URBANDALE, Iowa -- Rick Santorum used his last campaign stop before the caucuses on Tuesday to attack the left for opposing abstinence-only education and supporting gay rights, telling a crowd of students and parents at a Christian school that non-religious people have values "based on the religion of self."
"I love when the left and the president says, 'Don't try to impose your values on us, you folks who hold your values in your hand and cling to your gods,'" Santorum told a crowd of evangelical Christians, in response to a question on how he would create jobs. "They have values, too. Our values are based on religion based up high. Their values are based on religion of self. It's equally imposing values, it's just in their world if it's biblicly-based or religiously-based, it's out."
In stump speeches leading up to the caucuses, former Sen. Santorum (R-Pa.) has generally focused on economic issues and national security. Santorum has also said that family is the key to the economy, but when he speaks to evangelicals in particular, as he did on Tuesday and at a Sunday event in Orange City, Iowa, he plays up his social conservatism.
Santorum said that the Obama administration refuses to try to end "sexual promiscuity" because the administration sets aside Christian values in favor of promoting the idea that all beliefs are equal.
"They don't do what any reasonable, rational government or society would do to make sure that we want healthier lives and a more successful society," Santorum said. "They wouldn't go out and promote it."
"This president doesn't do that," he said. "I will."
The next question, from a student at Des Moines Christian School, was about how Santorum would deal with partisan gridlock if he became president. His answer was that he would "get America to agree on common consensus of who we are and what we want to accomplish."
Santorum said those problems of division are because the president supports protest movements like Occupy Wall Street, although he did not mention it by name. He criticized the protests for "explicitly [condemning] certain types of people."
"This president goes out and attacks any adversary by name, usually," Santorum said, though he often criticized Obama by name during the appearance.