PHOENIX - Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum on Tuesday criticized a report about a 2008 speech in which he said "Satan has set his sights on the United States of America," calling it a "a joke" and that he believes in "good and evil."
"You know, I'm a person of faith. I believe in good and evil," he told reporters following a rally here. "I think if somehow or another because you're a person of faith you believe in good and evil is a disqualifier for president we're going to have a very small pool of candidates who can run for president."
In a 2008 speech to students at Ave Maria University in Florida, which was posted on The Drudge Report on Tuesday, Santorum said Satan was "attacking the great institutions of America."
Ave Maria was created by Tom Monaghan, the founder of Domino's Pizza and an ardent Catholic and abortion opponent. Monaghan founded the university in Michigan in 1998 and then moved it to Florida in 2003.
"This is a spiritual war. And the father of lies has his sights on what you would think the father of lies would have his sights on: a good, decent, powerful, influential country - the United States of America," Santorum said in 2008. "If you were Satan, who would you attack in this day and age?" he said.
On Tuesday, Santorum said, "If they want to dig up old speeches of me talking to religious groups, they can go ahead and do so, but I'm going to stay on message and I'm going to talk about things that Americans want to talk about which is creating jobs, making our country more secure, and yeah, taking on the forces around this world who want to do harm to America, and you bet I will take them on."
USA Today