He also wants to reinstitute the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, pass a workplace religious freedom act and allow prayer at school events.

Santorum said other candidates are focused on tax plans, and he admitted that getting the economy going is “job number one.” But there’s more to government than government and the economy, he said.

“But the people of Iowa, at least the folks that I’ve been talking to, they understand that there’s more to America than taxes and spending,” Santorum said. “There’s more to America than just the size and scale of government.”

Santorum said the after completing a visit of every county in the state he wanted to present his plans for supporting faith, family and freedom as president.

“I decided after, as we wrap up this tour and celebrate this tour … that I would try to put forth some ideas to reflect the values of the people of this state,” Santorum said.

Social and cultural issues can’t be separated from economic issues, Santorum said, and these actions will help jumpstart the economy.

“The economy is inextricably linked to the moral fabric of this country,” Santorum said. “And we can’t have a real solution-based conversation about fixing the economic problems in this country without faith and family being a large part of that conversation.”

Santorum ended his speech, attended by about 50 people, with a plea for support.

“A lot of campaigns will come out and tell you that they need your help and support. They’re lying, they don’t,” Santorum said to applause and laughter. “I do. All those other campaigns have a lot more money than we do, have a lot more coverage in the national media than I do. I really need you.”

Here is the list of actions Santorum said he’d take as president:

Executive Orders, Rulemaking and other Executive Branch Actions:

• Repeal Clinton-era Title X family planning regulations, and will direct HHS to restore the separation of Title X family planning from abortion practices and restore a ban on referrals for abortion
• Reinstitute the Mexico City Policy to stop tax-payer funding or promotion of abortion overseas
• Ban federal funding for embryonic stem cell research
• Restore conscience clause protections for health care workers
• Defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court
• Ban military chaplains from performing same sex marriage ceremonies on military bases or other Federal properties
• Repeal Obamacare mandate for contraceptive services in healthcare plans
• Re-direct funds within HHS so it can create a public/private partnership with state &local communities, not-for-profit organizations, and faith-based organizations for the purpose of strengthening marriages, families, and fatherhood
• Veto any bill or budget that funds abortion or funds any organization that performs abortions including Planned Parenthood

Congressional Directives:

• Call on Congress to abolish the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
• Advocate for a Personhood Amendment to the Constitution
• Call on Congress to pass the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act
• Advocate for a Federal Marriage Amendment to the Constitution
• Call on Congress to reinstitute Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell
• Call on Congress to pass the Workplace Religious Freedom Act
• Call on Congress to reinstitute 2008-level funding for the Community Based Abstinence Education program
• Advocate for a federal law permitting schools to allow prayer at graduations, football games and other school functions

Michele Bachmann, John Kline

Reps. Michele Bachmann and John Kline were among the signers of a letter to the U.S. Senate urging that body to pass an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would prohibit gay members of America’s Armed Forces from using military facilities for marriage ceremonies.

The Department of Defense, in the wake of the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, has indicated that it will allow chaplains and same-sex couples to use facilities on a “sexual orientation-neutral basis,” something Republican members of the U.S. House oppose.

The letter was authored by Republican Rep. Todd Akin of Missouri and was signed by 86 members of the House.

“The Defense of Marriage Act was passed by a bipartisan vote in Congress and signed into law by President Clinton,” Akin said in a statement. “Unfortunately, this current administration is now directing the Department of Defense to ignore this law and perform gay marriages on military bases. I think this is wrong, which is why I offered an amendment to the House-passed defense bill making it clear that DOMA applies to the DOD. This letter calls for the Senate to add a similar amendment to their version of the bill. The Department of Defense should not be allowed to simply ignore laws they do not like.”

The House members complain that guidance by the Department of Defense General Counsel would make resources available to all members of the military. The general counsel guidance said that the “use of DoD real property and facilities for private functions, including religious and other ceremonies, should be made on a sexual orientation neutral basis.”

