Rick Santorum’s Shower Fantasy
Like the rest of the GOP Rick Santorum is bemoaning Gays in the military rather than proffering any plans for the future. Forget about jobs, Rick’s shower fantasy is more important.
Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum doubled down on his recent comments opposing allowing gay soldiers to serve in the U.S. military, invoking the image of soldiers showering together to explain his support for reinstating the discriminatory “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.
“The problem is that sexual activity with people who you are in close quarters with who happen to be of the same sex is different than being open about your sexuality,” Santorum said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Fox host Chris Wallace pushed back, asking Santorum if he was suggesting gay soldiers would “go after” their colleagues.
“They’re in close quarters, they live with people, they obviously shower with people,” Santorum said, saying the presence of gay soldiers could have an adverse “effect on retention and recruitment.”
Wallace played a clip of Santorum insisting during a recent Republican primary debate that the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” was an improper injection of “social policy” into the armed forces. Wallace then presented a quote from a former military official to Santorum and asked whether he agreed with its basic idea: “The army is not a sociological laboratory. … Experiments … are a danger to efficiency, discipline and morale and would result in ultimate defeat.”
