UPDATE, 11:15 p.m.:

Mitt Romney responded to Rush Limbaugh's tirade against law student Sandra Fluke Friday night — but he didn't say much.

"I'll just say this, which is, it's not the language I would have used," Romney told reporters at a campaign event in Cleveland, Ohio Friday night. "I'm focusing on the issues I think are significant in the country today, and that's why I'm here talking about jobs and Ohio."

President Obama's team pounced on the timid dodge.

"Now, that's leadership," deputy campaign strategist Stephanie Cutter wrote in a tweet.

"Wow. Profiles in Courage," senior strategist David Axelrod chimed in, also via Twitter. And then in a later tweet: "And when Mitt says it's "not the language I would of [sic] used," what does that mean? What about the spirit of what Rush said? Was that OK?"

Here's the clip of Romney, courtesy of ABC News:

video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player

ORIGINAL POST, 6:15 p.m.

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum weighed in on the uproar over Rush Limbaugh's "slut" remarks today, dismissing the talk radio host's recent verbal assault on law student Sandra Fluke as "absurd."

"He's being absurd, but that's, you know, an entertainer can be absurd," Santorum told CNN's Wolf Blitzer this afternoon. "He's in a very different business than I am."

Santorum's response is tepid, given the vitriol of Limbaugh's attacks. The conservative firebrand has devoted significant airtime this week to targeting Fluke for supporting employee access to contraception, calling her a "prostitute" and a "slut," and even suggesting that she post sex tapes of herself online.

Notably, Santorum did not denounce Limbaugh's comments, instead shifting the conversation to his position on the new Obama healthcare policy requiring employers to offer contraception.

"I'm concerned about the public policy of this president imposing his values on people, people of faith who morally object to the government telling them they have to do something, which they believe is a grave moral wrong," Santorum said.

So far, Santorum is the only 2012 presidential candidate to comment on the Limbaugh slut-gate firestorm. CNN's Jim Costa tweets that Mitt Romney ignored his questions about the issue earlier today.

Spokespeople for Romney, Newt Gingrich, and Ron Paul have not returned Business Insider's requests for comment.