Rick Santorum loves hot beef

Yesterday, Daily News writer Will Bunch (he of the blog Attytood) promised a big story that would affect a campaign this November.

In a shocker to, well, no one, the magazine is liberal (American Prospect) and the politician being worked over is Rick Santorum.

While it’s always good to see a fellow writer get work, I can’t really get too offended at Will’s exposé. He intends it as a response to the New York Times profile of Santorum last year, which he didn’t like because the article didn’t include drawings of Santorum anally violating sheep.

The reporting is excellent and the story’s interesting, but it’s basically this: Santorum got a loan that he wouldn’t have been able to get were he not a senator. (Santorum isn’t really rich, and this loan was only supposed to go to rich people.) There’s other stuff, too, but it’s the usual politician gets things because he’s a politician deal, and I think we all know that pretty much every politician does that. I’m not really surprised at any of this.

But my lack of outrage (which is pretty much par for the course over here, if you hadn’t noticed) notwithstanding, there are some nice details in the article. Bunch details the expense reports of America’s Foundation, a political action committee controlled by Santorum, which is supposed to help other GOP candidates:

But what jumps out from the PAC’s thousands of pages of reports are all the small meals. [...] Arby’s, the fast-food chain specializing in roast-beef sandwiches, has been a particular favorite. Eleven Arby’s meals, totaling $118.25, were charged to the PAC — eight of them in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania, a small town on U.S. 15 south of Harrisburg. The PAC also charged four meals at Burger King, totaling $50.36 — three of these in Virginia or Maryland. Other meals were charged at fast-food eateries such as Wendy’s, Boston Market, Sbarro, and Papa John’s pizza.

But the pages of federal records show that no charge was too small for America’s Foundation: not the $4.44 it paid to a Sheetz Service Station in Mt. Jackson, Virginia, in July 2002; not the $3.71 it paid at Goodnoe Farms, a popular Bucks County ice cream stop, in May 2004; not the $4.48 at a Ben & Jerry’s in August 2002; not the $5.26 at a Wawa convenience store in June 2003; and not the $2.49 at an Auntie Anne’s pretzel store in June 2004.

Aw! Goodnoe’s! I haven’t been there in forever? Is it still open? Thanks, Will. I had forgotten all about that place!

Attytood
With A Little Help From His Friends [American Prospect]
Yesterday: Breaking: ‘Daily News’ writer promises big story in ‘national magazine’