In a bizarre comparison, Foster Friess, the multi-millionaire mega funder of Rick Santorum’s 2012 presidential run, said gay marriage is among “a number of social and cultural issues” that the country is “migrating” toward, including “out-of-wedlock” births, which he appeared to suggest had led to more murders in Chicago and “has cost our society dearly in terms of imprisonment.”
In an interview with me on SiriusXM Progress at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Friday in National Harbor, Md., Friess, who said he’d back Santorum for a presidential run again in 2016, talked about what he views as a different set of values the Republican Party has from those America is embracing, and said the party would have to make a decision about which way to go. Friess has been criticized in the past for his support of anti-Muslim groups. And in 2012, during Santorum’s campaign, he created an uproar with remarks about contraception (for which he later apologized), in which he said that in his day, women “used Bayer aspirin for contraceptives. The gals put it between their knees, and it wasn’t that costly.”
Responding to a question about gay marriage becoming more accepted, even as Santorum continues to speak out against it, including in his CPAC speech where he discussed "reclaiming marriage," Friess said “gay marriage is definitely gaining ground and Santorum is not on the winning side of that point of view, but does that mean he’s a bigot for believing in the Catholic faith he was raised on?”
Friess said “tolerance has been morphed” and that religious values are under attack.
“In America, we have this bell curve of certain values,” he explained of his belief. “And then we have another bell curve of different values, which is the Republican Party. And they’re out of sync right now."
Friess used as an example a guest he said he heard on Sean Hannity’s radio program.
“Hannity had a a guy on that said, ‘I fathered 20 kids by 14 mothers,’” Friess said. “That is s cultural issue which has demeaned our society and has caused our society dearly in terms of imprisonment. Who’s going to be the fathers to those children? Who’s going to pay child support?…So, that very degradation of our society — do we want to migrate Republican principles, and say, ‘Okay, we don’t care how many —.“
When interrupted and asked what that has to do with gay marriage, Friess responded:
“Gay marriage is one of a number of social, cultural issues … It’s migrating on a national level, that gay marriage will be more accepted. My point is, what it has to do with [the man who fathered 14 children] is, there’s a whole bunch of cultural issues. Out-of-wedlock births. 413 murders in Chicago. In certain states, if a woman makes $12,000 a year, and lives with her quarter-of-a million dollar boyfriend and they don’t get married, as long as they don’t get married, she gets maybe 20 or 30 thousand dollars in pre-tax benefits in terms of food stamps, health care and housing allowance. So those are all cultural issues which the American public has migrated to.”
Regarding Santorum and a possible run in 2016, Friess said he “absolutely” would back him.
“Santorum is the greatest person on the face of the planet as far as I’m concerned,” he said. “The man has a heart, he loves our country. He tells you what he thinks. What people love about Santorum is, he is who is. He loves God. He loves his country. And he loves gays.”
Before You Go
