Santorum's endorsement of Romney -- better than a sharp stick in the eye

By Richard K. Barry

Let go of me. You're hurting my arm!

So, Rick Santorum endorsed Mitt Romney via an e-mail sent to supporters. After 12 paragraphs full of chatter designed to puff Santorum up to his own fans and basically lay out why he would have been the better choice, he finally gets to the point, sort of.

Here are the exact words: "The task will not be easy. It will require all hands on deck if our nominee is to be victorious. Governor Romney will be that nominee and he has my endorsement and support to win this the most critical election of our time."

It's like they're all reading from the same script. "Because Romney will be the nominee, I will support him." Still no excitement there. Not that it matters, though. Something like 97% of the Republican base has already said they will vote for Romney. And I don't think a great number of independents are looking to Santorum for guidance.

One of the more telling comments in the e-mail was in Santorum's encouragement to Romney to "add more conservative leaders as an integral part of his team." One wag on MSNBC said that this would be like suggesting that a news outlet should add journalists to its staff. Not exactly a way to make friends.

Speaking of making friends, this does beg the question as to what kind of role Santorum might have at convention. Are they really going to trust this guy at the mic? I don't think so.

Santorum never really had a shot at the nomination, but after months of being taken too seriously by his supporters and the media, hungry for a story, it looks like he started to believe his own press clippings. Not that I give a damn what happens to Santorum, but he didn't help himself with this flimsy endorsement. He could have shared part of a very big stage, but I don't see that happening now. Romney must be saying, "Who needs this shit?"

(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)