RICK SANTORUM SAYS SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE IS A COMMUNIST IDEA, NOT AN AMERICAN ONE

In a recent conference call with failed Virginia Lieutenant Governor candidate E.W. Jackson, former Pennsylvania senator and longtime theocrat Rick Santorum responded to a caller waxing poetic about the communist influences in the Democratic Party's support for gay rights and immigration reform by adding that the whole idea of separation of church and state really has more in common with communist Russia than it does with our good old red, white, and blue. 

Listen to the frothy history lesson,

‘Modern Family’ Star Refuses To Have Picture Taken With Homophobe Rick Santorum

Even politicians can get a little starstruck around celebrities. But beware: if you’re the kind of politician who bashes gay people on a regular basis, asking an actor who has publicly supported gay rights and plays one on TV may get you the cold shoulder.

According to Modern Family’s Eric Stonestreet, Republican presidential nominee also-ran Rick Santorum was at the White House Correspondents Dinner and approached him for a picture with himself and his kids. Stonestreet, who’s character on the show is openly gay, said it was never going to happen.

Speaking with HuffPost Live, he said of the incident:

“It was at a time when he was publicly saying, ‘Gay marriage, gay marriage’ and I’m like, ‘You know, I can’t do it.”

But Stonestreet wasn’t about to ruin Santorum’s children’s opportunity just because their father is an unapologetic homophobe. He offered to have a picture taken with just them, asking Rick to stay out of frame.

“It was with him and his kids or something like that, and I said, ‘I’d be happy to take a picture with the kids,’ but I can’t just be in a picture with you.”

Stonestreet added that he is continually shocked by who (Republican and Democrat) say they love Modern Family and count themselves as fans. He pointed out that just recently President Barack Obama had mentioned in an interview that his daughters love his character, Cam, and the relationship he has with his husband, Mitch (played by Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who unlike Stonestreet, is actually gay).

When asked whether he felt his character has had an impact on gay rights in this country, he said he believed that “we are having an impact” by “normalizing” the idea of same-sex couples.

Stonestreet certainly has reason to think that. Through Mitch and Cam, Modern Family has explored many of the topics that affect gay Americans today. The two address the difficulties of navigating multigenerational families with different – not always tolerant – sensibilities about gay relationships. They’ve adopted a daughter together and now, reflecting the increasing amount of states that allow same-sex marriages, they even tied the knot.

On the other hand, Santorum has built his entire career on his opposition to gay rights. He once bragged about the time he told a lesbian couple that adoption was a “privilege” and not one that gay people should have. He has consistently opposed the idea that gay couples should be allowed to marry arguing that it would destroy the sanctity of marriage and lead to marriage being ruined for everybody. Infamously, he suggested that if gay people were allowed to have sex, it would lead to “man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be.” Santorum is about the least gay-friendly politician in the country.

In a sense, Mitch and Cam represent everything a politician like Rick Santorum fears – and, even better, they are damn funny while doing it.

Watch the full interview via Huffington Post below:

Religious right movie should be early favorite for bad movie awards

Who in the hell put Rick Santorum in charge of a movie studio, even if its a small one. This trailer is one of his efforts and gives a good reason why all of this junk about "persecution" you hear from supposed Christians like him and the rest of the religious right is going to backfire.

These folks don't believe in nuanced discussions. They are like children who have to get their way all of the time. Any opposition or disagreement with their point of view is automatic grounds for them to start conjuring up images of oppression, death camps, the so-called destruction of liberty, and especially Nazi Germany. 

Nazi Germany? REALLY? This corny movie will be out in September.

Santorum Not Speaking About Pennsylvania's Gay Marriages or the Judge He Backed That Made Them Happen

In 2002, Rick "Frothy Mix" Santorum recommended John Edward Jones III for U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, saying he “understands our values and traditions.” Jones was then appointed by then-president George W. Bush. So it comes as a great surprise that a Republican, Bush-appointed, Santorum-backed judge would be the one to strike down Pennsylvania's gay marriage ban.

Even better, Pennsylvania Governor Corbett said that he would not challenge Jones' ruling, saying in part,

Throughout the debate on this important and meaningful issue, I have maintained that Commonwealth officials and agencies would follow the provisions of Pennsylvania’s marriage law unless or until a court says otherwise. The court has spoken, and I will ensure that my administration follows the provisions of Judge Jones’ order with respect for all parties.

The irony is so deliciously sweet it'll rot your teeth.

For his own part, Santorum has been quiet on the issue, and on gay issues in general of late. ThinkProgress points out that Santorum never addressed the striking down of the marriage ban on his Twitter account, nor when he appeared on Fox News just minutes after. He has also not responded to several media outlets who called to inquire.

It's too much to hope that Santorum has changed his opinions on gays at all, but perhaps he's finally realizing that campaigning against equality is a losing issue, particularly for the younger voters that the Republicans are hoping to attract, and will instead focus his time and efforts on more productive efforts such as increasing the federal minimum wage.

Rick Santorum Supported The Judge Who Just Struck Down Pennsylvania's Gay Marriage Ban

As Pennsylvania's gay marriage ban fell in court on Tuesday, the judge behind the ruling has a history of support from a notable Republican name.

