I was speaking with a friend on the phone yesterday from college. He’s kinda’ pro-life but not passionate about it and fiscally conservative but not very religious. He’s a little squishy, if you know what I mean. In short, he was a McCain supporter.

Anyway, he was saying that he felt uncomfortable with Rick Santorum. He assured me that he would vote for Santorum over Obama but he thought there were many people like him who would not.

I asked him why and he got a little cagey but finally said that Rick was “a little too extreme” and that’s why he was supporting Mitt Romney.

On what was Rick so extreme, I asked.

“I think the whole gay thing,” is what he said.

“What gay thing?”

“Santorum’s really against gay marriage,” he said.

I reminded him that so was Mitt (and so is Obama although he’s reportedly “evolving”). But then my friend said the thing that I think sums things up perfectly. He said, “But Santorum really means it.”

That’s it right there. There’s a sense about Rick Santorum that he really means what he says. And that scares people. There’s a sense among some, I think, that while Mitt may be pro-life, he’s not one of those oogedy boogedy religious types who might march on Washington on the coldest day in January to protest abortion. Mitt won’t embarrass the squishes by actually bringing up abortion at cocktail parties or anything. Rick might. Because Rick means it.

My friend was comfortable with Mitt because he thinks he doesn’t reeeeeaaally believe what he’s saying. He thinks Mitt will give us pro-life judges but he won’t keep talking about it and putting our noses in it.

The fear is that if Rick gets in the White House changes will occur. It won’t just be lip service anymore.