During the course of the interview, Friess referred disparagingly to women as "gals," adding that he remembers a time when women would rub aspirin between their knees as birth control.
The exact quote from the interview went as follows: "This contraception thing, my gosh it's so inexpensive. Back in my day they used Bayer aspirin for contraceptives. Gals put it between their knees and it wasn't that costly."
Friess' obvious implication was that women who don't want to become pregnant shouldn't be having sex in the first place.
Andrea Mitchell, usually cool under pressure, seemed taken aback by the billionaire's remarks. She actually paused the interview, saying, "Excuse me, I'm just trying to catch my breath from that."
While in the midst of his failed bid to retain his Pennsylvania Senate seat, Santorum told reporters that Contraception was "not okay because it encourages people to behave in a sexual way that runs counter to the way things are supposed to be." Political observers assume that Senator Santorum's position on contraception will likely become a challenge for the candidate once his record receives true, front-runner scrutiny.
Foster Friess, the billionaire pumping plenty of cash into Rick Santorum’s super PAC, went on Andrea Mitchell’s MSNBC show Thursday afternoon and had the following exchange:"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 Latin America, which Rick has been warning about, and people seem to be so preoccupied with sex. I think that 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 such inexpensiveFollowed by two beats of silence, Mitchell’s response says it all: “Um, Mr. Friess, I’m trying to catch my breath from that, frankly. Let’s change the subject.”
Rick Santorum, a Catholic, also seemed eager to change the subject when asked about Friess' remarks. Santorum opposes contraception but called Friess' comment "a stupid joke" and "in bad taste." But he also told Fox News that Friess was "a good man" and "a great philanthropist."
UPDATE:
Friess, on his website, later apologized for his comments:
"Today on Andrea Mitchell’s show, my aspirin joke bombed as many didn’t recognize it as a joke but thought it was my prescription for today’s birth control practices. In fact, the only positive comments I got were from folks who remembered it from 50 years back. Birth control pills weren’t yet available, so everyone laughed at the silliness on how an aspirin could become a birth control pill."
Friess’ frankly weird remark just capped off a truly weird day in gender politics in the nation’s capital. First, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif. was zinging one liners all over the place. Huffington Post reports thus:
“I think it’s really curiouser and curiouser that as we get further into this debate, the Republican leadership of this Congress thinks it’s appropriate to have a hearing on the subject of women’s health and can purposely exclude women from the panel,” Pelosi said during a press conference. “What else do you need to know about the subject?”
“If you need to know more, tune in, I may, I may at some point be moved to explain biology to my colleagues.”
Billionaire Rick Santorum lover Foster Friess may have tried to laugh off his comments about aspirin being a contraceptive as a terrible joke he would retire from his repertoire, but let's face it, he's just like Abe Simpson.
Friess's statement—"On this contraceptive thing, my Gosh it’s such inexpensive. You know, back in my days, they used Bayer aspirin for contraception. The gals put it between their knees, and it wasn’t that costly"— is totally reminiscent of one of Grampa's stories: "We can't bust heads like we used to, but we have our ways. One trick is to tell 'em stories that don't go anywhere - like the time I caught the ferry over to Shelbyville.
I needed a new heel for my shoe, so, I decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on 'em. Give me five bees for a quarter, you'd say."
