If there isn't a special circle of Hell for political consultants there oughta be one.
Bob Casey's handlers had him stuffed full of catch phrases he could use, and use them he did.
"Remember, Bob, to use the word to use the word 'rubberstamp' at least half a million times" they told him. "People hate rubber stamps, they like the paper ones you can lick, especially the ones with strawberry flavored gum on them. So every time Santorum opens his mouth, call him a 'rubberstamper.' That'll work real good. Trust us."
"Oh yeah, and don't forget to call him 'desperate.' Voters don't like desperate either."
So we got a lot of desperate rubberstamping from Bob.
And somebody told Santorum to look and sound scrappy. So there was a lot of fingerpointing and shouting and personal putdowns and general carrying on. I suppose it was supposed to be exciting, but it just looked stupid, and that's supposed to be Casey's role.
Oh well!
And Casey really did look dumb, especially when talking about foreign affairs. It's clear he doesn't have the slightest grasp of the issues and individuals involved. He was completely out of his depth on Korea and should just keep his mouth shut. Come to think of it, that's pretty much what he's done so far and it's worked just fine.
Santorum was aggressive throughout, irritatingly so. At times he looked just mean. But Bob just looked completely clueless.
Santorum got off the best line at the end. Noting that he aggravates a lot of people he said, "What do you expect? I'm an Italian kid from a steel town." Given that the debate was held in Pittsylvania country, that one did him some good.
Santorum won tonight decisively, but it's probably too little to late and will be seen by too few people.
Sigh!
UPDATE: The folks over at Real Clear Politics agree with me. Santorum won big last night, but it won't be enough.
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