Santorum is talking about the establishment GOP, whose efforts are directed at managing political issues on political terms , only. For instance, I once approached Kirby Wilbur, the then head of the WA State GOP, about the high cost of new SEIU contracts and the state budget. Wilbur told me that if I was so concerned with it, I should write my own initiative to present at the convention because the Republicans were not interested. Others told me that the unions were ready to support Republicans if Republicans would only support union issues, so that is what the WA Republicans were going to do. They weren’t interested in the real impact of their policies, only in winning elections. It has been a down hill slide for WA Republicans ever since.
Sorry Eva, your one off issue example 2600 miles from Santorum’s home state is not going to excuse RS for this pablum…if he was talking about the GOP e, which he is at least a part time member of, then he said it poorly.
This encapsulates the problem with GOPe. Democrats are ideologically driven. GOPe just wants to get people from "their team" into office, and doesn't care if they become Dem-lite in order to do that, because they figure "Where are the conservatives going to go?"