George Will: Santorum Is Winning Because Republicans ‘Crave Fun’

Quick! What’s one word you would use to describe Rick Santorum? …Devout? …Stylish? …Fertile? NO. The answer, according to George Will, is “fun.”

In a Washington Post column published this afternoon, Will explains Santorum’s rise in popularity (I absolutely refuse to use the alliterative, two-word term that describes his recent success) by observing that Republican voters, not unlike girls at the end of the working day, just wanna have fun. Or, at least, don’t want to play by the rules to which they feel expected to adhere:

Rick Santorum has become central because Iowa Republicans ignored an axiom that is as familiar as it is false: Democrats fall in love, and Republicans fall in line. Republicans, supposedly hierarchical, actually are — let us say the worst — human. They crave fun. Supporting Mitt Romney still seems to many like a duty, the responsible thing to do. Suddenly, supporting Santorum seems like a lark, partly because a week or so ago he could quit complaining about media neglect and start having fun, which is infectious.

Will adds that Santorum has found a way to attract and connect with that “economically anxious and culturally conservative” block of voters formerly known as “Reagan Democrats” and currently considered “the Republican base” because he is “from them,” while his main rival, Mitt Romney, is decidedly not.

What say you, Santorum fans? Is your candidate of choice the equivalent of eschewing a wholesome plate of veggies for a whole bowl of Laffy Taffy?

h/t Washington Post

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