Friday, March 23, 2012

Except Santorum Didn't Say That

It needed to be said (by someone other than Rick himself), and Patrick Archbold did just that:

The Romney media office, aka the Drudgereport, blares the headline "SANTORUM: OBAMA PREFERABLE TO ROMNEY"

Except, that's is not what he said and I am fairly sure not what he meant. Here is the quote.
Speaking at an event in Texas, Santorum again made the case that Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom's comments Wednesday on CNN about a "reset" of the campaign if Romney clinched the nomination showed the former Massachusetts governor's efforts to appeal to conservatives were insincere.

"You win by giving people the opportunity to see a different vision for our country, not someone who's just going to be a little different than the person in there," Santorum told a crowd in San Antonio, according to NBC News. "If you're going to be a little different, we might as well stay with what we have instead of taking a risk with what may be the Etch-A-Sketch candidate of the future."
The key context of the quote is in the lede in. He is speaking about giving voters "the opportunity to see a different vision for our country, not someone who's just going to be a little different." So what follows in his statement is how Santorum (and I for that matter) imagines how the voter will look at it. You need a real contrast. If your walls are already painted beige, why would you bother to paint them beiger. You wouldn't. You would stick with what you have.

What Santorum is saying is that we need contrast in this election. McCain lost the election when the financial crisis hit and his only response was "I agree with Senator Obama." Well, why wouldn't we pick him? We did.

What Santorum is warning about is if you offer the voter a choice between Obama and Obamaesque, voters will probably choose Obama. Why paint the walls?

As did Paul the Regular Guy:
Last week, the headline on Drudge was Rick Santorum's 2008 endorsement of Mitt Romney over John McCain. "Santorum endorses Romney" was the headline.

This week, they're saying that Santorum has endorsed Barack Obama over Romney. That's not true, either.

But any stick is good enough for Romney supporters to use to beat up Rick Santorum.

What Santorum did say, and it's quite true, is that people won't trust Gov. Etch-a-Sketch to mean what he says. They'll know that Romney will feel free to just "shake it up" after he's elected, just as he will after he's nominated. And, lacking confidence in what a President Romney would really stand for, some people will prefer to stick with the devil they know.

The fact is, most people actually like President Obama. If the Supreme Court has invalidated Obamacare, and gas prices have come down (as they always do in the fall), and if unemployment is better (and the official numbers will be, because they'll continue to cook the books), a lot of people won't see the urgency that you and I see to unseat Obama.

Romney can't provide enough of a contrast for disconnected independent voters to know why they should prefer Romney to Obama.

Don't believe me? Just ask Illinois Gov. Bill Brady about how effective a "vote-for-me-because-I'm-not-him" campaign really is. Excuse me; ask Illinois State Senator Brady that.

And when Romney's people lie about my candidate and twist what he says, Romney starts to look more like Obama to me, too.
Actually, Erick Erickson defended Santorum earlier, but I'm still a little in disbelief on that one..

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