I fear that what we are seeing with Santorum and some others is the "wimpification" of politicians..
They are so afraid of losing that they don't take the "chance" of taking on a Kennedy or Reid on the Senate floor in case it gets turned around on them...like it does with President Bush...
Notice how everyone clamors for Bush to fight back at the accusations by the dems...and not 30 minutes after the speech, the media and dems are accusing him of using the Veteran's Day speech inapproriately!!!
Also, remember when Santorum got up on the Senate floor, outraged by something (Schiavo?)...and compared what the Dems were doing to what Hilter's regime did???
HE GOT GRIEF like crazy....and not just by the dems..the MEDIA just kept it up for days.
Not to be too defensive but part of the reason is the way our side thinks. Republicans are individuals while Democrats are in group-think mode. We tend to stand or fall based on our own merits, while they do better propping themselves up because they realize that when one falls it affects the entire group.
Republicans may blame an individual for something but we rarely blame the other party. Democrats will blame the whole party for the actions of one individual.