U.S. District Court Judge John E. Jones III has served the Middle District Of Pennsylvania since 2002. He was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate in July of that year, and one of his supporters leading up to that decision was then-Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.).

Via Slate's David Weigel, who unearthed Santorum's March 2002 comments after Jones' nomination:

“Attorneys Jones and Conner are highly qualified to assume the important role of Judge and the duty of protecting the Constitution and ensuring the effective operation of our judicial system,” Santorum said. “Since the onset of the war against terrorism, our federal judiciary has taken on an even higher level of importance, and it is imperative that we provide our courts with the resources necessary to enforce the rule of law. These judgeships are vital to our national security goals, and I urge my colleagues to work with the President to fill these vacancies in a timely manner.”

In a November 2013 interview with "The Colbert Report," Santorum was asked whether traditional marriage advocates have lost the issue against legalizing benefits for same-sex couples.

"I think the real problem here is marriage has slipped away from us," Santorum said. "Marriage has devolved into just a romantic relationship between two people. And that's not what marriage is."

Fox News Host Challenges Santorum On Same-Sex Marriage Position

Former Senator Rick Santorum stopped by Fox News to promote his new book, Blue Collar Conservatives, where he emphasized that there is less poverty for families with stable married relationships.

Host Neil Cavuto pressed Santorum three separate times whether his argument extends to same-sex couples raising children, but each time, Santorum evaded the question. Though he maintained his opposition to same-sex couples marrying, Santorum refused to address whether such families enjoy the same economic benefits from marriage and stability. Watch it:

Not only are different-sex couples not superior to same-sex couples at raising children, but marriage is also not necessarily an effective way to fight poverty. If people rush to get married, they may divorce, which would leave them worse off economically than if they just hadn’t married. Sex education, access to contraception, and family planning services, on the other hand, help individuals — particularly women — complete their education and secure employment before taking on the financial burdens of a family.

Because same-sex couples do not face the same dilemmas of unplanned pregnancies, they actually have more to gain from the financial securities of marriage, particularly later in life. During the interview, Santorum conceded that states can do “what they want to do,” despite previously advocating for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage nation-wide.

Would Rick Santorum Have Voted For Arizona's Anti-Gay 'Religious Freedom' Bill? 'Absolutely'

Rick Santorum sat down with the National Review after CPAC a few weeks ago to talk about Arizona's "religious freedom" bill that would have allowed the "sincerely held beliefs" of business owners to legally discriminate against homosexuals. When asked whether he would have signed the bill had Santorum been in Arizona Governor Jan Brewer's place, he emphatically said yes, surprising absolutely no one. Also, somehow Obamacare is the government infringing on people's freedom of religion. Also said during the interview, utterly lacking in self-awareness:

The trunk upon which all other branches of rights flow from is freedom of conscience. If you don't have freedom of conscience, then freedom of speech doesn't mean very much, freedom of assembly doesn't mean anything because you can't speak or do what you believe is right. And what we're seeing is the government increasingly encroaching upon this very sacrosanct area of our Constitution and using all sorts of excuses to suppress people's rights. 

The Most Unsurprising Thing Ever — Rick Santorum Is a Hypocrite

If you had to name the most pious, smug, and smarmy politician on the circuit today, who would you choose? For my money it’s Senator Rick Santorum. No one comes off as more judgmental of his fellow Americans than Santorum. If you’re gay he doesn’t want you getting married. If you’re poor he doesn’t want to help you eat because like all good Republicans he figures you must have done something to yourself to be in that state, so you can just pick yourself up by your bootstraps (like none of them have ever had to do), and fix it yourself. He really is much better suited to be a Catholic Priest than a United States elected official — and yet he’s out there all the time warning us about the dangers of our increasingly immoral society.

As it turns out, Ricky might have a problem surging up from behind that he’s going to have to address. The Federal Election Committee has issued a complaint against Santorum’s 2012 presidential campaign, stating that Santorum illegally funneled a one million dollar check from a donor into his SuperPAC. The response from Santorum’s spokesperson was the predictable mix of “we haven’t read all the details yet” and “we’re pretty sure we didn’t do anything wrong but in case we did, this little nugget of a sound bite will serve to exonerate us since we sort of alluded to possibly being guilty.”

“We have not received a copy of the complaint and when we do, we will refer it to our attorney,” said Santorum spokesperson Virginia Davis. She continued, “We are confident that neither Sen. Santorum nor any campaign staff member solicited funds in excess of the federal limits or from sources prohibited under federal law.” Like I said, it’s pretty much a game of denial and thinly-veiled admission of guilt.

So why am I even bringing this up? After all, the election was last year, Santorum wasn’t even really a contender, and in the grand scheme of things, one million dollars is nothing compared to how much the 2012 election actually cost. Well, I bring it up for the same reason that I recently wrote about Ron Paul’s campaign being under investigation for bribing an Iowa state senator – to point out the utter hypocrisy of politicians on the right claiming that it’s the left that’s corrupt.