“This clear and deliberate violation of established U.S. law sets a dangerous precedent,” the letter states. “[The Defense of Marriage Act] makes it clear that for purposes of the federal government, marriage is defined as between one man and one woman. The use of federal property or federal employees to perform anything but opposite-sex ceremonies is a clear contravention of the law.”

The letter comes as same-sex couples in the military filed suit to overturn DOMA on Thursday in order to secure military benefits denied to them by the federal government.

“I am a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ,” Bachmann said in her introductory remarks. “I gave my life to the Lord when I was 16 years of age. We are committed to the pro-life cause, we believe that life deserves protection from conception to natural death.”

Bachmann also talking about her work on the anti-gay marriage amendment that will be on the ballot in Minnesota in 2012.

“We also believe that God has a design for marriage between one man and one woman. I was the chief author of the marriage amendment in Minnesota and we persisted, and after seven years, in a very hostile liberal state, we finally passed that marriage amendment and it will be on the ballot and I believe it will pass in 2012.”

She said conservatives don’t win “pro-family victories’ unless they fight hard and have trust in the Lord: “It’s incredibly important that we trust him in what he can do because god is so big and so great and so powerful.”

Bachmann took questions from callers, including a man named Jack who said “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is going to destroy the armed forces” before his call was dropped.

“I think of all of the candidates that are running in this race, I have been very vocal about this,” Bachmann said. “I would reinstate the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. It worked before and what it says is the issue of sexuality is one that doesn’t come up and people aren’t allowed to be open about it because the United States military is unique, its not a social experiment.”

She said repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is gong to hurt the military’s preparedness: “I take very seriously the job of Commander in Chief. I see that as my very first job and I would listen to the generals [on DADT].”

Bachman told the activists not to settle for a moderate candidate when choosing their candidate for 2012, and that she is the most socially conservative.

“I believe that this is a powerful election, and I firmly believe that this is the election of all elections and that’s why my message has been don’t settle,” she said. “Every four years the pro-life conservative Christians, we are told about this time time the race and just get patted on the head and told that we have got to elect the moderate in the race.”

Bachmann’s campaign has recently focused on the theme that conservatives don’t have to compromise on their ideal candidate.

“Don’t settle. Don’t settle for anyone less than a candidate that will stand up for our profile, pro-family, pro-marriage issues,” she told people on the call. “What makes me stand out is that I have stood up on every battle tat we care about and I have taken the heat and have shown in the heat of the battle I push on.”

She added, “I have a titanium spine. I will put my spine up against any man who is running in this race.”

At Thursday night’s Republican presidential debate in Florida, a gay soldier serving in Iraq was booed by the audience because he asked a question about Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. None of the candidates on stage came to his defense.

After the debate, many moderate Republicans spoke out against the audience’s behavior including Minnesota Republican Rep. John Kriesel who called those who booed “morons.”

Stephen Hill, a gay soldier serving in Iraq, asked the candidates what they would do with Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell if they took over the White House. As he did, the audience booed, and Santorum responded that he would reinstate DADT.

Santorum overlooked that a soldier serving in Iraq during a time of war had been disrespected by the audience. That drew a sharp rebuke from Republicans who support LGBT members of the Armed Forces.

“Tonight, Rick Santorum disrespected our brave men and women in uniform, and he owes Stephen Hill, the gay soldier who asked him the question about Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal, an immediate apology,” said a statement from GOProud, a conservative gay rights group aligned with the tea party. “That brave gay soldier is doing something Rick Santorum has never done – put his life on the line to defend our freedoms and our way of life. It is telling that Rick Santorum is so blinded by his anti-gay bigotry that he couldn’t even bring himself to thank that gay soldier for his service.

Minnesota state Rep. John Kriesel (R-Cottage Grove) condemned the incident.

He wrote on Twitter:

“Booing a soldier during a time of war?!? A new low. Way to look compassionate Florida Republicans. #morons”

He added:

“If someone is brave enough to risk their life and serve their country in a time of war, let them serve. Who cares if they are gay?!?! How many of those people in the audience at the GOP debate that booed the gay soldier serving in Afghanistan are brave enough to serve??”

