Santorum's Loaded Gun

When I heard him talk about this last night, I wasn't sure he understood how what he was saying was coming across. He keeps referring to it as "sex" but I thought he meant to say "sexual orientation" given the context of what he was saying.

A gay rights group is not happy:

GOProud said in a statement that Santorum "disrespected" men and women in uniform with his response to Stephen Hill's question about whether any of the presidential candidates would "circumvent" the repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

He seems to be the only one that's still against DADT:

What's remarkable about Santorum's position on "don't ask, don't tell" -- which formally ended this past week -- is not necessarily his keenness to judge the post-DADT environment for formerly closeted soldiers. It's that, on this matter at least, he is increasingly the lone culture warrior in the GOP presidential field. Following the debate, no other candidate or campaign offered support for a reinstitution of the law.

Herman Cain said this:

On a personal level, Cain added: "I have no problem with [gays serving openly]. The first order of business should be to do their job. As long as they do their jobs I think people in the military will be fine with that. It is when it becomes a distraction and you have got to spend a lot of time creating special situations, this is what I disagree with."

The bottom line is this:

“That brave gay soldier is doing something Rick Santorum has never done -- put his life on the line to defend our freedoms and our way of life,” the group said in a statement attributed to Christopher R. Barron, the group’s chairman of the board, and Jimmy LaSalvia, its executive director. “It is telling that Rick Santorum is so blinded by his anti-gay bigotry that he couldn't even bring himself to thank that gay soldier for his service. Stephen Hill is serving our country in Iraq, fighting a war Senator Santorum says he supports. How can Senator Santorum claim to support this war if he doesn't support the brave men and women who are fighting it?”

Santorum has tried to paint himself as the top supporter of the military in this race. He had to differentiate himself from the rest of the candidates. However, as he fired that gun, it appears the recoil has caused him to hit himself in the face. I still think he somewhat misspoke, but you have to watch what you say in the public setting and you can't be as aggressive as he was in trying to take a stand when you're not sure of your words.