As one of the “sub-memes” of the entire “Trayvon-Zimmerman” affair is the implication for gun-owners’ rights — to include not only the right to keep and bear arms, but also the right to use them in self-defense — the deeper implications of this egregiously ill-advised statement by Santorum are those that give me a queasy feeling that — when the chips are down and the MSM is up in a frenzy — Rick Santorum simply CANNOT be trusted to stand for the validity or meaning of the Second Amendment.
Of course, I do not have a great feeling of confidence in either Romney or Gingrich in this area, either..... let alone Obama.
Ergo: Americans who believe the Second Amendment is a fundamental underpinning of the American Republic are without a “horse” in this race.
That said, I will vote for whoever wins the Republican nomination, as I will take a “natural born” loser over an “ineligible” loser — any day.
However, that means our choices at the local, state, and Congressional levels will hold grave implications for the way that the Second Amendment will be either respected or repudiated by whoever wins in 2012.
I am sure you are right—”when the chips are down and the MSM is up in a frenzy”—we can expect Rick Santorum to fold like a lawnchair.