Rick Santorum: Praise by Sarah Palin ‘Absolutely Critical’ to His Money Surge

Posted on Comments

When Sarah Palin singled out Rick Santorum for praise last week during her appearance on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program, she got a lot of people’s attention. Danny Yadron of the Wall Street Journal and Kathryn Jean Lopez of National Review took notice, as did America’s leading practicioner of Neutral Objective Journalism.

Far more important, however, was the attention Palin’s praise generated among her most loyal admirers:

For Santorum … her words may have been answered prayer, providing the underdog candidate with the kind of fundraising boost his low-budget campaign needs in the final weeks before the Iowa caucuses.
“Our small dollar donations have just dramatically increased, which is, you know, a great sign for us… and I think Sarah Palin’s comments were  absolutely critical to that,” Santorum said, adding that there has also been a noticeable “spike” in traffic to his campaign website. …

Please read the whole thing. Since Palin broke her supporters’ hearts with her Oct. 5 announcement that she wouldn’t be a candidate in 2012, a lot of pundits seem to have decided that she is no longer  politically relevant. Yet Palin still has a powerful influence over the many thousands of grassroots conservatives who admire her and some of them — especially including Lisa Graas — are quite literally praying that she’ll make her magic happen by endorsing Rick Santorum.

Crazy? Yeah, but crazy things have been happening all year in the fight for the Republican 2012 nomination, And you know if Sarah Palin were to shock the world with an endorsement before the Iowa caucuses, outraged reactions from “experts” like Karl Rove would be like a gift-wrapped present under somebody’s Christmas tree in her home on the shores of Wasilla’s lovely Lake Lucille. I’m just sayin’ . . .

You can say that’s just crazy-talk, but it’s not crazier than this: Only one candidate in the 2012 Republican presidential race has visited all 99 counties in Iowa, and he’s also the only candidate who knows the title of the national anthem of Vanuatu.

I’m not kidding.

My future diplomatic career as the first U.S. ambassador to the island nation I call the “linchpin of the South Pacific” came up during my phone conversation last night with Senator Santorum, whose encyclopedic knowledge of foreign policy was impressive even to a specialist like me. We had already been talking for nearly 20 minutes when this critical subject came up:

SANTORUM: I assume your French is pretty good if you’re going to go to Vanuatu. Is that right?
RSM: Yes, as a matter of fact, yes, I have studied French, s’il vous plait . . . We’ll see you in Iowa [after Christmas] and have a nice long talk about the island nation of Vanuatu.
SANTORUM: Have you ever been there?
RSM: No, but I plan to go.
SANTORUM: You plan to go.
RSM: Yes, I’m telling you what — this is my plan, is that after you catch fire and sweep through New Hampshire and South Carolina and Florida, so that you emerge in early February as the surprise alternative to Mitt Romney, if we can make that happen —
SANTORUM: Do we have an ambassador to Vanuatu?
RSM: We do not have an embassy there.
SANTORUM: I didn’t think so.
RSM: This is another failing of Obama’s foreign policy, you see, because we’re currently doing our diplomacy with the crucial linchpin of the South Pacific, Vanuatu – we’re currently basing that out of New Guinea. Well, I mean, what’s New Guinea got that Vanuatu doesn’t?
SANTORUM: Well, I can tell you, as we were talking, I just Googled … and I found out that their anthem is “Yummy, Yummy, Yummy.”
RSM: That’s right, but that’s actually Yumi, Yumi, Yumi.
SANTORUM: Yumi, Yumi, Yumi, not “Yummy, Yummy, Yummy.”
RSM: It’s not that old song. But you know, we can convince them to change it, if you want to, Mr. President. I’m your man in Vanuatu, OK?
SANTORUM: You got it.

While I haven’t yet finished transcribing the entire interview, it seemed urgent to get those key quotes on the record immediately.

Today — when the latest Gallup poll shows Rick Santorum in sixth place with 3% nationally — you may laugh at the Future Ambassador to Vanuatu, but four weeks from today, when I wake up with a hangover after the Santorum victory party in Des Moines, that promise will be taken very seriously indeed.

You can make that a neutral, objective fact. IYKWIMAITYD.

43 comments

  3. Mr. Name Redacted,  As a mom, I like the Patriot Act because it ensures my children have liberty. That is, the liberty to take a science test without being blown up. Just sayin’…

  7. You’re wasting your time thinking Palin is going to endorse anybody before the convention, or before its obvious who the nominee is going to be. And when that time comes, she will endorse that person, whoever it is, including Gingrich. I think you’re reading way too much into her singling out Santorum, though I could be wrong about that. But I know I’m not wrong about the endorsement angle. She’s made it clear any of the candidates would be preferable to Obama in her eyes, and rightly so.

