Are Republicans abandoning ship? This is an exchange between Bill Bennett and Rick Santorum this morning (on Bennett’s Morning in America):

WJB: Rick, we put out a call yesterday when we thought people were abandoning ship here on the Paul Ryan plan … We asked who’s in and who’s out and we called on all the major presidential candidates, yourself included, to check in and you were the first to check in.
RS: You know, on the day that Paul Ryan issued that plan, I issued a press release and said, “I’m in.” … I read it and said this is exactly what we need to be doing, this is a serious proposal for a very serious time. Our country is in a really critical time with respect to our debt and we are living on borrowed time. And, the fact of the matter is the credit card hits tomorrow … The bottom line is our financial situation is dire and we need to have bold leadership that gets up there and tells the truth to the American public … We need leaders who are honest with the public and Ryan was the first to stand up there…and I embraced his plan and continue to do so … I think it’s a good first step.
WJB: … You make an interesting distinction … between those who embrace it … and those who try to get away with saluting it … I was thinking of the Alamo, “Colonel Travis, I want to salute you for your courage, however when it comes to the line, I’m not sure where I am.” [laughter]
RS: Exactly right. I understand this is tough … I understand that putting your name on the line and saying you’re for something is a scary thing to do … politicians of all stripes have stayed away from it, I haven’t been one of them, I’ve been out there fighting on Social Security and fighting on Medicare for a long, long time, and I really believe that it’s necessary to take on these challenges. I believed it ten years ago … and given the situation today it’s a no brainer, if you really want to lead it’s a no brainer to tell people the truth about the situation today.
WJB: The reason we made the call out to you all is I think this is a critical moment, if people start heading for the hills it can be a route … [citing Marco Rubio], the Democrats in the Senate don’t have a plan.
RS: They haven’t had a budget for years … But this is the game plan of the Democrats … I remember when I first came out suggesting raising the retirement age [it was considered] “heresy!” … I said if we don’t do something by January of 2011 we’re going to be toast … it was easy to predict, it’s not hard to figure this out.
WJB: This is not a loser, this battle can be won can’t it?
RS: There’s no doubt about it. There’s a very different environment out there across this country on this issue because of the enormity of the debt. Look at what’s going on in all these states, I’m in Florida and Rick Scott’s unpopular for doing what he’s doing, Chris Christie is unpopular, Walker is unpopular but just wait until re-election time, just wait until the fruits of the tough decisions have been made and the things turn around. People don’t like this kind of discussion … but what they do like is they like balanced budgets, they like growing economies, and they like folks who are willing to handle those tough problems … We know what America is about, we know what makes America successful, it’s limited government, it’s belief in people and the private sector, it’s not big government, it’s not dependency, it’s not government control. We know what works and we have to believe in ourselves … In 2008 we had somebody who went out and convinced America they needed a President that they could believe in, and after we saw what that meant, which is him taking control and power and exercising more government I hope Americans now realize that what they now need is not a president they can believe in but a President who believes in them, someone who believes in what makes America great and trusts America and that’s what Rick Scott is doing, that’s what Rick Perry is doing, that’s what Mitch Daniels is doing … and ultimately because we know what works in America we know that will work for America.
WJB: All right, we called on the presidential candidates to step forward and put their hands up. This was the first one, and a strong hand it is. Thank you, Rick Santorum.

Listen here.