His primary win in Louisiana notwithstanding, Rick Santorum's campaign hasn't been going especially well lately, and his odds of winning the Republican presidential nomination continue to dwindle as the party coalesces around Mitt Romney.
Under the circumstances, it's not too surprising that the pressure would start to get to Santorum.
Take yesterday, for example. Santorum, campaigning in Wisconsin, pointed to a series of issues where he believes Romney would match up poorly against President Obama. He concluded, "Pick any other Republican in the country. He is the worst Republican in the country to put up against Barack Obama. Why would Wisconsin want to vote for someone like that?"
After the speech, the New York Times' Jeff Zeleny asked Santorum, "You said Mitt Romney is 'the worst Republican in the country.' Is that true?" Clearly, the question could have been worded much better, but note the former senator's angry reaction in this video.
Given Santorum's concern about the breakdown about American culture, his use of the word "bulls**t" stands out.
Of course, how one perceives a clip like this one varies depending on perspective. When I saw this I thought, "Wow, Santorum is starting to lose his cool, cracking under the pressure." When Santorum's campaign aides saw this, they thought, "Wow, this is a great opportunity."
The former senator appeared on Fox News this morning, after Santorum's remarks started to get some attention, and said, "If you haven't cursed out a New York Times reporter during the course of a campaign, you're not really a real Republican is the way I look at it." Soon after, the campaign began a fundraising push, hoping donors hate the newspaper -- and enjoyed Santorum's outrage -- too.
It seems unlikely the campaign will have great success leveraging this, but Newt Gingrich won the South Carolina primary by effectively running against the media, so it stands to reason Santorum and his team would at least give this a try.
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I hate to say it, but I agree with Santorum on this one. The reporter phrased the question poorly, making it sound like Santorum's assertion was that Romney is the worst Republican, period, when that isn't what Santorum said.
Of course, now the bigger issue is that Santorum didn't manage his anger at the reporter very well. Imagine how Obama would have handled such a question (calmly, perhaps even with a wry smile), and there you have the difference between Presidential and...well, Santorum.
Its funny Santorum is a lil pissy because the guy "phrased the question badly", yet, he has NO problem "re-phrasing" something the President has said or done and he doesn't feel "pissy" about that at all!
GOP = hypocrites, morally bankrupt, dolts!
I gotta side with Santorum on this one, it is a bull-s*** question. Exactly the kind of "gotcha" question and distortion that gets people upset with the media, whether liberal or conservative. That's why Gingrich was successful with his anti-media stuff, and why Santorum may actually get a bump from this clip.
Romney is the worst Republican? Worst for whom? Republicans or Democrats? We should have an open competition...I am positive there are many who would qualify either way.
Given that Santorum has himself out-and-out lied about what Pres. Obama has said, this is rich that he's now indignant to find himself on the receiving end of just a bit of what is standard operating procedure for his campaign. His response is a disgrace unworthy of someone running for City Council, let alone POTUS.
Rick Santorum has provided no assurances that he is a man with the experience, intelligence or temper t5o handle the job of commander in chief. Yelling at reporters is all fun and games for the juvenile hooligans that make up the Tea Party, but it is not at all indicative of a serious individual who could potentially leads this country. Brief boost among the anti-media conservative crowd aside, this incident is just another nail in the coffin of the Santorum presidential campaign. He has always had a problem attracting establishment support. This will only make the issue worse. He's a bumbling lightweight. http://www.sunstateactivist.org
Although I can understand Santorum's frustration, two things stand out for me. 1) He has NOT made it clear in 'every single speech'...in fact, he has had to TELL US what he really MEANT several times. 2) He is supposedly running for PRESIDENT and I'm getting sick and tired of using the media as his foe...as well as the libruls and whatever else bogie man he can find. He is a LIAR and a fraud and somehow justifies everything he says as worrying about the VALUES of this country...right now he's standing at the Supreme Court whining about health care for everyone. This is especially egregious knowing that he voted on bills in the 90's for health care...but then THAT'S when he was being a 'team player' and didn't really believe it.
The angry conservative may be enough to motivate Santorum's base. And changing his message may help win more votes. But he is running up against the regular party organization which is pro-Romney. The monied interests do not want Santorum to deny Romney a vote on the first ballot. I don't think the string of voting problems in the Republican primaries is all coincidental.
The media has found another convenient way to avoid work: Take a comment by a candidate, and ask him to explain himself.
Or, even easier, bypass the candidates entirely, and ask the public to respond. Yesterday on CNN viewers were asked if Obama's remark about having a son like Traynor was "appropriate".
If what you say is different from what you meant or meant to say how does one evaluate your sincerity or your intelligence, without asking questions. Keep asking questions. It will always be more difficult to remember which lie you told vs telling the truth in the first place. Everyone who hears what you say isn't necessarily one of your loyal cheering fans. Saying "he is the worst republican in the country to put up against Barack Obama." , said nothing about Obamacare.
Mr. Frothy is right . . . it is BS. Distorting what others say is HIS job, dammit!
This man clearly needs a teleprompter.
Cowboys round up herds of confused cattle to separate them.
Politicans round up herds of angry voters to separate them.
The destination is not unknown.
What's the harm? That cliff been there for years.
I so love it when they eat their own.
Boy, this is no fun, but I'm with St. Orum on this one. I read the questions as peevish, smarter-than-thou, too-cool-for-school. And I think St. Orum "blowing his top" makes him seem all the more endearing to voters.
This is a win-win for St. Orum. Apart, of course, from the lose-lose of the actual campaign itself.
When the candidate press availability is limited to shouted questions on the rope line, I say cut the reporters some slack.
I can't wait to see how the Republican nominee's opponents, Rick Sanctorum, et al, spin their support for whomever after what has flown out of their mouths for months. Can Sanctorum actually come out in support of Romney after this comment? Unbelievable!
According to Shawna Shephard the Santorum campaign is going to with it as spoken.
To paraphrase the great philosopher Kirk Lazarus: never go full angry.
This going to be fun to watch in a peeking-through-the-hands-over-my-eyes kind of way.
In the Repub playbook, this is known as answering the perennial poll question re "being a strong leader."
Of course, being a "strong leader" means saying things like "Bring it on." And they did.
The WaPo Fix has some more Rick you-won't-like-me-when-I'm-angry Santorum.
Not only does he have temper problems, he's whiney and petulant when he's mad.
If I were advising Romney (and they STILL haven't called) I would suggest saying something nice about Santorum. Now would be a good time to put his front-runner hat on. Not only would it the classy thing to do, it would drive Santorum nuts.
From, The Lost Party
The strangest primary season in memory reveals a GOP that’s tearing itself apart.
By John Heilemann New York Magazine, re Santorum:
Then there is his personality: “In the Senate as well as his home state, Santorum often struck people as arrogant and headstrong, preachy and judgmental,” writes Byron York in the Washington Examiner. Or, as a Republican lobbyist puts it to me, “When he was in the Senate, he was probably the most friendless guy there.”
Santorums running for V.P. He's the perfect V.P. pick for R-money, he brings the religious right. Lets face it, the monied interests want R-money.