Former Sen. Alan Simpson: ‘We have homophobes in our party’

I'm *shocked*.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/44/post/former-sen-alan-simpson-we-have-homphobes-in-our-party/2011/04/12/AFXpy9OD_blog.html?wpisrc=xs_sl_0001

Alan K. Simpson, a former Republican senator from Wyoming known for being an outspoken centrist, laid into his party on Monday during an appearance on MSNBC’s Hardball, criticizing conservative Republicans’ position on abortion and homosexuality.

“Who the hell is for abortion?” said Simpson.“I don’t know anybody running around with a sign that says ‘have an abortion, they’re wonderful.’ They’re hideous. But they’re a deeply intimate and personal decision and I don’t think men legislators should even vote on the issue.”

“Then you’ve got homosexuality — you’ve got ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’” said Simpson, “We’ve got homphobes in our party. That’s disgusting to me. We’re all human beings, we’re all God’s children.”

Simpson went on, criticizing former senator and presidential hopeful Rick Santorum (R-Penn.) for saying “some cruel things — cruel, cruel things about homosexuals.”

“If that’s the kind of guys that are going to be on my ticket — you know, it makes you sort out hard what Reagan said, ‘stick with your folks,’ but I’m not sticking with people who are homophobic, anti-women — moral values, while you’re diddling your secretary, while you’re giving a speech on moral values. Come on, get off of it.”

Simpson’s comments come days after an agreement was struck over the federal budget for fiscal year 2011. The heated debate preceding the agreement included an attempt by Republicans to strip Planned Parenthood of federal funding. The provision was ultimately dropped from the final agreement — a concession Republicans made in exchange for Democrats agreeing to $38 billion in spending cuts.

This is not the first time Simpson, who served as a co-chair on President Obama’s Fiscal Commission, has criticized his party. Simpson was ousted from his position as the party’s assistant leader in the Senate after he was criticized for not being sufficiently conservative. In an interview with NPR, Simpson said, “I've been a Republican all my life, you'll never throw me out, but they have an amazing ability to eat their young where they give each other the saliva test of purity every once in a while and then they lose and then they just sit around and bitch for four years and it's a fairly fascinating party.”

Simpson came under fire in August when he compared Social Security to “a milk cow with 201 million tits.” The National Older Women’s League (OWL) launched a petition calling for Simpson to be removed from the Fiscal commission, calling his comments “offensive and sexist.” Simpson later apologized for the letter, written in response to a column by OWL Executive Director Ashley Carson. But in an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union in February, Simpson took an opportunity to “clarify” his remarks saying, “I meant to say that America was a milk cow with 300 million tits, not social security.”