Santorum Launches 'Philly Inquirer' Column -- And Thanks Paper for Seeing 'Red'

By: E&P Staff Former Sen. Rick Santorum launched his new every-other-Thursday "The Elephant in the Room" column in The Philadelphia Inquirer today by quoting some of the criticism hurled his way by the paper in years' past, including (he recalled) "disingenuous, snake oil peddler, smug, arrogant, chicken-livered, intolerant and fatalistic."

So how did he end up with this gig at the paper, or as he put it, "What could have possibly possessed Chris Satullo to invite me to be a columnist shortly before he decided to step down as Editorial Page editor? Maybe it had something to do with his moving on. Other theories range from premature senility to guilt.

"Judging from the flood of letters to the paper that followed the announcement, most believe it was a pure business decision to attract more readers. I see: Bring on a writer who got less than 20 percent of the city vote and about 40 percent of the suburban vote in 2006 to expand readership. Shrewd.

"I readily admit that most of the readers of The Inquirer may not be big fans of conservative ideas. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't have the opportunity to consider them. It's an unfortunate fact that over the last decades, the institutional left - Hollywood, the mainstream media and academia - have not only become intolerant of dissent from their own orthodoxies, but also often attack anyone who espouses an opposing view."

Will Bunch, longtime reporter at the Inky's sibling Philadelphia Daily News, immediately announced at his popular Attytood blog, that he would attempt to rebut every Santorum column as it arrives. He explained today that it "will address and, for the most part rebut (except, like, if writes to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, or whine about his traffic problems down in Loudon County), what Santorum has to say in his new pricey hunk of newspaper real estate."

He points out: "The bulk of Santorum's first column isn't so much a statement of Republican principles -- as you might expect from the title -- but the braying of a wounded pachyderm."

In that first column, Santorum had observed: "Most of the great urban daily papers just feign attempts to balance what is invariably a liberal editorial board. George Will or - for years here at The Inquirer - Tom Ferrick was trotted out as the token voice of the great unwashed.

"To The Inquirer's credit, it has recently added the ideologically unpredictable Michael Smerconish, and now this red-state, red-blooded conservative to their team. Good for them. I mean, us!"

He closed: "Thank you, Inquirer, for giving me that opportunity - for inviting this elephant into your living room. I hope it proves entertaining and enlightening. I promise to be gentle. The only thing I'd like to trample is readers' expectations."