Is it any wonder politics disgusts people?

If you’ve ever wondered why politics leaves a bad taste in the mouths of many people, all you have to do is look at the current campaign for president. To be fair, this campaign isn’t a whole lot different from other presidential campaigns in the past few decades, but it does provide us with the most recent example of why many people are turned off by the process.

Consider the recently-ended presidential quest by former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum whose shoestring campaign, which ended Tuesday, was a constant reminder of now-presumed nominee Mitt Romney’s trouble connecting with the party’s conservative core. At various times during the campaign, Santorum attacked Romney thusly:

— “Pick any other Republican in the country. (Romney) is the worst Republican in the country to put up against Barack Obama.” — March 25, Franksville, Wis.

— “Conservatives will not trust (Romney), will not rally around him.” — Conference call with reporters, March 5.

— “Are you going to vote for someone who says one thing one day, anything else the next day that’s necessary to win? Or are you going to vote for someone you trust?” — Feb. 25, Troy, Mich.

— “Any time someone challenges Gov. Romney, Gov. Romney goes out and instead of talking about what he’s for, he just simply goes out and attacks and tries to destroy.” — Feb. 6, Rochester, Minn.

— “He’s got a lot of money, but he doesn’t have the convictions, the authenticity nor the record that is necessary to win this election.” — Jan. 17, South Carolina.

It’s pretty clear Santorum isn’t a big fan of Romney. His attacks got more personal and more negative as the race wore on and yet, in a recent interview, he said he was open to the possibility of becoming Romney’s running mate. One would assume if he is willing to run on the same platform with Romney, Santorum must have some faith and belief the former Massachusetts governor has something positive to offer the American people and can win the presidency in November. And if that’s the case, then what was all that other stuff he was spouting off about which made Romney sound like the worst thing that could ever happen to the Republican Party?

Don’t be shocked — things like that happen all the time. Politicians have a habit of believing all they have to do is say, “Forget what I said then and listen to what I say now. What I say now is what’s important.”

And they wonder why people don’t trust them. Go figure.