Rick Santorum has made his devout Catholicism a centerpiece of his campaign. He speaks passionately about how his religion guides his take on cultural issues. But he is sick of talking about contraception, Santorum told Joe Scarborough Monday in an interview exchange that got heated.
On “Morning Joe,” a question about birth control led to a spat between Rick Santorum and co-host Joe Scarborough over whether the topic was fair game. Asked repeatedly about contraception and its prevalence in the national debate, Santorum became exasperated:
“This is you guys playing sort of gotcha politics,” Santorum said. “Go to any of my almost now 1,000 town hall meetings, and I don’t think the word ‘contraception’ has ever come up. Let’s deal with reality instead of what media tries to do, which is pigeonhole you and tell a narrative.”
Scarborough took offense, and asked the former senator, “You have known me for a long time. Do you think I’m trying to pigeonhole you and stereotype you?”
Santorum didn’t back down: “Well, the fact that you continue to bring it up, yeah, sure. I don’t talk about this, Joe,” he said.
Santorum did bring up contraception in an interview Scarborough cited. In fall 2011, when Santorum was bringing up the rear in a crowded presidential field, Santorum gave an interview to the evangelical blog Caffeinated Thoughts in which he raised the issue.
“One of the things I will talk about that no president has talked about before is I think the dangers of contraception in this country,” Santorum said. “It’s not OK because it’s a license to do things in the sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be. They’re supposed to be within marriage, they are supposed to be for purposes that are, yes, conjugal, but also [inaudible], but also procreative.”
That interview, and other past statements on birth control, nudged the media into asking Santorum to clarify his stance. As Santorum rose to the front of the pack — and as Congress took on a contentious contraception coverage debate — the issue became more, not less relevant, Scarborough argued.
Santorum voiced support for the recently defeated Blunt Amendment to allow religious employers to deny coverage of contraception. He also offered in the fall 2011 interview that he would “get rid of any idea that you have to have abortion coverage or contraceptive coverage” as a government policy.
In early January, Santorum reaffirmed his belief that individual states have the right to ban married couples from using contraception — a power the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional in 1965. Santorum believes that decision, Griswold v. Connecticut, was wrong.
Santorum doesn’t have the most helpful allies when it comes to convincing Americans contraception isn’t an issue for him. It was his own wealthy backer, the financier Foster Friees, whose recommended method of birth control is having “gals” put aspirin “between their knees.”
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Pema Levy
Pema Levy is a News Writer at TPM covering the 2012 election. Before coming to TPM, Pema was an assistant editor at The American Prospect where she wrote about politics and the economy.
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