Jay Cost of The Weekly Standard:
Thus, the ideal Republican nominee is a candidate who can articulate the party’s conservative worldview in a way that attracts the sliver of the electorate that is actually up for grabs. By the same token, a nominee who alienates the center is a danger in an electoral battle that will unify the Democrats around Obama. With a base vote of about 46 percent, Obama needs only to split the pure independents to be favored for a second term. As the battle for the Republican nomination continues, one question primary voters will have to ask themselves is: Which candidate can best articulate conservative principles and policies to attract, not repel, these independents?
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Cost does not endorse Mitt Romney but as much as I like Rick Santorum I know he would turn off these independent voters. Conservatives in this country need to be disciplined and not allow their emotions to cloud their judgment.
Bill O'Reilly on his Fox News show tonight:
"This has not been a good week for Senator Rick Santorum and it's not really his fault - he simply told the truth but did so in a way that will hurt him. One of Santorum's big donors is a man named Foster Friess, a conservative millionaire investor. Incredibly, Mr. Friess went on MSNBC to talk about contraception, where he joked that 'back in my days they used Bayer aspirin for contraception, the gals put it between their knees.' Senator Santorum says Mr. Friess doesn't have any power in his campaign, but that's not going to stop MSNBC and other left-wing media from hammering him. Everybody knows the majority of the American media wants to reelect Barack Obama, so why are Republican candidates and their supporters giving the opposition machine guns? Talking about the private behavior of Americans is a no-win situation, so Rick Santorum should have never said that birth control has led to a 'dramatic increase in sexually transmitted diseases.' The majority of American voters have no interest in politicians talking about private stuff and Mr. Santorum's private view is never going to be accurately represented. If Rick Santorum does secure the Republican nomination, he will be portrayed as a Puritan witch hunter, a fanatical religious guy, a member of the Inquisition. That's how the liberal media will tag Santorum, and to uninformed voters it could do him damage."
