It must be great to be Rick Santorum running against Mitt Romney.
By the time Mitt gets to you, after Mike H., John M. and Newt G., all of the sudden there is grave concern that Mitt will not be nice. What’s that saying, it’s better to be lucky than good?
Via Bill Kristol, who in fairness was fair to Newt:
America is going bankrupt, Iran is going nuclear, the Obama administration is going after religious liberty. And Mitt Romney is going after Rick Santorum….The Romney campaign often gives the impression that it thinks Republican primary voters are really stupid—and it doesn’t do a very good job of hiding its contempt. The Obama administration clearly thinks the American people are really stupid—and it doesn’t do a very good job of hiding its contempt. It would be nice if the Republican nominee could contrast his respect for the American people with the Obama administration’s contempt.
But not everyone is going to be so nice. Remember Jennifer Rubin, who was building Rick up as a foil against Newt? Well, she has seen the light on Ricky Bobby from PA and all his bitter clinger stuff:
This is how, in part, he lost Pennsylvania — by appearing extreme and schoolmarmish, too far to the right of average voters in a purple state. If he is the nominee in 2012, he might get some blue-collar fellows, but what about those women in Ohio, Pennsylvania, etc.? And what about more secularized suburban communities? Fuggedaboutit.
And Mitt’s SuperPAC, you’d think they were new to this with a lame ad, but they’re just warming up for a Crazy Big Gov’t Ricky narrative:
Rick’s response? Whhhhhiiiinnnne (or at least that’s what they would have said if Newt did it:
Mitt’s response to Rick’s response? Who me?
“If this race does come down to who can run the most negative ads … and beat them into submission with those negative ads,” [Santorum senior strategist John] Brabender said, “we can stop the campaign now. It’s Mitt Romney.”
Repeat after me:
Newt’s third surge will be the charm
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