I’ve never been a fan of the self-righteous Rick Santorum. I celebrated his departure from the Senate two years ago. And today, he does absolutely nothing to convince me to modify my decidedly non-moderate dislike for him.

Why the editors of the Philadelphia Inquirer agreed to give Santorum a bully pulpit is a mystery, but they did. And the ex-senator uses that forum to predict that John McCain will finally reveal himself to be the Democrat-in-sheep’s-clothing that Republicans like Santorum long feared him to be. [H/t Ben Smith.]

How so? Santorum believes McCain will cynically attempt to write the final chapter of his legacy as the most bipartisan of bipartisan actors by helping President-elect Obama address “global warming, immigration ‘reform,’ the closing of Guantanamo, federal funding for embryonic-stem-cell research,” and so on.

I, for one, hope McCain does just that, regardless of his reasons, be they altruistic or legacy-enhancing or simply to give the likes of Santorum an excuse to throw another tantrum of worthless I-told-you-so’s.