Only two of the candidates spoke out against it Thursday night.

“It was unfortunate,” Jon Huntsman told Talking Points Memo. “You know, we’re all Americans, and the fact that he is an American who put on the uniform says something good about him.”

Gary Johnson said, “In my opinion, when you have booing this is not indicative of Republicans,” he said. “This is not the Republican Party that I belong to.”

The Log Cabin Republicans and GOProud criticized former Gov. Tim Pawlenty for stating that he would reinstate the military’s ban on openly serving gay and lesbian servicemembers. Pawlenty told members of the Family Leader, a group that opposes rights for same-sex couples in Iowa, that if he was elected president in 2012, he would pull funding for the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. He also said he’s unsure if gays and lesbians should be allowed in the military at all.

The groups said Pawlenty was pandering to social conservatives to shore up a floundering presidential campaign.

Here’s video of Pawlenty’s statements in Iowa (story continues after video):

Pawlenty then doubled down on his call to defund the repeal.

Think Progress asked him, “Do you think gays should be allowed to serve in the military at all, or do you think it’s detrimental to unit cohesion?”

Pawlenty responded, “I really defer to the military leaders to a large degree on this issue. I supported maintaining Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

GOProud, a group of LGBT conservatives and a sponsor of the CPAC conference Pawlenty will speak at this weekend, belittled Pawlenty’s campaign. Chris Barron, chairman of the board of GOProud, released this statement:

I understand that Pawlenty is trying hard to get people to pay attention to his campaign. Its certainly a challenge for someone with such little stature in the conservative movement to compete with high profile conservative leaders like Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain, etc. Unfortunately for Pawlenty, comments like this simply show how totally out-of-touch he is with the issues that rank and file conservatives care about. If he wants to show he is a committed social conservative he would be much better served talking about the need to defund Planned Parenthood, end federal funding for abortion, reign in an out of control judiciary and support for a parents rigths amendment to protect home-schoolers.

The Log Cabin Republicans also dinged Pawlenty for his positions on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

“Governor Pawlenty’s comments fly in the face of both overwhelming public opinion and common sense,” said R. Clarke Cooper, Log Cabin Republicans executive director. “Congress voted in a bipartisan majority in December to enact the clear will of the American people, which demanded that ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ be stricken from the books. The Secretary of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and leadership throughout the Pentagon along with Congressional leaders, including Senator John McCain, are now in full support of implementing open service. The debate on this matter is done, and that Governor Pawlenty continues to fight the end of this failed and unconstitutional policy demonstrates that he is willing to put personal ambition and political pandering ahead of the priorities of the American people.”

The repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” the U.S. military’s policy of banning openly gay servicemembers, was signed into law late last year. Nevertheless, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) has already introduced a bill that would require the signature of chiefs of the four branches of the military to sign off on the repeal as well. Republican Rep. John Kline is among 18 cosponsors of the bill.

The San Diego Union-Tribune:

Hunter, a Marine combat veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, is calling the legislation the Restore Military Readiness Act.

“The idea behind the Restore Military Readiness Act is not necessarily to prevent the implementation of the DADT repeal, but rather to ensure that military readiness and combat effectiveness are not adversely impacted,” Hunter said in a statement.

“Given that the service chiefs carry most of the day-to-day responsibilities for each service branch, their independent certification is just as important and equally necessary.”

The current law requires the president, the secretary of Defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to sign off on the repeal.

A new Government Accountability Office report says the military spent over $193 million between 2004 and 2009 to replace around 3,660 troops. A Palm Center study in 2006 reported $363.8 million was spent by the military in the policy’s first ten years.

It’s worth noting that though Gen. James Amos — a Marine Corps Commandant — opposed the repeal, he said he would implement it anyway if Congress passed a law.

