Santorum defends Huckabee’s comments

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum (R) said Mike Huckabee would probably phrase his “libido” comment about birth control differently if he had a do-over.

However, Santorum on Thursday night defended the former Arkansas governor’s overall message that it is Democrats — and not Republicans — who are waging a “war on women.”

{mosads}“I think Governor Huckabee would probably phrase it differently,” Santorum said on CNN. “Mike speaks off the cuff, as some of us are known to do and probably would choose different words to communicate that message.”

But, he added: “I think what Governor Huckabee was saying is that we’ve seen an unprecedented assault by the Democrats against Republicans claiming there was a war on women when, in fact, Republicans have been tremendous in supporting equality of women in the workplace and a whole host of other places.”

Both Santorum and Huckabee are former GOP presidential candidates.

Santorum, a strong social conservative, said the two parties disagree on reproductive rights and abortion. But there is not a huge disagreement about access to contraception — only whether the government should pay for it, he said.

Read more from The Hill.