Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum is using Dan Savage's comments on 'Bill Maher' to raise much-needed campaign cash.

On last week's edition of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, Savage, a sex advice columnist and gay rights activist, took broad swipes at Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and Santorum, the two most anti-gay candidates in the GOP 2012 presidential field.

In discussing the recent allegations that Michele Bachmann's husband, Marcus, seeks to “cure” gay people at his Christian counseling center, Savage said: “You can't pray away the gay, but you can torture a conflicted closet case to death.”

And when comic Marc Maron said he hopes Mr. Bachmann “takes all that rage that comes from repression and denial into the bedroom with her … and I hope he fucks her angrily, because that's how I would,” Savage took a swipe at Santorum: “I sometimes think about fucking the shit out of Rick Santorum … I'm up for whipping up some santorum in Santorum.” (The video is embedded in the right panel of this page.)

Savage was referring to Santorum's so-called Google problem: a definition of “santorum” which links the senator anal sex. Savage helped coin the phrase in 2003, and nearly eight years later it continues to rank high on Google's search results.

This week, the former Pennsylvania senator started using Savage's remarks to raise funds.

During a Monday appearance on WOR radio's Steve Malzberg show, Santorum called Savage's jokes “filth” and accused Savage of attempting to “intimidate” him.

“This man has gone out there and tried to destroy my integrity,” Santorum said. “I mean, you've heard the whole issue of the Google issue. That's Dan Savage. You know, it's the lowest debasement of public discourse. It's offensive beyond, you know, anything that any public figure in America should tolerate, and the mainstream media laughs about it. They kid about it. They write about it. They say, 'Oh, Santorum has a Google problem.'”

“You stand up against them,” Santorum added, “they will intimidate you, they will use vile things, and the media will applaud them, and you will be ostracized in society. That's their objective.”

Santorum also used similar language this week in a fundraising letter to supporters.

“Savage and his perverted sense of humor is the reason why my children cannot Google their father’s name. I took the high road for nearly a decade by not dignifying these mindless attacks, then even defending his 1st Amendment right to spew this filth. And to this day, liberals like Rachel Maddow serve as Savage’s lackeys on national television, pushing his smut.”

“That is why I need you support today, and your contribution of $25, $50, $100 or $250,” the letter reads.

Maddow, who is openly lesbian, has discussed Santroum's Google problem on her nightly MSNBC show, but she isn't his only critic.

Santorum's plea for money also neglected to mention his role in the feud, which started in 2003 after he likened gay unions to “man on dog.”