As Rick Santorum contemplates whether or not he will again run for president, he looks back on on all that
"crazy stuff" he said:
Santorum's campaign in 2012 was largely defined by his anti-abortion stances and statements regarding contraception and other "crazy stuff that doesn't have anything to do with anything" as Santorum put it. He blamed himself for opening his mouth and saying "dumb things."
Wait, did he just yadda-yadda away his own radical anti-abortion, anti-contraception, anti-gays, anti-everything stance? Now that's a reinvention. And he's reinventing himself as an anti-poverty crusader—like Mitt Romney—and otherwise hopefully more-boring person.
Santorum discussed many of the same topics as Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Dr. Ben Carson, also potential presidential candidates who attended the conference. He decried the Affordable Care Act and Common Core educational standards, an issue that has become central to many conservatives' concerns, and said that President Obama needs to "define" ISIS and other elements committing terrorist acts as Islamic fascists or Islamic extremists.
Here's the problem, though: Republicans don't need another one of those candidates. They've got plenty. They've got dozens. They've got them stacked like cordwood in all the various states, just in case there is a sudden shortage of conservatives who don't like Common Core or the Affordable Care Act or how Obama "defines" ISIS and they need to summon up replacements on short notice.
No, I don't think Rick Santorum 2.0 will be happening, or if it does that it will get very far. It's a shame, but it is what it is, and if you take the creepy sermonizing out of Rick Santorum you're left with Reince Priebus in a sweater vest.