Cosponsors of the legislation include:

Rep Bartlett, Roscoe G. [MD-6]
Rep Bilbray, Brian P. [CA-50]
Rep Chaffetz, Jason [UT-3]
Rep Conaway, K. Michael [TX-11]
Rep Davis, Geoff [KY-4]
Rep Fleming, John [LA-4]
Rep Franks, Trent [AZ-2]
Rep Gibbs, Bob [OH-18]
Rep Gingrey, Phil [GA-11]
Rep Huelskamp, Tim [KS-1]
Rep Kline, John [MN-2]
Rep Lamborn, Doug [CO-5]
Rep Luetkemeyer, Blaine [MO-9]
Rep Manzullo, Donald A. [IL-16]
Rep Miller, Jeff [FL-1]
Rep Pearce, Stevan [NM-2]
Rep Rogers, Mike D. [AL-3]
Rep West, Allen B. [FL-22]

Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty, appearing on Bryan Fischer’s radio program on Wednesday to talk up his new book,  said that if he’s elected president, he’ll reinstate Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the military’s ban on openly gay and lesbian servicemembers. Fischer works for the American Family Association, a group that the Southern Poverty Law Center named a hate group in November for spreading falsehoods about Muslim and LGBT Americans.

Fischer asked Pawlenty at the end of the interview, “We just saw the ban on homosexual service in the military repealed, overturned. Conservatives will be working over the next couple of years to see that that ban is reinstated. If you become president in 2012, will you work to reinstate the prohibition on open homosexual service in the military? Would you sign such a prohibition if it got to your desk?”

Pawlenty said, “Bryan, I have been a public and repeat supporter of maintaining Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. There’s a lot of reasons for that, but if you look at how the combat commanders and the combat units feel about it, the results of those kinds of surveys were different than the ones that were mostly reported in the newspaper and that is something I think we need to pay attention to. But I have been a public supporter of maintaining Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and I would support reinstating it as well.”

Pawlenty also spoke out against abortion, noting that he appointed “strict constructionist” judges in Minnesota and that he opposes same-sex marriage.

Fischer is no stranger to controversy; his group is now listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Here’s what the SPLC had to say about Fischer:

Fischer claimed in a blog post last May 27 that “[h]omosexuality gave us Adolph Hitler, and homosexuals in the military gave us the Brown Shirts, the Nazi war machine and 6 million dead Jews.” (Ironically, the elder Wildmon was widely denounced as an anti-Semite after suggesting that Jews control the media, which the AFA says “shows a genuine hostility towards Christians.”) Fischer has described Hitler as “an active homosexual” who sought out gays “because he could not get straight soldiers to be savage and brutal and vicious enough.” He proposed criminalizing homosexual behavior in another 2010 blog post and has advocated forcing gays into “reparative” therapy. In a 2010 “action alert,” the AFA warned that if homosexuals are allowed to openly serve in the military, “your son or daughter may be forced to share military showers and barracks with active and open homosexuals.”

Gays aren’t the AFA’s only enemies. In late 2009, Fischer suggested that all Muslims should be banned from joining the U.S. military. “Islam is a totalitarian political ideology,” Fischer added in August 2010. “It is as racist as the KKK. … Allowing a mosque to be built in town is fundamentally no different that granting a building permit to a KKK cultural center built in honor of some King Kleagle.” A little later, according to the Huffington Post, Fischer said that whatever the government does to “to make it unthinkable for America’s youth to join a white supremacist group,” it should also do “to make it as unthinkable for a resident of America to embrace Islam.” Around the same time, the Huffington Post said, he blogged that Muslim values are “grossly incompatible with American values,” and therefore no place in America should allow a mosque to be built.

