Daily Santorum 5/17/11

Satirists everywhere were crying in their beer Monday after Donald Trump announced he is not running for president -- though he added, in true Donald style, that he would have won if he did. Coming on the heels of Mike Huckabee's refusal to jump in Saturday, the presidential race was drained of two of its best characters and, especially if Sarah Palin doesn't get in, this 2012 nomination process is at risk of becoming -- gasp! -- boring, in the estimation of the New York Times' caucus blog.

We here at Your Rick Santorum News Headquarters disagree wholeheartedly, lest we lose blog readership. Case in point: Driving GOP nomination news this week is Idea Man Newt Gingrich, who has tickled his tonsils with his own wingtip through his apparent condemnation of the Paul Ryan budget on Meet the Press. Barnstorming Iowa this week, Newt claimed he was caught in a gotcha moment -- then went on to say that he wants to repeal Obamacare, not that he likes the Ryan budget. Ryan, of course, is peeved, as is South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, and Some Iowa Dude who confronted Newt on the trail.

So, too, is Our Rick, who released the following statement -- and piling on Mitt Romney for good measure:

For several years, Newt Gingrich has deserved a lot of credit for thinking through a great many issues in a serious and interesting fashion. But his criticism of Congressman Paul Ryan's Medicare reform plan [Sunday] was a big departure from Speaker Gingrich's often sound policy proposals.  Furthermore, it was a departure from his support of Paul Ryan's plan just a few weeks ago. Contrary to what Speaker Gingrich said yesterday, the Ryan plan does not 'suddenly impose' 'radical change.' It is a good first step toward positive reform of a program in desperate need of rescue. Paul Ryan's plan is the first serious step by our new Congress to empower future seniors with more choices while at the same time keeping the Medicare system solvent and reigning in out-of-control federal spending. 

As for the rest of our nation's health care system, it is out of line with conservative principles to continue to support individual mandates as both the Speaker did yesterday and Governor Romney did last week. A mandate, be it at the state or federal level, is still a government power-grab that neither lowers costs nor enhances individual choice, principles that are the essence of the market-based reforms our party should be supporting.

Santorum will now be elbowing Michele Bachmann for room on the far right of the race. Time's Michael Grunwald even called Santorum an "undervalued stock" in the race. There's no telling who benefits from Trump's departure -- he was more of a sideshow than anything -- but the fewer people who are in the race, the better for Rick.

The Schedule: Today Santorum is making a rare trip to Pennsylvania, with a not-so-rare abortion-themed appearance at a pro-life center in Wilkes-Barre.