Will Santorum Take the GOP Down With Him?

The title to this post is a question that many are asking. Or at least people outside of the heavy Kool-Aid drinking, Bible beating set who are not quite tethered to reality to begin with. And, as Politico notes, Mitt Romney is hoping that Santorum's surge will crash and burn once the larger public gets a better look at Santorum and the media resurrects some of the insane and extreme things he has spouted over the ears. Romney went so far as to tell a voter who inquired about Santorum that people are just now "carefully viewing" the former Senator's record. Romney does have a point and even Kathleen Parker in a Washington Post column, while explaining Santorum's views, notes that he could well spell trouble:

Though Santorum’s views are certainly controversial, his biggest problem isn’t that he is out of step with mainstream America. His biggest problem is that he lacks prudence in picking his battles and his words. The American people are loath to elect a preacher or a prophet to lead them out of the desert of unemployment. And they are justified in worrying how such imprudence might translate in areas of far graver concern than whether Santorum doesn’t personally practice birth control.

Here are are highlights from another Washington Post op-ed that look at the GOP's well deserved and in many ways self-inflicted Santorum nightmare:

Republicans haven’t quite thrown away what they see as a winnable presidential election, at least not yet. But they’re trying their best. In GOP circles, there is more than a whiff of panic in the air. Unemployment is still painfully high, Americans remain dissatisfied with the country’s direction, even the most favorable polls show President Obama’s approval at barely 50 percent — and yet there is a sense that the Republicans’ odds of winning back the White House grow longer day by day.

Mitt Romney, whose main selling point is his supposed ability to beat Obama in November, has shown himself incapable of putting away a couple of — let’s face it — political has-beens whose glory days were in the previous century.

And, according to the polls, Romney is in grave danger of losing to Santorum next week in Michigan, the state where Romney was born and raised. If this were to occur, Santorum’s tentative status as the new front-runner for the nomination would be confirmed. Hence the wave of fear that is washing over the GOP establishment. . . . . . for now it looks like a race between Romney, who has trouble communicating with voters, and Santorum, whose message is alarmingly clear.

At times, it seems as if Santorum is running to become theologian in chief. . . . . This is not customary fodder for a presidential campaign. Nor is Santorum’s obvious obsession with women’s reproductive issues — not just his absolute opposition to abortion but his criticism of contraception and prenatal testing as well.

Santorum’s social conservatism is a huge iceberg, and his views on women and childbearing are just the tip. He not only opposes gay marriage but has criticized the Supreme Court decision that struck down anti-sodomy laws and declared that “I have no problem with homosexuality. I have a problem with homosexual acts.” That alone would be enough to put him well outside the mainstream. But his Ozzie-and-Harriet ideas about family life place him in a different solar system.

Given all the money Santorum has made as a Washington insider since leaving office, perhaps he forgets that most American families need two incomes just to put food on the table.

The issue, for Republicans, is not just that Santorum would lose in November. It’s that he could be a drag on House and Senate candidates as well. Imagine, say, Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) trying to explain to his constituents why someone who doesn’t fully understand women’s participation in the workforce should be president. Listen closely and you can hear the anguished cries: “Mitch! Chris! Jeb! Help!”

When I was exiting from the GOP, religious zealots like Santorum who now make up the extremist base of the party were flooding in. These folks at the time were embraced by the party establishment who should have known better. Now the establishment may be about to pay a huge price. All I can say is that "I told you so" over a decade ago.