Rick Santorum has always seemed a little too good to be true. Michael Ledeen, for one, has fallen right into the trap, in his recent Wall St. Journal piece, “Santorum was right about Iran – When It was Unpopular.” But then one looks at Ledeen’s subtitle, “A grandfather who fled Mussolini taught him to prize freedom.”

That was enough to raise an eyebrow of this wary reader as I slogged through Ledeen’s tortuous prose. Who exactly was this grandfather, Pietro Santorum, the forebear whom Rick often praises on the campaign trail? I wondered. Why would he flee Mussolini anyway? What was he up to? And exactly what does Ledeen mean by “freedom”?

And sure enough, my suspicions were confirmed. Pietro was a Commie! Rick is a closet Red Diaper offspring. Let us remember that grandfather Pietro is not just any member of the family but the one Rick relentlessly cites on the campaign trail as a humble coal miner who worked in the mines until the age of 72. Is harping on Grandad some sort of signal to other Commie operatives? Now disguised as campaign workers and “good Catholics” for Rick, will they stage a coup once Rick is in the White House and has sent our troops all over the world leaving us defenseless here? What is going on? Herb Philbrick, where are you when we need you.

I always thought Rick Santorum was just a little too good to be true.

The story was picked up by Barbie Latza Nadeau of the Daily Beast who found it in the Italian magazine Oggi. Writes Latza Nadeau:

“In the tiny town of Riva del Garda in northern Italy, 83-year-old-Maria Malacarne Santorum keeps her family’s secrets—including those of her late husband’s cousin, Rick. In an exclusive interview with the Italian weekly magazine Oggi, Mrs. Santorum recalls fondly when Rick visited her in 1985 during his law internship in Florence, and when he came back again in 1986 and 1989.

“But the elder Santorum matriarch doesn’t understand why he has diverged so far from the family’s longtime political stance. ‘In Riva del Garda his grandfather Pietro and uncles were ‘red communists’ to the core,” writes Oggi journalist Giuseppe Fumagalli, likening the family to ‘Peppone’ after a famous fictional Italian communist mayor who fought against an ultraconservative priest known as Don Cammillo and about which a popular television series is based. ‘But on the other side of the ocean, it’s like his family here doesn’t exist. Instead he draws crowds as the head of the ultraconservative faction of the Republican party, against divorce, gay marriage, abortion, and immigration.’

“Those politics don’t play well in Riva del Garda, a community of ultraliberals. On the campaign trail, Santorum often touts his grandfather’s flight from Italy ‘to escape fascism,’ but he has neglected to publicly mention their close ties with the Italian Communist Party. ‘Rick’s grandfather Pietro was a liberal man and he understood right away what was happening in Italy,” Mrs. Santorum told Oggi. ‘He was anti-fascist to the extreme, and the political climate in 1925 was stifling so he left for America. After a few years he returned to Italy with his wife and children, including Aldo, Rick’s father, who passed away late last year. It’s a shame he won’t have the joy to see his son’s success in his bid for the White House.’ She goes on to explain how the family then became pillars of the Communist Party in Italy.”

Et tu, Papa Aldo? What exactly did Rick learn at Papa’s knee?

Well Rick, the cat is out of the bag. Cousin Bruno was obviously talking about a little more than family fondness when he said, “When (Rick) wins, he will send the American presidential airplane and take all the Santorums to the White House.” And then Bruno and the rest of the Santorum reds will be running our lives. Rick your intent to deploy the troops to Iran and leave us defenseless upon your election stands exposed. And since Michael Ledeen is peddling your candidacy, we have to wonder about him also. He always seemed a little too good to be true.

John V. Walsh can be reached at John.Endwar@gmail.com For those who have any doubts about this piece, the family history is true – but the part about the Manchurian candidacy is satire. To you I apologize since it must have taken you hours to read to this point.