WATCH: Santorum to 'Values Voters': We'll Never Have Smart People's Support

The antigay former senator and presidential hopeful makes a surprising admission.

Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.

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Trudy Ring

September 15 2012 7:03 PM EST

November 17 2015 5:28 AM EST

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Sometimes it's a little surprising what our adversaries on the right will admit.

Today at the Values Voters Summit, a gathering of social conservatives, former presidential candidate Rick Santorum told his audience not to expect intelligent people to support their causes.

"We will never have the elite, smart people on our side," the notoriously antigay Santorum told summit attendees at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C., BuzzFeed reports. He also said social conservatives will never have media support, and he lambasted libertarian-leaning conservatives for wanting to quash discussion of social issues. "Without the church and the family, there is no conservative movement, there is no basic values of America," he said.

Other highlights, or perhaps lowlights, of the conference included House majority leader Eric Cantor saying that conservatives "believe in traditional marriage, because marriage, more than any government program ever has or ever will, has lifted up people out of poverty." He did not explain how allowing same-sex couples to marry would undermine this effect of the institution.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney did not attend the summit, but he sent a video message, and his running mate, Paul Ryan, spoke at the event yesterday. Some right-wing leaders objected to Romney's absence, with Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association calling it a "major diss" and "inexcusable," although he later praised Romney's video message, according to BuzzFeed. Family Research Council president Tony Perkins defended Romney, saying, "In no way do I feel like he's slighted values voters."