(CBS News) CLEVELAND -- Amid the continuing uproar involving Rush Limbaugh, Rick Santorum argued Tuesday that he's not responsible for responding to -- or policing -- every comment made by conservative commentators.
The issue became relevant after Limbaugh described a woman advocating for wider availability of birth control as a "slut" and "prostitute."
Asked by another conservative radio host, Laura Ingraham, if he was responsible for policing such comments, Santorum said no.
"I don't believe it is my job as someone running for office to comment on every talk show host or any talk show host or anybody else out there on the right," he said.
"If it is someone who is running for public office, yeah, I think I have a responsibility if someone goes off the deep end and says something, then yeah. But the idea that I'm now responsible for every talk show host and some outrageous statement that they make and I have to comment on it and police them, I'm not signing up for that job."
When he was initially asked to respond to Limbaugh's comments on CNN on Friday, Santorum responded, "He's being absurd. But ... an entertainer can be absurd."
Santorum: I'm not responsible for policing conservative commentators
/ CBS News
(CBS News) CLEVELAND -- Amid the continuing uproar involving Rush Limbaugh, Rick Santorum argued Tuesday that he's not responsible for responding to -- or policing -- every comment made by conservative commentators.
The issue became relevant after Limbaugh described a woman advocating for wider availability of birth control as a "slut" and "prostitute."
Asked by another conservative radio host, Laura Ingraham, if he was responsible for policing such comments, Santorum said no.
"I don't believe it is my job as someone running for office to comment on every talk show host or any talk show host or anybody else out there on the right," he said.
"If it is someone who is running for public office, yeah, I think I have a responsibility if someone goes off the deep end and says something, then yeah. But the idea that I'm now responsible for every talk show host and some outrageous statement that they make and I have to comment on it and police them, I'm not signing up for that job."
When he was initially asked to respond to Limbaugh's comments on CNN on Friday, Santorum responded, "He's being absurd. But ... an entertainer can be absurd."
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