Conspiracy or Whining?

Just read this column by Ann Coulter, which I thought it was spot on:

What's Their Problem With Romney

I find it funny when I hear over and over again from Santorum supporters (or others like Sarah Palin who covertly support Santorum) say "Romney just has not been able to convince the majority of Republicans..." And I think, If that is a problem for Romney, then what about Santorum, Paul, and Gingrich who have even less support from the majority of Republicans?

I also read this one, which I had to laugh at:

Santorum campaign suggests Mitt Romney may have done deal to make Ron Paul his running mate

And then right after I got done laughing at it, I couldn't believe my ears when I tuned into Rush, and he was perpetuating the story! From what I've listened to Rush in the past few weeks, he has spent the better part of his time on the air defending and propping up Santorum. In light of the facts in Ann Coulter's column, I don't get it. What is Rush thinking giving this story any validity? Ron Paul is the most "tell it like it is" candidate up on the stage (which hurts him sometimes), and you think he would hold back from pointing out something he disagreed with in Romney?!

I have mentioned that Santorum is a good guy and a candidate I could support should he get the nomination. But it is funny that because Santorum is suddenly getting attacked on both fronts regarding his record, he feels like there must be a conspiracy. It could be that that the two opponents (keyword: "opponents") have a secret backroom deal going on... OR it could be that they both simply see the same things in your record, Rick.

Welcome to front-runner status! Time to be vetted like Gingrich was after his win in South Carolina, or like Romney has been continuously even before he officially entered the race.

I thought the Romney campaign response was a PR stroke of genius:

"The President of the United States's political action committee is now running ads that are just like Rick Santorum's. Is Rick Santorum coordinating with the President of the United States? I don't think so."

How Santorum responds to facing a barrage of attacks as the front-runner for the first time will tell us a lot about him. If he whines like Gingrich about the playing field being unfair and gets defensive and loses focus, that will tell us something about him. But if he stands strong in the face of attacks and does away with any excuses and just focuses on doing it better than anybody else, that will also tell us something about him.

The Romney-Paul conspiracy theory is not a good start.