Rick Santorum, in movie exec mode, considers his options for 2016

Washington Post ^ | 04/01/2014 | Ben Terris

[GIdget2004]

“There’s going to be a fight on the right to see who will be the Christian conservative choice of 2016,” says Jamie Johnson, a former Santorum campaign staffer. “I’ve never seen the stars aligned like this before in Iowa, with so many possibilities. I love Rick Santorum, and I wish him the best, but this is a new day.”

It’s a day when GOP Sens. Ted Cruz (Tex.) and Rand Paul (Ky.) are rock stars and when former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee could jump in and steal a lot of the evangelical support. And that’s just the fight for the right flank of the party. Who knows whether Jeb Bush or Chris Christie will end up eating away at the pie? This means that even some of Santorum’s most avid supporters last time around can’t promise to be there for him going forward. Ask Chuck Laudner, an Iowa strategist who logged thousands of miles in his pickup truck, working as just one of seven people on the Santorum campaign stationed in Iowa.

“Put it this way,” he said when asked about whether he plans on taking the truck out again in 2016. “Rick’s got dibs. But I don’t expect that you can re-create the 2012 caucus and re-create that dynamic. I doubt that anybody is going to be riding in that truck except me.”

[grania]

I thought Santorum was on his way, and then he had to start talking about compromise. We don’t want compromise, we want a clear, articulate constitutional conservative vision that will inspire people and win them over. That leaves a field of one...Ted Cruz.

[ansel12]

While he is postulating his moral absolutes, he fails to recognize the legal context--that is, what level of Government is responsible in a particular area of concern. The Founding Fathers deliberately left the Police Powers (health, safety & moral concerns) to the States & local governments. Santorum seems indifferent to the most basic divisions of responsibility in his rush to prohibit what offends him. That is neither Conservative, nor moral. It shows an undisciplined fanaticism, but nothing useful in returning America to her principles, both political & cultural.

Libertarians promote anti-American social liberalism at ALL levels of government, it is why Rand Paul has moved to support gay marriage and social liberalism, although he is a Senator, and is running for President, federal office.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

Agreed. Another unelectable individual is Perry who did "a heck of a job" in Texas. That gaff during the debates in the last cycle killed him.

[KoRn]

"That gaff during the debates in the last cycle killed him."

Which one? LOL His presence in the debates were just one huge Gaff. I love the guy, but how in the hell does one get elected to anything being such a HORRIBLE public speaker? He made Bush look like a scholar. If he runs again, he'll have to be a whole lot more prepared.

[tsowellfan]

You just accused everybody you opposed of secretly working for him like every other Alinskyite.

I supported Rick Santorum back in 2008 when he ran as a conservative before he stepped down and then endorsed Mitt Romney as the only "conservative" who can win.

I opposed Ron Paul but never even gave it a thought that he was working for Mitt Romney. I opposed the former ambassador to China, liberal republican but never accused him of working for Mitt Romney, I cannot recall accusing any other republican of secretly working for Mitt Romney except Rick Santorum who did it twice already. Heck, I'm one of the few who never blamed Ross Perot for losing the election for George H W Bush in '92 (even though I was far from supporting the man).

If Rick Santorum had stayed out of the 2012 primary (or at least admitted he felt that his "opponent Mitt Romney" is a "conservative" like himself (as he stated in 2008) then he would have appeared more consistant. But instead, in 2012 he ran against Mitt Romney accusing him of "not being conservative". And in the end what did he do again in 2012? Endorsed Mitt Romney as the only "conservative" in the race to beat Barack Obama.

That's not being an "Alinskyite", it's called recognizing reality.

I do not oppose any issue Rick Santorum ran on and ran for. I support EVERYTHING that Rick Santorum claims he stands for. It's just that I know what he says he stands for and what he really is are two different things.