that your team loyalty is stronger than your conviction on issues where you differ with the base.  Unfortunately (both for Rick and, one presumes, the aide who came up with this one), this comes across not as fielty to party ideology, but as a lack of core principles, precisely the attack he levels against the non-non-Romney.  Hence, the booing.

Once the first wholly post-debate polling begins to emerge, I suspect we'll see Mitt having retaken Michigan convincingly, and drawing even with Santorum nationally.