Santorum Hits Primetime with Rachel Maddow (VIDEO)

Written by Jason Addy, Contributing Writer

Rick Santorum entered the lion’s den Wednesday night when he stepped onto the set of The Rachel Maddow Show. The longshot presidential candidate was Maddow’s special guest for the night, to the delight of the veteran MSNBC host.

Santorum was supposed to be spending the night at a U2 concert at Madison Square Garden – and even get a picture with Bono – but instead took the opportunity to conduct a precious primetime interview.

The former PA Senator was introduced with a clip of him taking on the Supreme Court’s ruling on same-sex marriage at a National Right to Life conference.

“The Supreme Court’s not a superior branch of government,” Santorum said once the interview began, before saying he believes Congress and the President both have the right to say what is constitutional.

Santorum said he thinks Congress could still pass a same-sex marriage ban and have it enforced, even though the Supreme Court ruled same-sex marriage bans unconstitutional in a historic 5-4 decision last month.

“Just because the Court says ‘We don’t think this is right,’ doesn’t limit Congress’ ability to pass any law,” Santorum said. “The Congress has a right to pass whatever they want, [though] the Court can strike it down again.”

“You are fundamentally wrong on civics,” Maddow retorted.

Santorum argued Justice Anthony Kennedy’s majority opinion in the Obergefell v. Hodges case “created a new right in the Constitution” and was not rooted in any constitutional basis or precedent.

“I would like to see, as President, a whole new group of justices,” Santorum said, despite the history of unsuccessful presidential attempts to reform the Court. “If you have a new group of justices, you may very well get a different decision.”

Santorum looked uncomfortable when Maddow asked him if people choose to be gay.

“You know, I’ve sort of never answered that question because I don’t really know the answer to that question,” Santorum said. “But I suspect there are all sorts of reasons that people end up the way they are, and I’ll leave it at that.”

Though he will most certainly not make the Fox News debate stage in two weeks – he’s polling at about 1% – Santorum is optimistic about his chances, having won the Iowa caucus in 2012 with similar poll numbers.

“I saw four years ago how damaging personal attacks are in a campaign,” Santorum said, denying the opportunity to talk about GOP frontrunner Donald Trump. “I learned a lesson that I’m not going to take the bait of other candidates or take the of the media that says unless you personally attack someone you don’t really disagree with them.”

Santorum said this will be his last campaign – unless, of course, he’s running for re-election in 2020.

July 23rd, 2015 | Posted in Front Page Stories, Presidential, Top Stories | 6 Comments