It seems that Rick Santorum wants to be taken more seriously as a force for economic freedom, not just an aspiring-between-the-knees religious extremist. As an example, gentle reader, I offer you Santorum’s “economic freedom agenda” op-ed in the Wall Street Journal (Here’s the executive summary: he’s going to be BOLD. Romney will cut taxes and entitlement spending a little; Santorum will cut them a lot – except for defense spending of course.) Coincidentally, today, on Happening Now, host Jon Scott brought Alan Colmes, as well as Jim Pinkerton of American Conservative, on the show to cast a shadow on Santorum’s treatment by the media

Pinkerton agreed that the MSM has been focusing too much on Santorum’s remarks about contraception, the snobbishness of higher education, the harmful effect that separation of church and state has on his digestive system, etc. He noted, for example, that all the Media Research Center’s “Top Ten Worst Anti-Santorum Quotes,” relate to the candidate’s social conservatism. Santorum’s economic views, said Pinkerton, are being ignored, though these are “much more important, in [Santorum’s] mind, to his campaign.”

Nonsense, Colmes replied:  religious and social conservative issues are what Santorum is all about. “This is what he is passionate about…. Sure he’s got an economic plan, OK it’s in the Wall Street Journal, but these are the things that he wants to talk about, and has been talking about on the stump, and you can’t blame the media for that.”

Scott suggested it’s the secular media overreacting to Santorum by asking if the media gets uncomfortable when candidates talk about religious beliefs. Only when those beliefs go in a social-conservative direction, Pinkerton replied: not surprising given that the great majority of reporters are screaming lefties, according to him.  He said, “If my religion tells me that I’m to be for gay rights or, you know, who knows what, then the media are all for it.”

The debate turned to dissecting Santorum’s comments on church-vs.-state and higher education, until eventually Scott broke it off by saying, “Clearly, this is an issue that is going to continue to dominate the headlines.” Which I’m sure it will.