Wyoming Sen. Al Simpson calls fellow Republican Rick Santorum "rigid and homophobic"

From Face the Nation on CBS:

Former Senator Alan Simpson had some choice words for his one-time colleague, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. 

"I know Santorum, I served with him," he said. "He is rigid and a homophobic. He believes that gays and lesbians, he mentioned in an interview in 2003, about bestiality, and gays and lesbians. I think that's disgusting," said Simpson. 

The former three-term Republican senator from Wyoming, who has always been known for both his candor and his ability to work across party lines, said Republicans are hurting themselves by focusing on social issues. 

"Here's a party that believes in government out of your life, the precious right of privacy and the right to be left alone. How then can they be the hypocrisy of fiddling around in these social issues? We won't have a prayer," he told Bob Schieffer in an interview for CBS News' Face to Face, a weekly web interview from the staff of Face the Nation. 

Those social issues are a defining part of Santorum's candidacy and his newfound support as a the leading conservative candidate. "And they asked him, well he said I want a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage and they said well what about the people who are already married? And he said well they would be nullified. I mean what is, what's human, what's kind about that? We're all human beings, we all know or love somebody who's gay or lesbian so what the hell is that about? To me it's startling and borders on disgust," said Simpson, who would be considered a centrist Republican by today's standards and served at a time when the two parties in Congress were not as far apart on the ideological spectrum as they are today.

Read a transcript of the full interview with Simpson.

Wyoming Sen. Al Simpson talks about new biography and his longtime support of LGBT rights at "Out West at the Autry" in L.A.

Wyoming U.S. Sen. Al Simpson of Cody will be featured at "Out West at the Autry" Feb. 27 at the Autry in Griffith Park in Los Angeles. Some of you may not know this, but Sen. Al is a longtime proponent of LGBT rights. While Wyoming Republican politicians traditional defend individual rights, they don't always declare their support of everyone's rights. But Big Al does this on a regular basis and talks about it in the new authorized biography by Donald Hardy, "Shooting from the Lip: The Life of Senator Al Simpson." In a Feb. 7 post on the Autry blog, writer Gregory Hinton, who grew up in Cody and just finished a research fellowship at the BBHC, muses on how he found common ground with Sen. Al on the issue of being gay in Wyoming. Read the Autry blog post here. Biographer Hardy also appears at the event. Hinton will act as host for Sen. Al's Feb. 27 presentation. 

Al Simpson interview: Obama smarter than those "trying to hammer him"

Denver Post political editor Curtis Hubbard landed a great interview with former Wyoming Sen. Al Simpson. Some highlights are in today DP with the whole interview appearing on Sunday. Go to http://blogs.denverpost.com/thespot/2011/08/05/simpson-guys-trying-to-hammer-obama-ought-to-give-it-up/35502/

Here's my favorite quote thus far:

This guy (Obama) is a little bit smarter than some of the guys who are trying to hammer him. They ought to give it up.

This one, illustrating the reason that Pres. Obama didn't publicly endorse the Simpson-Bowles commission findings, is pure Big Al:

So along came (Rep. Paul) Ryan (R-Wis.), who’s got guts, too, and Ryan knew, he’d been on the commission, and the biggest extraordinary engine that will eventually just eat up America is Medicare. And it doesn’t matter if you call it Obamacare or Elvis Presleycare or I-don’t-give-a-damn-care. It can’t work. It’s totally on autopilot, so, Ryan said, ‘Well, I know I’m going to get ripped, but I’m going for the jugular, of the mastodon in the kitchen,’ and he got ripped. That’s exactly what would have happened to Obama.

"Obamacare or Elvis Presleycare or I-don’t-give-a-damn-care." Good one, Big Al.

Sen. Al knows his chickens and his grit

Our future, according to Big Al: Baby Boomers pick grit with the chickens. 

I'm accustomed to seeing Big Al all over the state.

He was at the grand reopening of the BBHC in Cody. He was featured in a juvenile justice documentary speaking about his own run-in with the law as a teen. He attended the 2010 Governor's Arts Awards in Cheyenne to support fellow arts patron Naoma Tate.

He's been very involved in the refurbishing of the Heart Mountain Internment Center near Cody. During World War II, a young Al Simpson and his Boy Scout troop joined forces with the Scout troop at Heart Mountain on some community projects. That's how he and former internee Norman Mineta, former U.S. Secretary of Transportation, became lifelong friends. They were both at the rededication of the historic monuments at Heart Mountain in several years ago. I anticipate that both will be attending the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center's grand opening Aug. 19-21.

Sen. Alan "Big Al" Simpson,a Republican from Cody, is one of the most visible politicians in the country. During the current Congressional fight over the budget, he may end up being one of the most recognizable moderates in the news. Seems funny when you consider that Sen. Al retired from elected office way back in the last century.

But he keeps popping up. He co-chaired with Erskine Bowles the president's deficit commission, nicknamed the "cat food commission" after a quip by the senator. The senator has a million of them and many are funny or, at least, catchy.

Sen. Al had a front row seat two weeks ago for Pres. Obama's budget speech. Talking to reporters after the speech, he uttered another quotable quote. Here's part of the story from The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire:

“Pray for the Gang of Six,” Mr. Simpson told two reporters after the speech, referring to a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the Senate who are working on a deficit-reduction plan. “They are six guys, three Republicans, three Democrats, that are committed to doing something.

The “Gang of Six,” are Democratic Sens. Mark Warner of Virginia, Kent Conrad of North Dakota, and Richard Durbin of Illinois and Republican Sens. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, and Mike Crapo of Idaho. 

“Just pray for the Gang of Six,” he said. “You guys your age, keep praying.”

What happens if the Gang of Six fails? Mr. Simpson was asked.

“Guys like you will be picking grit with the chickens when you are 65,” he replied. End of interview.

That's the fear of millions of Americans, that we will spend our retirement picking grit with the chickens. That's even worse than eating catfood. Nutritional value of grit=0. Nutritional value of catfood (especially the gourmet kind)=much more than zero (look on your catfood label).

This "Gang of Six" is not the answer to the budget battle. As far as I know, none of them has brought up raising revenue along with budget cuts.

The House version of the budget-cutting bill will go nowhere in the Senate. Those already on Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security will be rattled and may vote for more Democrats in 2012. Those about to retire are nervous due to the fact that I have no chickens and I don't like grit. If the Repubs get their way, I will have to follow in the footsteps of my locavore brethren and sistren and get a coop filled with Rhode Island Reds.

Wyoming, of course, has plenty of grit to pick. I'm staking out my claim now.