Belatedly, blessedly, and not a moment too soon, the sensible branch of the conservative movement is moving away from Rick Santorum, whom it always sensed was a little bit out there, but not quite as far as all that.

Cause number one was a speech given in August 2008, in which he said American institutions were under siege by the devil, which had corrupted academe (an old story), the popular culture, and most of the Protestant church.