Rick Santorum Meltdown?

I saw this a few places on the web today - and I wanted to make sure you saw it too. It's from Editor and Publisher:

Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), in a bruising race for re-election, slammed a Pennsylvania newspaper -- literally -- this weekend.

The Patriot-News of Harrisburg, Pa., report that Santorum, who trails Democrat Robert Casey in most polls, referred to his "rocky relations with the press" as he moved from room to room to attend regional caucuses earlier at a GOP state committee meeting in a hotel in East Pennsboro.

Later he refused to talk when a Patriot-News reporter, Brett Lieberman, approached with a question about Iran -- and again complained about what he called biased coverage.

"I have to raise tens of millions of dollars because of the junk you feed the people of Pennsylvania," he said, according to the paper. It added that he "then used an expletive to describe the coverage and slammed down a newspaper."

I would, of course, challenge the use of the word "most" in the phrase "who trails Democrat Robert Casey in most polls". That implies that there is at least one poll where the two candidates are either tied or where (gag) Santorum leads.

Take a look here. It's not true. As of right now (September 18, 2006) Rick is trailing Bob Casey - and has for a long long time.

The story at the Patriot-News:

Santorum, who alluded to his rocky relations with the press as he hopped from room to room to meet with regional caucuses earlier in the morning, later refused to talk when a Patriot-News reporter approached with a question about Iran. He complained about what he called biased coverage.

"I have to raise tens of millions of dollars because of the junk you feed the people of Pennsylvania," he said. He then used an expletive to describe the coverage and slammed down a newspaper.

A spokesman for Democratic Senate candidate Casey, Larry Smar, said Santorum "has a long history of shooting his mouth off and not taking responsibility for his actions and blaming others."

Santorum's attacks on Casey and television advertising show "a desperate candidate who is coming unglued and resorting to blatantly misleading attacks in an attempt to salvage his fading re-election hopes," Smar said.

Amen, brother.

I wonder what expletive Lil Ricky used.

UPDATE: Check this out. Tom Ferrick Jr is a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Here's part of what Ferrick said:

What was the expletive? The E&P does not say. I'm guessing it rhymes with fit.
Santorum apparently was unhappy with Lieberman's coverage of the first Santorum-Casey debate, which -- the reporter opined -- Casey won. Lieberman is the Patriot's Washington reporter.

I think it is fundamentally unfair for Santorum to blame Lieberman for the "junk" that has forced him to go out and raise $10 million to counter.
I think we are all to blame.

Who among us had not written something that has put the senator in a bad light? His guts-and-glory support of the Iraq War. His keep-them-barefoot-and-pregnant views on the gentler sex. His famous "man on dog" comment. His K Street Days. His residency problems. The whole cyber-school brouhaha.

We've been there. We've done that.

I myself have had numerous transgressions, writing about the Santorum "wacko factor" and calling him "one of the finest minds of the 13th Century."

I could go on. No wonder he is furious at us media jackals.

Hahahahahaha!

Rick Santorum - unbalanced.