Can he spin his way out of this one?

“Bestiality is legal in Texas so they are OK with some abnormal sexual practices.”

“Phaed:

I wasn't arguing that it was important to put people in jail for incest when both people are adults. I was talking about the logical structure of Santorum's argument. That there was no gay-basshing in what he said. So, you owe me no apology.

I'm not sure what society should do - especially when the people are years apart in age adn closely related (like a 21 y/o and a parent) - I think its important to show that society disapproves.”

“Ah, I see. It's an interesting exercise to discuss this! It's stretching my views on the issue, since I agree with Ped on the parent-child example above. I'm ust not sure what form the disapproval should take. I do believe that the law in question is draconian, but it's hard to pin down where the subtleties of individual relationships become abusive.”

“It wasn't just an intellectual excersize - I was trying to point out that if you thought about what Santorum was saying, he was not making hate speech about gays, he was not gay bashing.”

“OK -- partly missing your point Phaed. It is interesting what happens when you try to think rationally about big taboos”

“If I can butt in for a sec, Ped. My original point in this was that he was sticking his nose in places it doesn't belong, not restricted to gay bashing...”

“"I'm sorry. I didn't think I was going to talk about 'man on dog' with a United States senator. It's sort of freaking me out."

--AP REPORTER, IN AN INTERVIEW WITH SEN. RICK SANTORUM


wow.”

“Ped, while I agree he was not directly gay-bashing, he did, through the use of an unsound argument, as you point out, advocate the use of sodomy laws against gay people for acts that would be legal between heterosexuals. In short, he didn't call them names, but he did champion the idea of jailing them.”

“"It's the old Reagan technique of being amiable and pleasant. Santorum says it very amiably, and most people say, 'That's nice,' as opposed to saying, 'That's frightening.'"

--NEWT GINGRICH, FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER


larger wow, considering who said it.”

“*fix font*”

“See Little Ricky sing and dance his way in and out of our hearts.”

“I just noticed that my HTML bumble cut the first two paragraphs out of that story.

Here they are:

WASHINGTON, May 1 — Four parents of gay children had a fiery private exchange tonight with Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania. The meeting did not go well, and Mr. Santorum, who has infuriated gays by likening homosexuality to incest and bigamy, left in a hurry, tripping over a chair, the parents said.

"What we tried to do in this meeting was reach him on a human level, and we found no humanity there," said Melina Waldo, a former constituent of Mr. Santorum who lives in Haddonfield, N.J. She said he was "condescending, belligerent, argumentative and arrogant."”

“Ricky don't lose that number ...”

“Protesters Walk Out on Santorum Speech

By BILL BERGSTROM, Associated Press Writer

PHILADELPHIA - About one in every eight graduates walked out of Sunday's commencement at Saint Joseph's University before the keynote address by Sen. Rick Santorum, who recently infuriated gay groups and others with derogatory remarks about homosexual behavior.

Santorum, the Senate's third-ranking Republican, didn't mention the walkout or the controversy directly.

"We are all called to love one another, even people we disagree with, even people who hate us for what we believe," he said.

Students were offered an opportunity to leave before Santorum was introduced to receive an honorary degree and make his speech, and about 100 graduates walked out amid competing boos and applause.

Some students had urged the Jesuit university to rescind Santorum's invitation after he likened gay behavior to bigamy, polygamy, incest and adultery in an April 7 interview with The Associated Press. He later said he intended the remarks as a legal analysis and didn't intend to comment on individual lifestyles.

"Senator Santorum and I are at completely opposite ends of the spectrum," said graduate Sara Foglesong, among those who walked out. "I am not incestuous. I am not a bigamist. I just happen to be bisexual. It offended me."

Across the street, Dennis Heffernan led a group of three counter-demonstrators. "I belong to a pro-life group, and Rick is a pro-life person," said Heffernan, of Philadelphia.”

“Three... yeah, that sounds about right.”

“That story does exemplify what is weird to me about the whole the thing with Santorum. He is being lambasted for because he allegedly "likened gay behavior to bigamy, polygamy, incest and adultery" which is pretty inaccurate, not because he defends the idea of putting people in jail because they have adult consensual sex with someone of the same sex.

I don't like his politics or morals at all, but I have this compulsion about trying to get facts straight (if you'll pardon the expression).”

“Everyone will have plenty of privacy... so long as they toe the line. After all, as the Gestapo says, if you don't have anything to hide, ...”