Santorum: If You're Going With Someone Who's Just A Little Different Than Obama (Like Romney), We Might As Well Stick With What We Have

Big deal?

I don't think so, really. I think people overestimate the precision with which people speak (when it's in their partisan interests to pick over those words).

I thought the same thing with that idiot Eric Felcherson (or whatever his name is) and his "Etch-a-Sketch" remark, and I don't think Santorum's speaking precisely or rigorously here.

You know, sometimes -- most times -- people are just runnin' their mouths.

When I speak I know the general point I'm making and I know the next three or four words that will be tumblin' out of my word-hole. Beyond three or four words, no idea. It's all improvised, baby.

I think people know this -- or should know this, at least -- but pretend they don't when they want to parse word choice and read into things and yadda yadda yadda.

It's all a little silly. We sit here parsing casually-constructed off-the-cuff sentences as if they're clauses from the Constitution or verses from the Bible.

And no one ever says, "Hey, man, he was just blabbing, you know?"

Anyway, I didn't believe Romney intended to completely reverse his often-stated position on religious liberty with a single off-handed sentence offered to a local reporter, I didn't believe his communications manager intended to announce to the world his boss was ready to "shake up the etch-a-sketch" and reverse all of his positions, and I don't believe Rick Santorum is making a rigorous, well-considered statement that he'd rather have Barack Obama in office than a Republican.

Oral communication is simply not a terribly precise medium. Unless you ask the same question multiple times, putting the subject on alert to precisely what you're asking (and all implications thereof), I just don't take oral statements as being very rigorous or well-considered.

And speaking of oral communications: I also didn't believe Barack Obama when he vowed, too many times to count, that he would not bust in our collective national mouth. See, I knew he was just sayin' what came to mind.

I knew what was going to happen. We all did.

Some of us, like those in the media, wanted it to happen, of course.

Meanwhile, True Conservative Jim DeMint suggests Santorum should consider dropping his candidacy, and says of Romney, "There's a lot to like there."

posted by Ace at 06:19 PM

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