Here’s Pawlenty’s interview with Fischer:

When President Obama signed a historic repeal of the military’s ban on openly gay and lesbian servicemembers Wednesday morning, he paved the way for a full repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. A gay Minnesota army reserve officer spoke with the Minnesota Independent about the issues involved in the repeal, the struggles faced by gay and lesbian soldiers as they waited for Obama and Congress to act on their promise to repeal, and the stereotypes that conservatives continue to spread. The officer, who has just returned from a 10-month deployment in Afghanistan, spoke on condition of anonymity because while the repeal has been signed it hasn’t yet been implemented.

At today’s bill signing ceremony, Vice President Joe Biden said, “This fulfills an important campaign promise the President and I made, and many here on this stage made, and many of you have fought for, for a long time, in repealing a policy that actually weakens our national security, diminished our ability to have military readiness, and violates the fundamental American principle of fairness and equality — that exact same set of principles that brave gay men and women will now be able to openly defend around the world.”

The repeal — which affects gay, lesbian and bisexual servicemembers (but not transgender people) — will allow open service, but not right away, as the officer who spoke to the Minnesota Independent notes.

“The thing to watch out for, and it is the reason why I will not be overly public yet, is because it may take months to implement the change in each branch of the service, maybe a year or longer,” he said. “The key to this discussion has been that the military wants to do this in the least disruptful way possible. Gays and lesbians coming out before the military is ready for it will only fuel the counter-argument to repeal, that this would have an effect on our readiness and good order and discipline.”

Plus, such a move may be premature, with legislative and judicial challenges to the repeal already being threatened by conservatives.  Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, a group that opposes homosexuality, said in a statement Monday, “I’ve already been in conversations with Hill leaders about holding hearings in the New Year, as well as statutory and legislative oversight steps that can be taken to turn back aspects of the repeal and slow down — if not stop — the rest.”

The officer is going to wait a bit longer to be public about his sexual orientation, mainly out of respect for the current process.

“I will become more public about living under DADT as it is quickly ending,” he said. “However, I respect my chain of command, like most gays and lesbians in the military. I do not intend to create a huge distraction for them. I, like many other gay and lesbian servicemembers, do want to keep attention on this, so that the department of defense certification, the final step for repeal, comes quickly, and is not drawn out.”

The repeal will go into effect 60 days after certification by Obama, the Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. A date for certification has not yet been set.

The Defense Department has already implemented an unofficial moratorium on the discharge of gay and lesbian soldiers, the officer said, and none were discharged in November.

But, he cautioned, “the moratorium in November is not really an actual moratorium.” Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ordered that discharges of gay and lesbian soldiers be decided at the highest levels of each branch of the military.

“What this means is that the burden of proof is suddenly increased, because any commander who is considering discharging a servicemember based on the law must now ensure that everything is perfect, as it will have the attention of people very high up in the Pentagon,” the officer said. “Additionally, many lower-level commanders are likely refraining from starting investigations because they anticipated the law would soon change, and it is not worth pursuing this anymore.”

One common theme conservative cite in opposition to a repeal is that gays and lesbians will prey on unsuspecting straight soldiers in the showers and barracks. It’s an argument  Rep. Barney Frank heard from a staffer at the conservative CNS News recently:

The officer told the Minnesota Independent that he has not seen overt sexual advances or sexual activity in his career.

“As for gay men having sexual relations in the showers, I have never encountered this. I am sure someone could do it, though. When I was in Afghanistan, the latrines had individual shower stalls with curtains, so conceivably, some men could be behind there doing something,” the officer said. “I do not know of anyone who actually did.”

“If gay men do have these sorts of liaisons, I think that they are usually planned in advance — they are not random encounters where gay men are cruising and waiting for someone to come along,” he said.

When deployed, there aren’t many private places for sexual activity, he said, “but both straight and gay servicemembers do find places to do it when they want.”

The soldier also said that the wait for President Obama and Congress to act on their campaign promises took its toll.

“In my unit’s train-up for Afghanistan, I was confronted by command with some articles about my activism on DADT from when I was in law school,” the officer said. “I knew this stuff was on there, but when I re-affiliated with the reserves, I expected President Obama to quickly end DADT, because he had promised to do so during the campaign. Unfortunately, he did not act upon this promise quickly.”

