Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum decided to speak out against Bill Clinton for the "really disturbing" suggestion that Santorum and his wife had a secret abortion, saying that the comment "provided some insight as to that world in which Bill and Hillary Clinton live."
Clinton told his close friend and biographer Taylor Branch that he suspected that Santorum and his wife decided to have an abortion and have been lying for decades about the 1996 death of their son Gabriel, according to an audio recording originally published by the Washington Free Beacon.
Clinton made a "cryptic comment" to Branch that he took to mean that Clinton thought the Santorums "had an abortion and then said that the baby died shortly after birth as a way of covering it," according to the tape.
Santorum told the Daily Caller that he has "no doubt whatsoever" that Clinton was referencing the false abortion rumors that have existed since the loss of his son.
"To see a president pick up that and harbor those feelings was very hurtful," Santorum said.
Santorum said that he was initially unsure whether he was prepared to speak on Clinton's comments and force his family to revisit one of the most painful moments it had ever gone through. After consideration, he decided that the story gives needed "insight" into the mindset of the Clintons.
"To take that moment and put it in a context of some sort of twisted political game, that’s just really disturbing," said Santorum. "And I felt like that maybe provided some insight as to that world in which Bill and Hillary Clinton live."
Clinton's comment made Santorum question what kind of person would allow his mind to consider that a family would tell a lie about such a personal issue.
"What kind of darkness do you have in you?" Santorum said. "That you can attack people at their most painful time. That’s the thing that’s the most upsetting about that. What kind of person does that? What person thinks that?"