Appearing as a guest on Wednesday's The Colbert Report on Comedy Central, New York magazine's John Heilemann - also an MSNBC analyst and formerly of The New Yorker - made a gay joke about GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum as he described the competitive election in Iowa.
After host Stephen Colbert, playing the part of committed conservative wanting to pump up Santorum, asked of the Iowa results, "So, Santorum, this is a victory, right? He may have lost, but it's a victory," Heilemann took a shot at the former Pennsylvania Senator in his response:
Oh, yeah, look, I mean, the night started with Rick Santorum in kind of an uncomfortable position for him, sort of like a nightmare scenario, right? He found himself in a three way with two other men.
He went on to contrast Santorum with former President Reagan, suggesting that he does not sound "presidential" like Reagan. Heilemann:
The thing he doesn't have that Reagan had was this, Reagan has this sunny optimism, and he sounded presidential. Rick Santorum is a kind of dour, ernest figure, and he sounds more like some combination of like, Eddie Haskell, John Kerry, and Jerry Falwell. You know, it's like senatorial plus religious, and that's not, that wasn't where Reagan lived.
-Brad Wilmouth is a news analyst at the Media Research Center