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File this under the 鈥淲hat is he thinking?鈥� category.

Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, the Christian-right social conservative who sought the GOP presidential nomination last year and says he wants to run again in 2016, has become a columnist for a far-right website that propagates outlandish conspiracy theories and promotes extreme antigovernment 鈥淧atriot鈥� viewpoints.听

Santorum, known for his ultra-conservative policies on social issues such as abortion rights, same-sex marriage and pornography, amassed more than 3 million votes and won primaries and caucuses in 11 states before bowing out of the race in May 2012.

Mainstream to the margins: After abandoning his 2012 bid for the GOP presidential nomination, former Sen. Rick Santorum took up with a 鈥渘ews鈥� website that specializes in birther conspiracy theories, end-of-the world predictions, and dubious claims like the allegation that eating soybeans causes homosexuality.
RICK WILSON/AP IMAGES

On Dec. 2, Santorum penned his first weekly column for WorldNetDaily (WND), the supermarket tabloid of the antigovernment 鈥淧atriot鈥� movement 鈥� a website that once ran a six-part series claiming soybean consumption causes homosexuality. The website also has identified Satan as the first 鈥渓eftist鈥� and declared that Muslims have a 20-part plan for conquering America. It is best known for relentlessly flogging the widely debunked 鈥渂irther鈥� theory that Obama is constitutionally ineligible to be president because he is not a 鈥渘atural born鈥� U.S. citizen. It also relentlessly hawks varying imminent end-times scenarios.

By writing for WND, Santorum will get to keep his name in front of the most conservative elements of the American electorate as he cools his heels while waiting for the next round of Republican primaries.

But WND readers might feel a little let down by Santorum鈥檚 columns, which have titles such as 鈥淲hat Christmas is All About,鈥� 鈥淎merica the Great,鈥� and 鈥淧overty Need Not be Permanent.鈥� He seems a milquetoast compared to the smorgasbord of anti-gay activists, white nationalists, Muslim-bashers, conspiracy theorists, end-times prophets and other ultra-conservative hardliners that typically inhabit WND.

Perhaps he鈥檚 just getting warmed up. Or perhaps he knows that if he gives WND readers the red meat they crave, his words could haunt him when he begins campaigning again in a few years.

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