TACOMA, Wash. - Rick Santorum said on Monday that the Occupy movement represents "true intolerance" after he was faced with a handful of angry protestors who shouted through his entire event, ultimately resulting in a handful of arrests.
"I think it's really important for you to understand what this radical element represents. Because what they represent is true intolerance," the former Pennsylvania senator said after two protestors were handcuffed and dragged away.
He cited a recent decision by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that California's same-sex marriage ban was unconstitutional to further paint the group as intolerant.
"What they said was that anybody who disagreed with them were irrational and the only reason they could possibly agree is they were a hater or a bigot," he said. "Now I gotta tell you, I don't agree with these people, but I respect their opportunity to be able to have a different point of view and I don't think they're a hater or a bigot because they disagree with me."
A third protestor was later arrested after she threw glitter on Santorum as he was shaking hands with the crowd. Tacoma Police Sgt. Paul Jagodinski estimated that three people were arrested altogether, though the department did not immediately return calls for comment.
But the presence of the protestors didn't ruffle the candidate as he tried to speak over the shouting below him and then calmly observed the arrests. Later in his speech, as the shouts continued, he even tried to appeal to the protestors.
"I understand their frustration," he said. "For three years they haven't been able to find work, they have a president who doesn't care about them."
He blasted President Obama for dividing the country and dismissed his fiscal 2013 budget proposal, released Monday, as "another tax-the-rich scheme."
The audience of a few hundred people at an outdoor amphitheater, was supportive of Santorum and tried to shout down the protestors. He appealed to them to be the "momentum changer" during the Washington caucuses on March 3, just before the all-important Super Tuesday states.
"Your caucus, your voice will speak very loudly about where the race is heading into these big Super Tuesday primaries. Your caucus across this state can have a huge impact on who the Republican nominee will be so I ask each and every one of you to do your duty, to live up to your honor, to come forward and to go to those caucuses on Saturday morning," he implored the crowd.
Watch other moments of confrontation from the campaign trail:
Click through to watch this and other moments of confrontation with hecklers on the campaign trail. PHOTO: AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki A gay-rights activist (not pictured) throws a cup of glitter on Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney as he walks to the stage at the start of a campaign rally in Eagan, Minn., on Feb. 1, 2012. PHOTO: AP Photo/Gerald Herbert A protester is removed from the auditorium at the University of Iowa as Newt Gingrich speaks during a discussion about brain research on Dec. 14, 2011. Click to the next slide to watch footage from the exchange. PHOTO: AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall The former House speaker was at the University of Iowa College of Public Health in Iowa City, Iowa. PHOTO: AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall A heckler at President Obama's Los Angeles fundraiser on September 26 shouted at the president about Jesus Christ before being escorted out by security from L.A.'s House of Blues. He also called Obama "antichrist." PHOTO: PHOTO: PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS/AP At a fundraiser in San Francisco in April, Obama was heckled by a table of 10 people who broke into song, criticizing the treatment of Army soldier Bradley Manning, who is accused of passing top-secret material to Wikileaks. Their chorus? "We paid our dues, where's our change?" PHOTO: PHOTO: PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS/AP While speaking at the Iowa State Fair in August, Mitt Romney was confronted by a group affiliated with Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement. They shouted questions to the former Massachusetts governor about Social Security, as well as tax rates for corporations and the wealthy. "Corporations are people, my friend," Romney responded. PHOTO: PHOTO: CHARLIE NEIBERGALL/AP While campaigning in a Portsmouth, N.H., restaurant in August, Texas Gov. Rick Perry faced protests from the New Hampshire Alliance for Retired Americans, who oppose his proposed changes to Medicare and Social Security. PHOTO: PHOTO: DARREN McCOLLESTER/GETTY IMAGES At the Republican debate held in Orlando on Sept. 22, members of the crowd booed after Stephen Hill, a gay soldier stationed in Iraq, asked the candidates if they would honor the end of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. PHOTO: PHOTO: JOHN RAOUX/AP Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., has twice been heckled for her stances on abortion and same-sex marriage during Iowa campaign events. In April, a group of students at the University of Iowa questioned her at an event on campus, and a gay rights advocate did the same in August at the Iowa State Fair. PHOTO: PHOTO: CHARLES DHARAPAK/AP At the Republican debate in Tampa on Sept. 12, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, was booed by the crowd for explaining why he believes U.S. occupation had a role in causing the 9/11 attacks. "We have to be honest with ourselves," Paul said. "What would we do if another country, say China, did to us what we do to all those countries over there?" PHOTO: PHOTO: CHRIS O'MEARA/AP
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