The Santorum Paradox

Walter Shapiro gives Rick Santorum’s book, It Takes a Family, a very close read and concludes Santorum is a paradox.

“On one level, he is a
thoughtful conservative, wearing his erudition on his sleeve, bragging
in his book about working with Senate Democrats (even Ted Kennedy and
Hillary Clinton) to sponsor legislation that tried to achieve liberal
goals through conservative institutions like the church and traditional
families. But then, a few pages later, Santorum goes all fire and
brimstone as he writes: ‘Conservatives trust families and the ordinary
Americans that are formed by them. Liberals don’t. They border on
disdain for the common man.'”