Not a likely pairing, I think. (Joshua Lott/Reuters)



Not a likely pairing, I think. (Joshua Lott/Reuters)



"Of course. I mean, look. I would do in this race as I always say, this is the most important race in our country's history. I'm going to do everything I can. I'm doing everything I can. I'm out there. In the last 10 months, I've had five days off. Two for Thanksgiving, and three for Christmas. I've been working every single day. My wife and my kids, we're just busting our tail, because we know their future and all of our childrens' future is at stake in this election and I don't want to be the guy who has to sit with my granddaughter, 20 years from now, and tell stories about an America where people once were free. I don’t want to have that conversation."

In a Monday interview, CBN reporter David Brody asked Rick Santorum whether he'd consider being Mitt Romney's vice presidential nominee. (Candidates seem to get these questions only when there is no remaining hope of the winning; nobody's asking Mitt Romney whose ticket he'd like to run on, if given the chance.) Santorum's answer:To be fair, I think you'd get the same answer from Santorum (or Gingrich) if you asked them the question "Would you consider bombing Antarctica?" or "Would you ride a greased pig for money?" Of course they would, because all of American freedom depends on them doing that thing you just asked them to do, whatever it is.

If Mitt Romney needs a Sarah Palin to placate the rubes while terrifying everyone else, then, Rick Santorum's available. Whether Mitt would take him up on that is another question. When asked only two weeks ago if he would choose a VP more conservative than he is in order to, um, placate the rubes while terrifying everyone else, Romney discounted the possibility:



"Well, that would preclude, of course, Rick Santorum. Because, I mean, look at his record. I find it interesting that he continues to describe himself as the real conservative. This is the guy who voted against right-to-work. This is the guy who voted to fund Planned Parenthood. This is the person who voted to raise the debt ceiling five times? [...] Rick Santorum is not a person who is an economic conservative to my right."

Aw. That's gotta sting.

As an aside, Rick says he doesn't want to be the old guy 20 years from now telling stories about "an America where people once were free"? Wow, I think Rick Santorum has been reading our site!