Earlier today, Quin Hillyer suggested that Rick Santorum needs to reach out to Ron Paul supporters.
There is a kernel of truth to that statement. Anyone who is the standard bearer of the GOP has to appeal to its various factions. Which is exactly why there is no chance in hell of Rick Santorum persuading Ron Paul supporters to sport his buttons in Tampa.
Aside from the fact that Tehran Ron supporters aren’t going to support someone who wants a military intervention in Iran, they are also not going to support someone who is so openly disdainful of libertarianism.
After all it was Rick Santorum who said last summer, “I am not a libertarian, and I fight very strongly against libertarian influence within the Republican Party and the conservative movement.”
Earlier this year, Santorum made it clear that he and Paul weren’t on the same page when it came to The Constitution:
Ron Paul has a libertarian view of the Constitution. I do not. The Constitution has to be read in the context of another founding document, and that’s the Declaration of Independence. Our country never was a libertarian idea of radical individualism. We have certain values and principlesthat are embodied in our country. We have G-d given rights.
Given Santorum’s distaste for libertarianism, it’s hard to see how Santorum can possibly bridge such a chasm. I’m sure Santorum and Paul have points of agreement but their differences are so vast, even if Santorum had the money he couldn’t possibly build a tent big enough for the Paul supporters to set up camp.