If Santorum Were President

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Posted on Sep 23, 2011

Flickr / Gage Skidmore

In a marvelous display of self-contradiction at the Republican debate Thursday night, Rick Santorum argued against both sex in the military and any “social policy” that determines how sex is treated in the military.

According to Santorum, the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” counts as a “special privilege” to gay and lesbian soldiers. In other words, the rejection of a policy that forces homosexual servicemen and women to conceal part of their identity is a luxury they don’t deserve, as well as a threat to the tightly woven social fabric of the American military establishment.

So, if Santorum is elected, who will be the first to volunteer for abstinence? Newly minted Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta? Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen? Mr. Santorum, the commander in chief himself?

See his remarks and boos from the audience for a gay soldier below. —ARK

The Huffington Post:

SANTORUM: I would say any type of sexual activity has absolutely no place in the military. The fact they are making a point to include it as a provision within the military that we are going to recognize a group of people and give them a special privilege to, and removing don’t ask don’t tell. I think tries to inject social policy into the military. And the military’s job is to do one thing: to defend our country…

KELLY: What would you do with soldiers like Stephen Hill?

SANTORUM: What we are doing is playing social experimentation with our military right now. That’s tragic. I would just say that going forward we would reinstitute that policy if Rick Santorum was president. That policy would be re-instituted as far as people in, I would not throw them out because that would be unfair to them because of the policy of this administration. But we would move forward in conformity with what was happening in the past. Which was- sex is not an issue. It should not be an issue. Leave it alone. Keep it to yourself whether you are heterosexual or homosexual.

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