Reflections of a stormy petrel

Santorum was in the crossfire because of being Catholic pretty much across the board, and not just, like Paul Ryan, with a bizarre compromise between Ayn Rand and the Church. This means that he was utterly hated by the gay lobby and all their supporters (and what the silly gays don't understand is that they are being used as a tool by a much larger coalition that would just as soon hand them to the mullahs if they saw an advantage in that) and equally loathed by the so-called "fiscal conservatives" as a "statist". In point of fact he was what once would have been a pretty straight Christian Democrat in Europe, conservative on moral values, suspicious of big business, eager to help the disadvantaged, and a touch patronizing. The fact that he was so consistent, and across such a large range of enmities, and still came within an inch of the nomination shows that he fought a better campaign than people gave him credit for.