PSotD noted Peggy Noonan’s weepy editorial in the WSJ: “We Need His Kind: In praise of Rick Santorum.”

Oh, Poor Rick. Poor, poor Rick. He is being punished for candor, don’t you know. As proof of his decency, he shared with a journalist how much he feels for Bob Casey:

We pray for the Caseys every night. We know it’s as hard for them as it is for us.

Indeed, it is a big-hearted man who can pray for an opponent who suffers the insults that you sling at him daily. Maybe Rick ought to tend to his own soul and pray for forgiveness.

Karen Santorum is distressed that we don’t see the kind, tender side of her husband. Peggy Noonan sheds tears for a misunderstood crusader for social justice.

But the Pennsylvanians who know Santorum’s public self know a different Rick Santorum. His disastrously wrong-minded policies aside, we see a career grandstander. Our Rick is a guy who uses every chance to attack his opponents; to scoldingly disapprove of how other decent people live their lives; to mock others with a smug pursing of the lips. He sure loved to let us all know how pious he was, but we rarely witnessed his humility.

If Rick Santorum is the sweetheart in his private life that others say he is, the greatest thing to mourn about his political career is that he could never behave in public with the same humane goodness that he supposedly shows to those who share his home, his side of the aisle, or his pew.

Peggy Noonan can weep for the man on the soapbox, but we Pennsylvanians will welcome the peace and quiet.