Originally Posted by Quentin

You know, reading his words closely, I'm not sure he has backed down.

Saying "to suggest I?m running on this issue is sort of bizarre" and "All I said in that post was, I would enforce the law" is not quite the same thing as backing off the "war on porn" rhetoric, given that Santorum clearly accepts the Morality in Media interpretation of the Miller Test (which is to say "hardcore = obscene = illegal").

To me, he's just done what any and every politician does: Seek to have it both ways.

Among members of the Christian Right, many of whom believe that all hardcore porn is already illegal under the law and that the government is simply not enforcing the law, he's hoping his words will continue to be interpreted signal that he's going to aggressively prosecute the porn industry.

To more moderate folks, many of whom think prosecuting pornographers is a waste of time and money (even among those who don't much approve of porn), I think Santorum is hoping his statements about the media making a mountain out of a molehill will resonate, and make him less frightening a prospect for those voters.

Where more liberal and libertarian voters are concerned.... well, I suspect Santorum knows he has no real chance of swaying such voters, and he doesn't give a rat's ass what they think, but he's hoping to tamp down some of their criticism by downplaying the statement on his website about his intent to ramp up enforcement of obscenity laws.