Santorum: Viable conservative alternative?

Now that every other alternative has “crashed and burned,” said Charles Krauthammer in National​Review.com, GOP primary voters may have finally found a “worthy challenger” to Mitt Romney. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who was catapulted into contention by essentially tying Romney at the Iowa caucuses, is both “plausibly presidential” and a “deeply committed social conservative,” without the temperamental or intellectual problems that doomed the campaigns of Perry, Bachmann, Cain, and the rest. Santorum’s “electoral advantage is sociological:” As the grandson of a Pennsylvania coal miner, he’s got a churchgoing, working-class sensibility that would appeal to Reagan Democrats in battleground states. And he’s far more authentic and passionate than the wooden Romney.

Don’t let Santorum’s “nice-guy” sweater vest fool you, said Eugene Robinson in The Washington Post. He’s a “zealot who should never be allowed anywhere near the Oval Office.” Gay marriage, he continues to insist, is a step toward the legalization of “polygamy, pedophilia, and bestiality.” He says “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” should be reinstated to spare U.S. troops the horror of showering with a gay comrade. As a conservative Catholic, he opposes birth control—even for married people—on the grounds that it enables behavior “that is counter to how things are supposed to be.” Santorum’s “insane foreign policy” is even more alarming, said Andrew Sullivan in TheDailyBeast.com. A Christian theocrat who believes the U.S. is engaged in a holy war against Islam, he has promised to bomb Iran if he’s elected commander in chief.

Let’s face it: Santorum is unelect­able, said Michael Tanner in NationalReview.com. Santorum is so far right on social issues that it could alienate voters in swing states, and on government spending, he’s essentially a Bush “compassionate conservative” who voted for the Medicare prescription-drug benefit and No Child Left Behind. His big-government conservatism isn’t what the Tea Party base is looking for. And wait until voters hear about Santorum’s influence-peddling in Washington, said Will Bunch in the Philadelphia Daily News. As senator, he was the “point man” on former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay’s “K Street Project,” in which lobbyists were rewarded for steering donations to the GOP. After Pennsylvania voters booted him out of office, Santorum milked his Washington connections for more than $1 million in payments from an energy firm, a lobbying firm, and a hospital conglomerate. The Santorum Pennsylvania voters know may preach morality, but is ethically challenged himself.

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