rick santorum
Rick Santorum speaks out against women in front-line combat.When I heard that Rick Santorum appeared to have some sort of real shot at winning the Republican nomination, I thought, Ha ha. This is the homophobe whose last name had been recast by Dan Savage to define a disgusting byproduct of anal sex, right? People actually want to elect him? And by people I mean old, straight, white guys. Weellll ... as it turns out, no, it's not just old, straight, white men. It's also (likely birth control-using) WOMEN. What. The. Hell.

In Tennessee, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Mississippi, the ladies came out for sex and higher education-loathing Rick. In turn, The New Yorker asked, "How could [Mitt] Romney lose out among women to a candidate that virtually the entire mainstream media regards as an enemy of women’s rights?"

GOOD QUESTION! Especially considering the following terrifying Rick Santorum quotes ... 

Every woman should know what Santorum believes before throwing themselves and American women under the bus for this dangerous candidate.

  1. Apparently, women can't go into front-line combat, because we're too "emotional." In February he said, "I do have concerns about women in front-line combat, I think that could be a very compromising situation, where people naturally may do things that may not be in the interest of the mission, because of other types of emotions that are involved. It already happens, of course, with the camaraderie of men in combat, but I think it would be even more unique if women were in combat, and I think that's probably not in the best interest of men, women or the mission."
  2. Then, even when he clarified #1, he put his foot in his sexist mouth. "My concern is being in combat in that situation instead of being focused on the mission, [men] may be more concerned with protecting someone who may be in a vulnerable position, a woman in a vulnerable position ... And you know, there’s just, there are physical limitations."
  3. On opposing abortion, even in cases of rape or incest: "As horrible as the way that that son or daughter was created, it still is her child. ... I believe and I think the right approach is to accept this horribly created — in the sense of rape — but nevertheless a gift in a very broken way, the gift of human life, and accept what God has given to you. ... We have to make the best out of a bad situation," Santorum told Piers Morgan on CNN on January 20, 2012.
  4. On "evil" birth control: "One of the things I will talk about that no president has talked about before is the dangers of contraception in this country, the whole sexual libertine idea. Many in the Christian faith have said, ‘Well, that’s okay. Contraception’s okay.’ It’s not okay because it’s a license to do things in the sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be ... I’m not running for preacher, I’m not running for pastor, but these are important public policy issues." Gaaahahhh!!!!
  5. Just try to wrap your head around this one about SAHMs. In his 2005 book, It Takes a Family, Santorum writes, "Respect for stay-at-home mothers has been poisoned by a toxic combination of the village elders’ war on the traditional family and radical feminism’s misogynistic crusade to make working outside the home the only marker of social value and self-respect.’’ Umm ...
  6. Which leads to this one, on "radical feminists" wanting equal career opportunities -- God forbid! "The radical feminists succeeded in undermining the traditional family and convincing women that professional accomplishments are the key to happiness. ... Radical feminists have been making the pitch that justice demands that men and women be given an equal opportunity to make it to the top in the workplace,” he writes in his book.

Do these quotes freak you out? Why or, especially, why not?!

 

Image via Mark Taylor/Flickr