ABC News’ Michael Falcone reports:
The single largest donor to the super PAC supporting Rick Santorum’s presidential bid shocked MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell in an interview on Thursday when he suggested a novel approach to contraception on Thursday.
Foster Friess, the 71 year old Wyoming multi-millionaire offered this retort when Mitchell pressed him about whether he agreed with Santorum’s stance on contraception.
“Back in my days, they used Bayer aspirin for contraceptives,” Friess said. “The gals put it between their knees and it wasn’t that costly.”
He smiled as he said it, but wasn’t laughing. The remark alludes to an old joke about abstinence.
“Excuse me, I’m just trying to catch my breath from that, Mr. Friess,” his visibly surprised interviewer replied. “Let’s change the subject.”
Here’s the full quote:
FRIESS: “I get such a chuckle when these things come out. Here we have millions of our fellow Americans unemployed. We have jihadist camps being set up in central – in Latin America, which Rick has been warning about, and people seem to be so preoccupied with sex. I think it says something about our culture. We maybe need a massive therapy session so we can concentrate on what the real issues are. And this contraceptive thing, my gosh, it’s so — such inexpensive. Back in my days, they used Bayer aspirin for contraceptives. The gals put it between their knees and it wasn’t that costly.”
Later in the interview Mitchell pressed Friess again on Santorum’s position on contraception (the candidate supports a woman’s legal access to most birth control methods, but is personally opposed to it). “Who cares?” Friess said.
Friess, said in an interview with ABC News earlier this week that he would continue to keep cash flowing to super PAC, the Red, White and Blue Fund, which on Thursday announced it had purchased nearly $700,000 of television ad time in Michigan.