The officer said that he faced the possibility of getting kicked out. “My command faced the difficult decision whether to leave me back and begin proceedings to discharge me from the Army. Thankfully, my immediate supervisor advocated on my behalf, and my command decided, with a very nuanced legal opinion, that discharge was not appropriate.”

The rationale was that the officer wanted to serve and not to be an “activist” on the battlefield.

“Primarily, my command wanted to make sure that I truly wanted to deploy with the unit and serve my country and that I did not have the goal of getting over to Afghanistan and publicly ‘coming out’ in order to create a media spectacle. I did my ten-month-long tour of duty with my unit in Afghanistan, and it is a great feeling, now, that this policy is on the verge of repeal.”

On coming out in civilian life and having military superiors finding out: “I come from a rather privileged position in the military when it comes to this policy. I came to terms with my sexual orientation in 2002, and I have been comfortable with my orientation for a long time,” the officer said. “I figured out how to be in the military as a gay person, how to have gay friends, and to be out to family and friends but not at work.”

Being an officer carried special privileges. “As an officer, I also had greater privacy, so I can do my own thing without the level of scrutiny from roommates or other Soldiers in the barracks,” the officer said. “I also have a very supportive chain of command –who even when they found out about my orientation, did everything they could to make sure I was not discharged.”

The U.S. Senate passed a repeal of the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy on Saturday, paving the way for gay, lesbian and bisexual servicemembers to serve openly in the armed forces. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken were among the 65 Senators voting to repeal the measure.

“Today we’ve cleared the pathway to right a major injustice,” Franken said in a statement following the vote. “The American people are ready to end this law, the military is ready to end it, and above all it’s just the right thing to do.”

Klobuchar added, “Today a bipartisan group of Senators stood up with our military leaders to repeal the 1993 Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Policy.”

Eight Republicans joined the Democrats to pass the bill: Sens. Richard Burr of North Carolina, Scott Brown of Massachusetts, Susan Collins of Maine, John Ensign of Nevada, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Olympia Snowe of Maine, and George Voinovich of Ohio.

The Log Cabin Republicans of Minnesota praised the move and said once the bill is signed, “Our fine GLBT men and women, who have been unjustly discharged will celebrate this victory with the right to change their discharge status and seek the benefits rightfully owed to them for the service they so courageously provided to their country.”

The U.S. House passed the bill earlier in the week, with Reps. Tim Walz, Keith Ellison, Betty McCollum and James Oberstar voting in support of the bill.

The repeal now heads to President Obama’s desk for signature. Obama, who will likely sign the bill this week, said in a statement on Saturday, “It is time to close this chapter in our history. It is time to recognize that sacrifice, valor and integrity are no more defined by sexual orientation than they are by race or gender, religion or creed. It is time to allow gay and lesbian Americans to serve their country openly. I urge the Senate to send this bill to my desk so that I can sign it into law.”

Until the bill is signed and a timetable for repeal is set, lesbian, gay and bisexual soldiers can still face discharge under the law.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar appeared on the Rachel Maddow show on MSNBC on Thursday evening to share her support for a repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Klobuchar said there are enough votes to pass a standalone bill in the U.S. Senate on Saturday. Maddow was cynical about the possibility for Democrats to pass the remaining parts of their agenda, but Klobuchar said the likely passage of the DADT repeal is something to celebrate.

“I hope you’ll be happier after a year of the Democrats standing up for Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, we get that repeal done, standing up to repeal it. We get that done on a Saturday. That is the plan,” Klobuchar said. “We have picked up votes because of the pressure over the time that we have pushed and pushed for this to get done, this repeal.”

Klobuchar wasn’t always so vocal about repealing the military’s ban on openly gay and lesbian members. Earlier this year, members of the LGBT community openly criticized Klobuchar for not signing on to the repeal bill.

Here’s the video. Klobuchar’s remarks come in at the 9:15 mark:

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