At the precise moment when Rick Santorum is demonstrating how a fired-up, combative, but issues-centered conservative message can resonate with Republicans, the Romney campaign seems strangely . . . empty. Take a look at the Romney Twitter feed in the past 24 hours:
Only one of those messages is policy-centered, and it’s a fairly generic pledge to cut taxes and make government smaller.
At this moment . . . the Obama administration isn’t backing down from its effort to get Catholic institutions to pay for contraception that violates their principles; the president is suddenly embracing SuperPACs after denouncing them as the root of all political evil for weeks; the Syrian regime continues to slaughter its people; there’s real talk of an Israeli strike on Iran; Komen just got bullied into maintaining its protection-money payments to Planned Parenthood; a federal court just ruled that Californians do not have the right to ban same-sex marriage; a new report shows government dependency is skyrocketing and stimulus money is going to luxury yachts.
Any one of these would make a great message of the day from a GOP candidate. Any one of these could make for a compelling argument against the president and his ideology. Any one of these could help Romney connect with the base of a party that appears to be growing more skeptical of him instead of less skeptical.
Instead, we’re getting birthday wishes to Roberta McCain and fond Olympic memories.
Sigh.