In 2006 one of my favorite moments in international relations history happened. Hugo Chavez came to the UN to speak the day after George W. Bush had spoken there. Hugo started his speech off by remarking that the dais smelled like sulfur because George Bush's satanic presence had been there just one day before. It was a hysterical piece of political discourse, a put down par excellence. I'm reminded of that moment today, because Drudge has a Santorum quote plastered as his headline. In it Santorum warns that Satan is attacking America and it's institutions, even mainline Protestantism is falling victim to the Devil's prey.
Ladies and Gentlemen your GOP frontrunner. We're a week out from primaries in Michigan and Arizona and it seems like Santorum might score an incredible upset over Mitt in his home state of Michigan, and keep it relatively close in Arizona. The GOP may well be headed to a brokered convention, an idea I mentioned in these pages several weeks ago, and the lamestream media now appears to see as a possibility.
It is truly remarkable that an unreformed Christian conservative like Rick Santorum seems to be gaining traction in today's GOP. Many thought that with the rise of the Tea Party, the social wars would be pushed to the background. It seemed that the Tea Party was more focused on economic problems than concerns over gay marriage and abortion. It's always been somewhat of a mystery to me that the GOP which pledges to favor limited government is so worried about people's personal choices. To me it signals that the GOP isn't concerned about "limited" government, but rather "regressive" government, which enforces the social, political, and economic mores of the 1880s.
The curious thing is that all of the so-called Tea Party candidates, Bachmann, Perry, Cain, and now Santorum are unrepentant theocrats. Perhaps it indicates that the "Tea Party" is merely a rebranding of the GOP, which was in a state of unmitigated decline following the Bush years and the Obama ascendency. This isn't a groundbreaking theory, but it's funny how transparent it's become. Ron Paul is a natural candidate of the Tea Party with his severe theories of economic conservatism and he's even sufficiently anti-abortion, but his politics on foreign policy and the drug war are too far outside the mainstream even for the Tea Party, which is supposedly a renegade group.
If it's Santorum, he'll be a lamb to the slaughter to quote his favorite book. If the GOP is crazy enough to nominate such a polarizing and unmarketable candidate as Santorum they may well lose their major party status. A Santorum candidacy may well invite thrid party runs from Trump and Paul, perhaps forever fracturing the party. All of this is a testament to how unattractive Mitt Romney is. Every educated Republican knows Santorum is unelectable, but many are still unable to hold their noses and vote Romney. Instead, GOP insiders pray for a brokered convention, openly pining for Mitch Daniels or Jeb Bush. I just don't see how Mitt Romney, who's been hemorrhaging votes this entire election season can turn things around, now that many in the establishment seem willing to go to a brokered convention.
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