I’m about ready to wrap up the Santorum issue shortly; one or two more posts to go. I was wondering when Josh Marshall would finally weigh in – seeing as he was the leader of the pack on the Lott fiasco — and here he is:
Now you have the President supporting Santorum and calling him an “inclusive man.” For the reasons Eleanor Clift sets forth here, I guess the president doesn’t feel it’s possible to criticize Santorum — which tells you a lot. But “inclusive”? I can think of a number of words he could have used. ‘Principled’? Maybe they’re bad principles, but he’s principled. ‘Deeply religious’? Okay. But ‘inclusive’?
One thing that hurts politicians more than anything is saying things that make them sound ridiculous. Calling Rick Santorum ‘inclusive’ makes the president sound ridiculous.
I have to agree. Bush had trouble avoiding being ridiculous during the 2000 primaries, but he’s been much improved since then. I think his response here was along the lines of when he said Putin had a good heart.