Oh Shit
by ChrisJuly 26th, 2005 12:44 am
I hope the entire Pennsylvania Democratic establishment and grassroots just watched Rick Santorum’s interview with Jon Stewart on the Daily Show like I did. If they did, they would have seen what they are up against, and the picture isn’t at all pretty. Make all the cream puff, man on dog, drama queen jokes you like, but Santorum is a very seriously talented politician. If we allow ourselves any underestimation of his ability to win a general election, we will have our asses handed to us in the general.
I hope tonight’s show serves as a wake-up call to the people who feel as though they can throw a Valium like candidate, with good name recognition, at a major political talent and hope to come out on the better side of the deal. It’s not happening. No matter how totally fucked in the head Santorum’s world view may be, it’s just not happening. We can’t let ourselves be blinded by the insanity he spits out on a regular basis, as most voters will never hear about it. That’s the case no matter how loud we scream.
The kid is good. If you saw him tonight and really took it in, you know it. Everybody who wants to see him lose in 2006 should repeat it in the mirror every morning. The kid is good, and if we forget that, he’s already won. He makes the unpalpable seem charming, the out seem in, the harsh seem generous, the nasty seem kind, the weird seem sane. The kid is good. If you think the average voter is going to dig through the misdirections and read the play action, you are as out of your skull as he is.
Santorum is seriously outside Pennsylvania’a mainstream, but it doesn’t matter. Santorum was seriously outside of the mainstream when he won his first and second terms, and it didn’t matter then either. Get used to it. Work from there.
Political acumen trumps nuts every day of the week, and political acumen is the one thing, aside from home schooled kids, Santorum has in spades. You may have each and every one of his disgusting utterances pasted to your dartboard, but don’t think for a second he can’t deflect and smile his way out of it, all the while making himself sound like the most reasonable cat who ever walked the earth.
I do mean to sound the alarm. This cat needs to go down hard, and we need to do it. Let’s not go into this gun fight with a bottle of sedatives and false notions about easy wins.
July 26th, 2005 at 1:07 am
he was very good. i wonder if any of the dem candidates stayed up to watch it.
he even slippery slipped around jon’s last question on civil rights in the 60s and homosexuality now. if jon only had a 2 hour long show and rick was locked in there with him, unable to leave until he actually answered some questions.
July 26th, 2005 at 1:25 am
“Oh Shit”
Chris stated it very well in his last post on Sanitorium’s appearance on The Daily Show last night. Ricky was good. Very good. I hope the entire Pennsylvania Democratic establishment and grassroots just watched Rick Santorum’s interview with John Ste…
July 26th, 2005 at 3:19 am
[…] Chris watched Santorum on The Daily Show tonight, and comes to us with a stern warning in Oh Shit: I hope the entire Pennsylvania Democratic establishment and grassroots just watched Rick Santorum’s interview with John Stewart on the Daily Show like I did. If they did, they would have seen what they are up against, and the picture isn’t at all pretty. Make all the cream puff, man on dog, drama queen jokes you like, but Santorum is a very seriously talented politician. If we allow ourselves any underestimation of his ability to win a general election, we will have our asses handed to us in the general. […]
July 26th, 2005 at 9:55 am
i thought he came off as retarded.
but my friend thought “he thinks fast for a retarded guy.”
July 26th, 2005 at 1:28 pm
Chris, I didn’t see him on TDS, but I did see him on Aaron Brown last night. And I agree with your assessment completely. He is slick, and voters “buy” style over substance every time.
Though Casey has a poll lead on Santorum right now, that will evaporate pretty quickly after the Dem primary next year. No Democrat should believe that this will be an easy race. It’s an absolutely critical race, but there’s no way it’s easy.
By the way, blogrolled you finally - been meaning to do that…
July 26th, 2005 at 1:52 pm
Calm Down Chris. It is not the end of the world.
Santorum is a skilled politician, but the voters in PA are not that stupid.
July 26th, 2005 at 5:01 pm
Thanks Richard, that means a lot.
Samantha, while I would tend to agree that voters in PA are not that stupid, we’ve repeatedly failed to prove it in the case of Santorum. Just judging from some conversations I’ve had recently, I think too many people are dismissing this as an easy win for any Democratic nominee. I couldn’t disagree more. This is going to be a long nasty fight.
July 27th, 2005 at 9:21 am
C+L has the video for anyone that’s interested and missed it:
http://tinyurl.com/beo4d
July 27th, 2005 at 12:17 pm
Chris, I am one of those who think that this will be easy. In my eyes, it will be easy because Santorum is destroying himself.
Maybe I need to be on guard some more.
July 31st, 2005 at 10:34 pm
Unfortunately, one of the most accurate predictions I ever made came when I talked to Senator Harris Wofford, who had defeated former Governor Dick Thornburg in a special election in 1991, about Rick Santorum about a year before Santorum’s victory. I told Wofford I thought Santorum could be a lot tougher to beat than Thornburg was; Wofford’s response was vague and unmemorable. His campaign though spent very little time boosting Wofford up, and too much time trying to tear Santorum down. This was a losing strategy inherently, and a surprising one for a guy with a fantastic resume and record of achievement.
I think the difference between 2006 and 1994 is that people have gotten to know Santorum better. He is slick, he is personable; he is a better human being than his record would indicate. But his record and his wild statements create major obstacles for him. He has long tested the outer limits of acceptablity for a Republican in Pennsylvania, and he has jumped off the cliff to please the right wing too many times. The maddening Democratic factionalism in Pennsylvania may yet elect him, but we have a good chance to defeat him precisely because he has made himself so well known.