This will hurt him, because the liberal media will make sure it does.
All he had to do was find a reason not to hire the guy.
It's easy enough to find out if someone's single, and not hard to find out why they're single. Of course, Santorum and his chief of staff may not have had the political skills to do this properly, but that just strengthens my point.
"This will hurt him, because the liberal media will make sure it does."
Disagree. Hate to use this term, considering the theme of this thread...but the blowback from this issue will actually hurt Santorum's challenger, in my opinion,
"All he had to do was find a reason not to hire the guy."
Yeah, we all go about our business this way.
"It's easy enough to find out if someone's single, and not hard to find out why they're single."
It's also really tacky and classless. And off the point. Santorum will NOT be hurt by this. I can even see how he might even be helped by it, because most conservatives disapprove of the lifestyle, but don't condemn the people who are in it (not saying they approve their behaviors). And they see that this "outing" is patently dirty politics. People don't like that. Mary Cheney.
"Of course, Santorum and his chief of staff may not have had the political skills to do this properly, but that just strengthens my point."
Santorum and his whole staff--which, by the way, would include the gay conservative Republican under debate here--are very skilled indeed. A junior senator does not get a national reputation as a rising star in the national party just a few years into his FIRST term without being...very skilled indeed.