The Eye of Mordor Strategery of Defense

This is absolutely hilarious -- via Salon's War Room:

In an interview with the editorial board of the Bucks County Courier Times, embattled Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum has equated the war in Iraq with J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings." According to the paper, Santorum said that the United States has avoided terrorist attacks at home over the past five years because the "Eye of Mordor" has been focused on Iraq instead.

"As the hobbits are going up Mount Doom, the Eye of Mordor is being drawn somewhere else," Santorum said. "It's being drawn to Iraq and it's not being drawn to the U.S. You know what? I want to keep it on Iraq. I don't want the Eye to come back here to the United States."

We're sure that we wouldn't either, if only we had the slightest idea of what Santorum was saying. The Courier Times translates for those of us who are not so conversant in spooky Tolkienese: The "Eye of Mordor," it seems, was "the tool the evil Lord Sauron used in search of the magical ring that would consolidate his power over Middle-earth."

Things aren't looking very good for our steadfast Pennsylvanian hobbit:

Twenty million dollars can buy a lot of things, but U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum is learning it can't buy him love.

Santorum, R-Pa., has burned through nearly $20 million and a 2-to-1 cash advantage over his Democratic challenger, state Treasurer Robert P. Casey Jr.

[...]

Besides trailing Casey by 5 percent to 14 percent in polls, Santorum remains the least-popular statewide elected official in Pennsylvania. At best, 41 percent of voters have a favorable opinion of the two-term senator, according to independent polls.