Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick
Santorum has yet to comment on Pennsylvania becoming the 19th
state to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry.
U.S. District Judge John E. Jones
struck down the state's restrictive marriage law on Tuesday. The
following day, Governor Tom Corbett, a Republican opposed to marriage
equality, announced he would not appeal the ruling.
Santorum appeared on Fox News' The
Real Story on Tuesday but was not asked about the development.
Instead, he chided President Barack Obama for not reacting to a
widening scandal at the Veterans Administration.
“If there's one thing the president
is actually pretty good at is immediately responding to an issue that
has caught the eye of the American public. Sometimes even without
all the facts. He's very quick to jump in if it's a sweet spot
politically for him. Here this must not be such a sweet spot,”
Santorum told host Gretchen Carlson.
While campaigning for the White House
in 2012, Santorum routinely reiterated his opposition to marriage
equality, including saying such
unions will doom America.
After the Supreme Court last year
struck down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), Santorum was quick to
criticize the ruling, saying it was “another case of the high court
overstepping its role.”
ThinkProgress made repeated requests
over 2 days for comment on this week's ruling but did not receive a
response. Additionally, Santorum has kept quiet on Twitter.
As a senator, Santorum recommended
Judge Jones for the bench, describing him as “highly qualified.”
Republican strategist Ford
O'Connell told ThinkProgress that Santorum's sudden reluctance on
the issue is in line with the GOP's toning down on social issues
“The push for same-sex marriage
nationally is moving much faster than many in the Republican Party,
including Rick Santorum, ever thought it would,” O'Connell said.
“And now the GOP is trying to internally rectify the changing
landscape because their position hurts them primarily with voters
under 40; those same voters they need in the tent if they want to win
the White House in 2016.”
During a Fox News appearance earlier
this month to promote his new book Blue Collar Conservatives,
Santorum
repeatedly evaded host Neil Cavuto's questions on marriage equality.