Rick Santorum was quick to correct the perception that his “compassion” for Bruce Jenner was actual compassion.

In a shocking interview with Buzzfeed over the weekend, likely GOP presidential candidate and notorious professional anti-LGBT bigot Rick Santorum offered uncharacteristic support for Bruce Jenner.

â€œIf he says heâ€™s a woman, then heâ€™s a woman,â€ Santorum said.Â â€œMy responsibility as a human being is to love and accept everybody. Not to criticize people for who they are. I can criticize, and I do, for what people do, for their behavior. But as far as for who they are, you have to respect everybody, and these are obviously complex issues for businesses, for society, and I think we have to look at it in a way that is compassionate and respectful of everybody.â€

Yes, not a typo. Rick Santorum, the former U.S. Senator fromÂ Pennsylvania.

Santorum added these are “tough issues,” and turned the conversation over to politics and policy, saying, “I donâ€™t think the federal government should get into the whole issue of bathrooms.”

Because, that’s the first issue Rick Santorum thinks of when the topic of transgender people comes up.

Clearly, those on the right were furious.Â

So the 56-year old father of eight took to Facebook to correct the record.

“Many of you may have read a story published by the website BuzzFeed where I was asked for my thoughts regarding Bruce Jenner,” Santorum wrote. “My comment affirmed Jenner as a person, made by God in His likeness as we all are. It was meant to express empathy not a change in public policy.”

He added the hashtag,Â #â€Žcompassion.

Seeing right through that were many.Â

“It’s amusing when someone has to apologise [sic] because they came across as a decent human being,” one person on Facebook wrote. “Lol. At first I was like wowÂ , and then I was like, wowÂ Â . Kinda proves you don’t really know what compassion is,” wrote another. “Never seen someone backpedal so hard from positive publicity,” offered a third.

Wonkette summed it up well, writing, “no, he did not mean to be nice, and no, this doesnâ€™t mean transgender people shouldÂ actuallyÂ be treated like human beings.”

Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license