Rick Santorum and the Right to Privacy

Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Penn.), bogged down in a tough re-election fight, has launched a bold new PR strategy: Making shit up. After Democrat Bob Casey won the primary to challenge Santorum, a Democratic leader in Santorum's neighborhood claimed that the senator doesn't actually live in his Pennsylvania residence—he spends all of his time in Virginia. "Their house has no furniture and no drapes," Ed Vecchio said. "They don't live in Penn Hills."

Santorum's campaign took that offhand remark and crafted a frightening tale of deception and fear. Vecchio's story morphed into that of a "Casey campaign operative" peeping into Santorum's window and frightening his children. Instead of a comment the Democratic official made to a TV reporter, it became a revelation uncovered by "a KDKA investigative report."

The consensus is that this is a desparation tactic that's not doing much for the campaign. (Santorum's campaign posted a weepy diary on the conservative site RedState, and the response so far is 10-1 "What's this idiot complaining about?") The irony of Rick Santorum screaming about his precious privacy rights, though—that's worthwhile.