Santorum worries that female soldiers can’t hack it on the front lines because of all the “emotions”

Yesterday, the Pentagon announced plans to allow women into more front-line, combat jobs. The Service Women’s Action Network expressed disappointment that women will still be barred from serving as infantry, armor, and special operations forces, but said that the new rules were a big step in the right direction. As Adam Weinstein writes, “full gender equity in the ranks is no longer a question of ‘if’ but ‘when.'”

But enough of all the forward-thinking nonsense by people who know what they’re talking about! I know you’re all dying to hear what Rick Santorum thinks about all this. Via Politico:

I do have concerns about women in frontline combat. I think that can be a very compromising situation, where people naturally may do things that may not be in the interests of the mission because of other types of emotions that are involved. And I think that’s probably – you know, it already happens, of course, with the camaraderie of men in combat. But I think it would be even more unique if women were in combat. I think that’s probably not in the best interests of men, women or the mission.

Pro tip: If you bring up “emotions” when defending your discriminatory views, it will be an immediate red flag that you are a sexist asshat. (Seriously, the only thing worse might be talking about that weird thing where we bleed every month.) This is particularly true when you are discussing women and men who regularly face extreme mental and physical challenges you could only dream of.

Of course, this is entirely unsurprising coming from a guy who seems like he’d be more at home in the 1950s than here in the 21st century with the rest of us. Remember, Santorum misses the golden days when abortions were done by bad doctors in the shadows and states could make using birth control a crime. And the Washington Post points to a 2005 interview in which he defends his view that women should get back in the kitchen and blames “the radical feminists” for “convincing women that professional accomplishments are the key to happiness.”