I do not think Santorum is a gaffe machine. He just doesn’t speak like Gingrich. Let’s put it this way. If this were an advanced debate class, Gingrich would be at the head of the class, a classic A+. (And he didn’t have to sleep with the professor to get it.) Romney would be a struggling B-, saying all the right things, but as if someone else wrote it all for him. George Bush would be failing the class, even with the tutoring he’s getting. (Even if he were sleeping with the prof!) But Santorum would be a clean B. Sharp and quick, says the right things. Graded down from an A for some ums and uhs, and for going on a mite too long.
Santorum scares the irreligious, is all. They are afraid he is only about social issues, and they are tricked into thinking that a godless socialist or a man who says he is religious but doesn’t act upon the tenets of his faith would be better.
I agree with you on your debate grading, so far as it goes, but it is not Newt’s *way* with words entirely at all, as it must be with Rick, Romney and Ron in these debates, but with Newt it’s rather the show stopping breadth of his incisive intellect that grasps the evolution of every single issue, one at a time, the evolution of every contender’s stand ON every issue, and succinctly delivers the cause and effect of both the issue and the stand.
Reminds me of a sword fight, where it is, whack, whack, LUNGE. Every. single. time.
If Rick had been a woman, it would be said of him that he was “shrill”, flailing and a little desperate.
“...or a man who says he is religious but doesn’t act upon the tenets of his faith would be better.”
That’s right, nobody can be as holy as Saint Rick. *vomit*
lol, that was funny.....and I agree with your analysis.