I don’t think “Santorum fanatics” is an apt description of what happened. I think it’s more accurate to say that the conservative electorate has a Huckabee Problem and that Santorum is just this cycle’s manifestation of that.
You just hit on it exactly, to what I meant. (fanatics)
Santuckabee.......fer sher!
Santorum IS the evangelical in this race.
That is a great point. I'd only add that this "problem" goes much further back. This is the same socon demographic that voted for candidates like Pat Robertson in 1988. People forget that Robertson actually won some states in the primaries (even finished 2nd in the Iowa caucuses).
Social conservatives are a vital part of the Republican party and are absolutely right on many issues such as opposition to abortion and gay marriage, but because many socon's put most/all their focus on social/religious issues they often vote in the primaries for really terrible candidates who have absolutely no chance to win a general election. There is zero chance someone like Pat Robertson was going to be elected president - even in 1988, yet over a million social conservatives voted for him before he finally dropped out.
Yep.
To many supposed ‘conservatives’ have no problem with liberal methods... it just that liberals have the wrong ‘message’.
Combine the ‘right’ message with liberal methods and our ‘conservatives’ are happy as clams.
Those ‘conservatives’ are nothing more than anti-Liberals. IE: liberals with their polarity switch reversed.