Rick Santorum: I Like Ken Mehlman, But Gay Marriage 'Not in the Best Interest of the Country': VIDEO

CNN asks Rick Santorum, "why take such a strong stance against gay marriage?"

"Well, why take a strong stance for it? We should all bring to the table what we think is in the best interest of the country....I know Ken. I like Ken. I've worked with Ken for years. And Ken and I disagree on this issue. We disagree adamantly on this issue. But I respect his right to go to the court and make his case."

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Rick Santorum: Gay Inclusion Will 'Murder' the Boy Scouts

Rick Santorum says allowing gay scouts and leaders into the organization will destroy it.

"Wednesday’s vote is a challenge to the Scouts’ very nature and is another example of the left attempting to remove God from all areas of public life," warns Rick Santorum in a World Net Daily column on plans this week by the Boy Scouts to drop its ban on gay scouts and scout leaders.

He adds:

"Scouting prepares boys and teenagers to be virtuous men in a world that desperately needs men who are brave enough to stand up for those principles, to live by the moral code of the Scout Oath and Law and hold themselves to that standard – whether at the schoolyard or in the boardroom. Scouting may not survive this transformation of American society, but for the sake of the average boy in America, I hope the board of the Scouts doesn’t have its fingerprints on the murder weapon."

The Boy Scouts this morning were set to receive more than 1.4 million petitions calling for an end to the ban.

Today, the Family Research Council and other hate groups took out a full-page ad in USA Today urging the BSA to retain its anti-gay policies.

President Obama weighed in during a 60 Minutes interview that ran before the Super Bowl, saying that the Boy Scouts should allow gays to join its organization . Said Obama: "My attitude is that gays and lesbians should have access and opportunity the same way everybody else does, in every institution and walk of life."

Rachel Maddow on Rick Santorum, World Net Daily, and the Republican Party's Butt-Fumble: VIDEO

Rachel Maddow took a look at the sad state of the Republican Party as evidenced by Rick Santorum's new gig as a columnist for the leading birther wingnut rag World Net Daily, which pushes, among other whackjob memes, that Obama is secretly foreign, secretly Muslim, and secretly gay, and was secretly gay-married in college. You can also buy a "how-to" DVD on its website on defensive cane fighting.

Says Maddow:

"The guy who actually came in second to Mitt Romney this year, the guy who was the runner-up in the Republican Party's efforts to pick their nominee, the guy who could have been Mitt Romney if for some reason it didn't work out for Mitt Romney, he landed at Wrld Net Daily. He's sharing speace with the Whtie secession guy. We have a 2 party system in this country and that is what half of our two party system is. That is half of what is supposed to be plausible in American politics. Rick Santorum at World Net Daily. Also cane fighting!"

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Dan Savage: Colleges Have 'Responsibility' To Combat Anti-Gay Attitudes

Students and faculty at the University of Madison will be in for a treat next Monday when Dan Savage speaks as part of the Wisconsin school's distinguished lecture series.

In preparation for the event, Savage sat down with Nico Savidge to discuss the current political climate in Wisconsin, how AIDS changed LGBT politics and what it's like to be the man known for two seemingly divergent movements: It Gets Better and the infamous "frothy mix" Santorum definition. To Savage, they're not contradictory at all, because we humans have the amazing capacity to be both serious and silly.

An excerpt:

Q: Probably your two best-known projects are It Gets Better and the Santorum definition. Is it strange to you that your most famous endeavors are such a mix of extremely serious and intentionally juvenile?

A: All human beings are serious and juvenile; none of us is a dour adult all the time. There are times when you’re engaged in very serious topics, pursuits, interests, debates, and there are times when you’re cutting it up with your friends. And you can do both and be the same person. You can do both in one column and be the same columnist.

Savage also told Savidge that even though LGBT activists don't win all of our legislative or electoral fights, the simple act of debating is a move in the right direction. "Just fighting the fight wins for us in the long run, even if we lose at the moment," he said.

As for University of Wisconsin and other colleges, Savage says they have a responsibility to teach students about human sexuality.

"And colleges have this responsibility to provide... this crash course in human sexuality and good human sexual conduct," he said. Because in a college environment, having a bunch of kids rattle around without that knowledge is really dangerous... Behaviors — and bullying is a big thing for me — behaviors that, in high school, will make you king of the campus get you expelled in college. ... It’s not just the kids that are being bullied who are going to be destroyed, potentially, by it. It’s the bullies who will be destroyed by it."

Rick Santorum Visits Washington State to Fight Marriage Equality: VIDEO

Rick Santorum paid a visit to Spokane, Washington yesterday to speak at a private event opposing marriage equaltiy ballot measure Referendum  74, KREM reports:

Santorum appeared at a luncheon for the Family Policy Institute of Washington. He spoke against Referendum 74, the measure to legalize same-sex marriage in Washington State.

Preserve Marriage Washington's Communications Director said "This will be a hard-fought campaign. This will be a contested election, all the way to the end."

The event began at noon at the DoubleTree Hotel. Tickets were $36 per person. Clergy from some local churches gathered Tuesday to oppose Santorum’s speech. In addition, nearly 100 supports gathered outside the event. Ref. 74 supporters were outside singing 'We Shall Overcome.'

Watch KREM's report, AFTER THE JUMP...

Competing Bus Tours Vilify, Defend Iowa Supreme Court Justice

Iowa Supreme Court Justice David Wiggins was the center of attention today as two competing bus tours kicked off to attack and defend the Iowa Supreme Court Justice whose career is on the line this November.

On one side there stood the likes of failed presidential candidate and former Sen. Rick Santorum, perennial gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats and others who are trying to oust Wiggins for participating in a unanimous 2009 decision allowing marriage equality in the Hawkeye State. Three other justices were voted out in 2010.

"Justice Wiggins used the Constitution and twisted it to undermine the other thing that our founders understood to be necessary – virtue," said Santorum, according to the Des Moines Register.

He also told his bus' crowd that Wiggins and his peers' unanimous vote amounted to "tyranny of the oligarchy, the tyranny of people who believe they should determine what’s best for us.”

On the other side, driving their own bus directly in the wake of Santorum et al's campaign, there stood Democrats and other allies who are fighting to keep Wiggins on the bench. But their campaign is more about keeping politics out of the judicial branch than a debate about morals, as the right would have it.

"We don’t want to return to the days where politics have been injected into our system, and remove the fair and impartial courts that we have, [that are] well-respected throughout this country," said Des Moines-based attorney Guy Cook.

Both sides of this divide will be touring all week and hits a total of 17 cities, so watch out Iowa!