Rick Santorum Is Running Around in His Mitt Romney Skin-Suit Again

Mitt Romney’s plan to save the American economy involves controlling what everyone does with their pants-regions, Talking Points Memo says:

“Familes are an important source of strength for the nation,” Romney told the crowd. “Rick Santorum is fond of reminding us of the study that was carried out by the Brookings Institution where they looked at the qualities that were the best predictors of happiness and in this case financial wherewithal.”

Romney ticked off the familiar points from Santorum’s reading of the study easily recalled by anyone who followed Santorum’s primary campaign. The chance at poverty is lessened dramatically, Romney said, if people have “had the chance to be married,” graduated from high school and “whether they ever, one time, took a job.”

Santorum, of course, is giddy that Romney name-checked him and his idiotic pet study. That study gets used by the Christian Right as a “scientific” reason to fight gay marriage (because it’s not the kind of marriage that promotes economic growth, I guess) and women’s rights and any other number of issues that should be completely settled here in the 21st century. You’ll notice that Romney is kind of cautiously stepping around the study and not using it the way Santorum did, as a club. That’s because Romney has to be careful about family values in a way that Santorum doesn’t. He has to avoid looking like a bossy Mormon, and so far, his people have managed this dance really well. If I were the Democrats, I’d be forcing Romney to cozy up to Rick Santorum a hell of a lot more often.