Remember Rick Santorum, the neb who finished a distant third in
Florida ‘s king-making primary last week? There was a lot of buzz
about him after that outcome, mostly speculation about whether he
should walk off into the Sunshine State sunset. He had only one
victory, in tiny Iowa, and even that one was retroactive, announced
weeks after the voting. He had no money, no rich backers, no famous
billionaires with comb-overs to offer him apprenticeships. And he
definitely needed to lose that lame sweater vest.
The pundits wrote him off and I was prepared to accept
their verdict… until the Limbaugh endorsement. Suddenly, Santorum
has a head of steam and he is pulling ahead of his team of
competitors. Minnesota minimizes Mitt! Missouri misses the Romney
bus! Colorado colors in Santorum!
“Wait a second. What are you talking about? Everyone knows
Rush Limbaugh does not endorse candidates!”
“I didn’t say he did. I was referring to the David
Limbaugh endorsement.”
“HUH?!”
IT IS TRUE THAT RUSH LIMBAUGH has a long-standing practice
of refraining to choose sides in primary elections. That is a good
plan for a man who holds a position of public trust as an arbiter
of a particular set of values. His job is to lay out principles
that others can apply to life situations. If he starts telling
people what to do, he becomes a private-sector version of big
government: a know-it-all who figures out other people’s lives for
them.
Every four years during the primaries season, people call
in begging him to jump on one of the horses in the Republican race,
and he wisely holds back.
This time around things are different. Barack Obama has
lied about many things but he has been truthful in his terrifying
Inauguration promise to “remake” America. It may be too late to
undo much of the damage he has wrought but one thing is fairly
certain: giving him another term will guarantee a legacy of deep
systemic damage to this nation. The pressure was building on Rush
to accept that this time was the exception that proves the rule.
When Rome is burning, Nero cannot be fiddling.
Finally, on the eve of the Florida primary a woman caller
propounded a novel approach. She said that listeners respected the
constraints of convention and propriety that restricted his ability
to announce a personal preference among the contenders. But how
about this idea? How about if he would announce his brother David’s
choice? Listeners would know what to do with that information, she
promised.
Limbaugh chuckled and moved on to other conversations. But
lo and behold, at the very end of the broadcast he reported that
his brother has emailed him to the effect he would back Santorum.
Nor did it end there. He began pointing out on a daily basis that
every other major candidate in the race — Obama, Romney, Gingrich
— had either instituted or advocated a health-insurance mandate at
some point. Not only was he offering a provocative argument, he
used the broadcaster’s skill to always end the presentation with
the name of the candidate.
“The only candidate in the race who has not backed a
mandate is… Santorum!”
This Tuesday, on the eve of the
Colorado-Minnesota-Missouri trifecta, Limbaugh revisited this
mantra, and I quote: “Santorum, of the conservatives remaining, is
the one with the least baggage in terms of abandoning conservatism
at times over his career.” The voters were listening. In Missouri,
where Rush was born and David still lives, Santorum won 55-25! In
Minnesota, a 45-17 romp over Romney; in Colorado, a tighter squeak.
These are not only victories; they carry a big stick and speak very
loudly indeed.
The Limbaugh-by-proxy endorsement has shaken things up and
you can be sure the establishment honchos are hunched over in
terror. The Republicans march toward Super Tuesday mindful of this
message: “Yes, Virginia , there is a Santorum clause on the
ballot.”
As for Mitt Romney, I respect him a great deal and his
campaign has treated me with the utmost cordiality. All I can say
to him right now is this: if at first you don’t succeed, you’re
probably trying too hard.
