January 15, 2017

During one of CNN's interminable panel discussions on State of the Union, Jake Tapper asked Rick Santorum (of all people) about how well President Obama took the slings and arrows of being President.

And oh, my, you could have asked him if he wanted some cheese with his whine while at it.

"[Obama] was probably one of the most vindictive presidents," Santorum cried. "Going after members of Congress and anybody who disagreed with him."

Yeah, all those times President Obama invited members of Congress to the White House only to be declined over and over again was so polite and open-minded of them, right?

And poor, poor Paul Ryan.

"One of the things that made it hard for him is going after Paul Ryan," Santorum groused. "He is sitting right in front of him and trying to embarrass him."

Well yes, he did. Because voucherizing Medicare is a terrible, awful idea. So Ryan totally deserved to be embarrassed and called out. That's politics.

Let me try to clarify this for Mr. Santorum. Vindictive is banishing the press from the White House because you don't like them. Vindictive is getting on Twitter and trashing a civil rights icon because you are pissed about what he said. Vindictive is Donald Trump.

Exposing flawed policy ideas, on the other hand, is not vindictive. Calling out the Supreme Court for allowing billionaires to buy their own politicians is not vindictive. It's civic-minded.

Really, Santorum just sounded like a pathetic little boy who was sent to his room for being a brat.

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