GOP presidential hopeful Rick Santorum took a metaphysical detour Tuesday in the midst of his campaign travels to expound on the issue of same-sex marriage.
In addition to his routine talking points on the matter – including the significance of family, morality, faith and other socially conservative staples – Santorum also presented locals at an Iowa Falls HY-Vee grocery store with a more tangible example of his views.
According to NBC News, the would-be candidate held up a paper napkin during his speech, and said “This is a napkin. I can call this napkin a paper towel, but it is a napkin.”
Santorum went on to note that, in the case of both napkins and marriage, people can espouse any definitions they choose: however, in his words, “it doesn’t’ change the character of what it is to the metaphysical.”
Tuesday’s speech in Iowa Falls was not the only instance in which Santorum used similar metaphors to clarify his stance on same-sex marriage. In a recent video posted on C-SPAN, the candidate explains the difference he sees between traditional, heterosexual marriage and same-sex marriage in terms of the distinction between water and beer.
Santorum said that claiming equality between same-sex marriage and opposite-sex marriage is “like saying this glass of water is a glass of beer.”
“…You can call it a glass of beer, but it’s not a glass of beer. It’s a glass of water,” he maintained. “And water is what water is. Marriage is what marriage is.”
