by Maisie Allison
Larison revisits Santorum's hyper-aggressive, amnestic foreign policy:
According to Santorum, Bush’s record was mostly all right, except that he thinks it wasn’t aggressive or bold enough. According to Santorum, Bush had a foreign policy that was too humble, and he aims to correct that. … [H]e thinks that his disastrous 2006 campaign in which he harped on “Islamic fascism” and the Venezuelan menace was a profile in political courage. It’s true that Romney and his advisers still think that Obama is vulnerable on foreign policy, which proves they aren’t paying much attention to public opinion, but Santorum would run a national campaign even more tone-deaf than Romney’s on these issues. If Obama is trouncing Romney on trustworthiness to handle international affairs, just imagine what he would do to Santorum.
John Samples pictures a Santorum-Obama match-up:
In Santorum, [Christian conservatives] would have what they have long sought: a candidate embodying their commitments to a politics of faith. Neoconservatives would also have a candidate committed to transforming the world through foreign policy and military action. The Obama-Santorum race would be more than just a struggle for power between two men. It would be a referendum on ideas and policies that have dominated the GOP for more than decade. … A ten-point Republican loss in a year when economic weakness suggested a close race would be a political disaster not just for the candidate and his party but also for the ideas they embody.
Along the same lines, Dan McCarthy discusses the long-term implications of Santorum's rise for the GOP:
Santorum’s success shows the tectonic plates of the GOP are still in motion: social conservatives and the establishment aren’t completely fused, the establishment looks weaker than it has in 20 years (thanks to the lingering contamination of the Dubya debacle), and although all of this augurs ill for the party’s November prospects, it suggests there could be a reckoning before 2016 that will reshape the GOP’s identity. I’m not optimistic: Middle American militarism may once again prove the GOP’s lowest common denominator, but there are alternatives.
The Dish 