Rick Santorum Just Scared The Hell Out Of Everyone

During the fourth GOP primary debate on Tuesday, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum shouted at the moderators while answering a question about the party's Democratic rivals, effectively scaring the pants off of everyone in the room, or anyone who had unknowingly turned up the volume on their television at the worst possible moment. Speaking about his admiration for the left's ability to wage battles for the issues they believed in, Santorum seemed to suddenly lose his cool. Shifting back and forth restlessly behind his podium on the WSJ/Fox Business debate stage, the former senator let loose a tirade.

"You know who I respect in the Democratic Party?" Santorum said angrily, shaking the otherwise disinterested audience. "You know why I respect them? Because they fight!" He then added that the Democrats were "not willing to back down" and congratulated them on being willing to "take it to us."

Santorum put up a good showing for the rest of the evening, despite most of his answers seeming jumbled and cluttered. The former senator also stole the opportunity to shift the discussion in his favor at one point, just prior to his bizarre rant, when he failed to answer moderator Trish Regan's question about infrastructure.

The impassioned candidate managed to sneak in a half-hearted, if not hodgepodge response on the infrastructure issue before firing off about Democrats. "We need to get the federal government out of this infrastructure business, other than vital economic highways," said Santorum. "[...] We don't need the federal government in the road business that it is today."

Santorum's outburst quickly became the talk of the social media sphere, with the candidate's own staffers jumping in to take advantage of the moment with a bit of lighthearted humor. "In case you were wondering, my Boss' voice is back..." tweeted Santorum's communications director, Matt Beynon, citing earlier news that the former senator would be taking the debate stage on Tuesday with a touch of laryngitis.

"If Michael Jordan can have his NBA Finals Flu Game, then I can have my Laryngitis Presidential Debate," Santorum wrote on Monday afternoon, tweeting a photo of his debate credentials and a sachet of Traditional Medicinals Organic Throat Coat herbal tea.

Well, it looks like Santorum had no trouble having his voice heard during the undercard debate, though he may have needed a mic check.