Our Profile in Courage

Bill Kristol notes the obvious: Santorum’s general performance in the campaign has been courageous. He’s not afraid to take stands that the experts say will doom him. So while I thought it was unseemly for Santorum to label himself with the virtue of courage in the recent debate, it’s true enough he deserves to get credit for being, say, the non-Romney on that front. Bill’s question: Is he courageous like Goldwater? If so, he will be the unwitting source of a new birth of progressivism in our country. Or is he courageous like Reagan? If so he will have the eloquence, fortitude, and disarming charm to make his allegedly extreme views mainstream.

CLARIFICATION: I was reporting on a new openness to Newt in Georgia NOT SHARED BY ME.

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