Santorum: Supporter's 'aspirin' contraceptive remark was bad joke

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Santorum in a Michigan state of mind

GOP presidential candidate sounds off on contraception politics, momentum against Romney in Michigan race, his wealthy supporter's off-color joke and more.

A Rick Santorum supporter's comment Thursday that women used to use "Bayer aspirin for contraceptives" was just a joke that flopped, according to the candidate and the supporter who told it.

The remark, which quickly circulated on the Internet, was made by Foster Friess -- one of Santorum's top financial backers -- during a discussion about the Obama administration's contraceptive coverage mandate.

"This contraception thing, my gosh, it's so ... inexpensive," Friess said on MSNBC. "You know, back in my days, they'd use Bayer aspirin for contraceptives. The gals put it between their knees and it wasn't that costly."

Santorum told Fox News on Thursday night that the remark was a "bad, off-color joke," and one that should not reflect on his own Republican presidential campaign.

"I'm not going to be responsible for everybody ... any supporter of mine and what they say," Santorum said. "Foster is known in political circles as telling a lot of jokes, and some of them are not particularly funny, which this one was not. He's not creepy. He's a good man. He's a great philanthropist. He's a very successful businessman."

Friess also apologized for the comment on his blog. He said it was a reference to the days before birth control was available, when "everyone laughed at the silliness on how an aspirin could become a birth control pill."

He admitted "my aspirin joke bombed."

"To all those who took my joke as modern day approach I deeply apologize and seek your forgiveness. My wife constantly tells me I need new material -- she understood the joke but didn't like it anyway -- so I will keep that old one in the past where it belongs," Friess wrote.