  10. There’s a theory floating around that she has been singling out candidates one by one to see if they then get vetted.

    1. Remember when she said she understood why people liked Cain, because he had worked his way up, and talked to them honestly and not like a politician? He zooms up the charts – and the vetting/destroying begins.

    2. She talked up Gingrich and said he would “clobber” Obama in a debate. See: Gingrich’s present position in polls – and subsequent vetting/destroying process.

    3. Most recently she talked up Rick Santorum – and folks are taking a second look.

    But in all these interviews she also said good things about all the other candidates, too. And every time she talked someone up, too many folks jumped to the idea that she was imminently going to endorse Candidate A.

    Also remember when she said that “the media was making Cain the flavor of the month” because the media was treating the GOP race like a reality TV show?

    I agree with TPT that Palin is trying to help the legitimate vetting process along while being simultaneously disgusted at the destroying process of some in media and GOP Establishment.

    I also don’t think she’ll endorse until later. She also said in her most recent interview that she trusts the people to do their own vetting and make their own decisions not based on endorsements.

  11. Santorum is quite the long shot. I hate to be Ms. Play it Safe but I think at the end of the day we need to go with who is going to get elected. That being said, ‘day ain’t over yet’ either so…what to do?

  12. Another plus for Rick Santorum is that he takes the Conservative New Media seriously, as any Presidential hopeful should. Here is a man who will speak personally on the phone to bloggers, unlike far too many other Republicans who take us for granted or jerk us around.

  15. Palin likes Santorum and wants to help him.  That alone will not get an endorsement.  Santorum has to rise high enough to be at least a contender.  He is not there yet. 

  16. There is something about Santorum that is decidingly unlikeable…yet when Stacy sees him in person he seems quite a nice guy.  Too bad Rick did not take acting lessons when he was younger.  And not try out for any role similar to being a hall monitor. 

  17. “Prince Philip, having visited the island with his new wife Queen Elizabeth, fit the description exactly and is therefore revered and even held as a god around the isle of Tanna”

    A Kate Middleton upshot skirt link would be HUGE in Vanautu…unfortunately most do not have good internet connections (or computers). 

  18. Vote your conscience. Rick Santorum can beat Barack Obama…and Mitt has about no chance to win the nomination because he has pretty much a hard roof on his support as long as people stay strong.

    Stay strong.

  19. I, for one, am extremely impressed by Santorum’s down-to-earthiness, sense of humor and his obvious grasp of the foreign policy importance of certain remote islands in the South Pacific. 

     Yummy, yummy, yummy indeed!  My favorite version is that of the Ohio Express, which I listen to with hand over heart:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozqfOzqMvlQ

  21. Red you don’t have to “play it safe” until election day.  The primaries are SUPPOSED to be the place where you make your statement and your stand.  

    Never surrender before your face is in the dirt…

  24. I’m hoping the Trump moderated debate stays between Gingrich and Santorum only.  First debate I’m going to watch since the Reagan library debate.  

  26. […] Anyway, if you missed Stacy’s American Spectator piece, go read it, because whomever you back, you’re liable to experience some of the same emotions. Nevertheless, as painful as hope may be, it springs eternal. […]

  29. Just to be clear, we’re talking about the ‘Conservative New Media’ that s*** all over the Palin and Cain campaigns because they didn’t like those candidates’ supporters’ attitudes?  We may need to be a little more specific in the future.  Stacy, yes, other CNM… taken on appproval.

  31. Ambassador to Hoboken is what you’ll probably get.

    At least it’s not as far a drive.

    I want to see Santorum do well, but unless Iowa brings the mojo, I don’t think it’s going to happen.

    For the moment, I’m giving Perry the props, since he’s one of the Conservatives in the race (Perry, Santorum, Bachmann).
    I’ve seen all the claims he’s not, and I’m “unpressed.”

    Conservatives should support a conservative.  I’m caucusing with conservatives, and that’s what I’m doing.  Newt is on his own, AFAIC.

  33. True. Palin has been complimentary to every candidate. All of them. She’s quite deliberate in this knowing that the real battle is with SCOAMF.

  34. As has been said, fight like hell for your guy/gal in the primaries; then fight even harder against SCOAMF in the general. And don’t forget everyone down-ticket who would best represent your interests and to keep a check on the Chief Executive.

  36. What to do?  Well drink…and drink hard!

    Newt and Mittens are the least likely (besides Paul) to win in  a general election.  Even if they did win…is a slightly less Progressive President a good thing?

    Santorum is the “safe” bet in the general.

Comments are closed.