The Trib Endorses Santorum - but flubs the logic anyway.

Here's the endorsement.

But if you look closely at the details, they're trying to have it both ways.

Obviously, they don't like Bob Casey. No need to regurgitate their reasons.

But in supporting Santorum, they stumble into a delicate rhetorical two-step - one that shows either their intellectual incompetence OR their scheming duplicity. Here's it is:

Additionally, Santorum's support of liberal incumbent Demolican Arlen Specter over bona fide conservative U.S. Rep. Pat Toomey in the GOP's 2004 senatorial primary was inexcusable. It's what started the evaporation of Santorum's base that has left him so badly trailing in the polls.

And then after writing that Casey would diminish Pennsylvania's power in the Senate, they write:

Santorum now is the chairman of the Republican Conference, the rah-rah-sis-boom-bah office responsible for getting GOP incumbents re-elected. It's the No. 3 leadership position in the Senate.

So what's significant about that you ask? Rick was the chairman of the Republican Conference when Pat Toomey was challenging Arlen Specter. Rick was responsible for getting GOP incumbents re-elected - including Specter. Rick would've lost that position in a minute had he done anything other than helping out an incumbent Senator. Interesting, Rick chose his political position OVER his political philosophy. But that's so much conservative water under the bridge.

So while the Trib talks up Rick's powerful position in the Senate, they fail to point out that in
exercising that position, Rick Santorum pissed off a lot of Pennsylvania conservatives - and that's what started the evaporation of his support.

And they should've known that.