Believe it Or Not: Santorum's Views on Bruce Jenner

On Saturday Rick Santorum showed a rare glimpse of compassion and understanding on transgender issues by saying, "If he says he's a woman, then he's a woman," referring to Olympian Bruce Jenner. By Sunday, Santorum was back to being Santorum.

Given his unwavering stance against marriage equality and history of anti-LGBT rhetoric, it came as a shock to most when former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) said that we should "love and accept" Bruce Jenner. It came as less of a shock when the failed 2012 GOP presidential hopeful, backpedaled on the quote.

"If he says he's a woman, then he's a woman," Santorum, told BuzzFeed News during a roundtable with reporters at the South Carolina GOP convention. "My responsibility as a human being is to love and accept everybody. Not to criticize people for who they are. I can criticize, and I do, for what people do, for their behavior.

"But as far as for who they are, you have to respect everybody, and these are obviously complex issues for businesses, for society, and I think we have to look at it in a way that is compassionate and respectful of everybody," he added.

News of Santorum's quote sent shockwaves through Santorum's staunch conservative base. Comments on the hard rightwing website World Net Daily were not kind to the former Senator, who many believe is weighing another presidential bid in 2016.

"Wrong words from you Rick. I supported you last time. Your new revelation just took you off my list," commented one WND reader.

"So Rick Santorum.... you just proved you're an idiot and you didn't even have to tell us you're one," another WND reader wrote. "I suppose we should feel fortunate that Jenner didn't decide he was a poodle or we would have a new 'rights' movement streaming across America."

Given the backlash, it came as less of a surprise when Santorum, who recently said that he would not attend the wedding of a gay or lesbian loved one, took to social media to "clarify" his original statement.

"Many of you may have read a story published by the website BuzzFeed where I was asked for my thoughts regarding Bruce Jenner," Santorum posted on his Facebook account Sunday. "My comment affirmed Jenner as a person, made by God in His likeness as we all are. It was meant to express empathy not a change in public policy. #compassion"

Comments to Santorum's post on his Facebook wall were predictably skeptical.

"Sure is a shame that you have to spin a positive comment to appease your bigoted base," one person wrote.

"Lol. At first I was like wow , and then I was like, wow . Kinda proves you don't really know what compassion is," another said.