Winston Santorum
Posted by Peter Lawler
Here’s a much more positive view of the "gathering storm" theme in Santorum’s campaign. It may or may not be prudent, but it is certainly noble and defies conventional wisdom about what works this year.
9:56 AM / October 31, 2006
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The likely Santorum loss will for me be one of the more depressing things about this election, regardless of what else happens, with the only solace being that Casey Jr. at least claims to be pro-life. In the post you linked to below, Ross Douthat is undoubtedly right that there is something over-the-top, something scare-mongering, in calling his latest set-speech "the Gathering Storm." Islamofascism/Iran aint the threat Nazism was. But Im an academic nit-picker and the speeches themselves do not appear to be as wanna-be-Winstonian as the title given them, and they certainly do, as Santorum says, talk about facts and concerns that ought to be talked about and which no-one else is. An enterprising finder of hawkish causes, this Senator, but seemingly of the more strictly defensive and limited sort than the neo-con tag hes earning suggests. Theres a healthy "Dont Tread on Me" patriotism here.
And you have to love a guy whos getting flack from Douthat for being too neo-con but praise for not being uncritically pro-capitalist, and flack from Brooks and especially Perle for being too much of a compassionate conservative and way too much of a social conservative. Santorum is sort of the (too mouthy?)mouth-peice for the supporting pole of opinion you find at the very center of the conservative big tent. That seems to mean right now that hes taking shots from every direction! I say that having way more respect for Douthats shots than for Perles.