海角大神

Foster Friess made his fortune in the mutual fund industry, but he burst onto the political scene last year as a GOP megadonor to Rick Santorum鈥檚 bid for the Republican presidential nomination. At a Monitor-sponsored breakfast with reporters Friday, the Wyoming-based Mr. Friess discussed the 2012 presidential campaign, gay marriage, his charity work, and a host of other issues.

But the man who once joked that 鈥測ou know, back in my days, they鈥檇 use Bayer aspirin for contraceptives. The gals put it between their knees, and it wasn鈥檛 that costly鈥� has a unique way of getting his point across. Friday's event bore that out. Here are four top Friess-isms from his hour-long chat with the press.聽

The 2012 Republican primary 鈥撀�鈥淔辞谤 Democrats, this is a blood sport. For Republicans, this is a hobby, and that鈥檚 why the Democrats run the government and the Republicans run the museums.鈥澛�

Friess added that he was in 鈥渁we, absolute awe, of the Democrats鈥� ability to campaign and organize鈥� during the 2012 campaign. This dawned on him when phone-banking in Nevada for Mitt Romney, when he was 鈥渄ialing up a fellow, I wasn鈥檛 quite sure I was going to pronounce his name right. And suddenly it dawns on me, 鈥榃ho am I, a white guy from Wyoming, trying to convince this fellow to vote for Romney when Obama has had people in his neighborhood having dinners and barbecues and telling him [to vote for the president] for the last four years?鈥� 鈥�

Homosexuality 鈥撀�鈥淲e have to protect the gay community from sharia 濒补飞.鈥�

Asked about the Republican Party鈥檚 relationship to gay marriage, Friess cited his love for his gay brother-in-law and the man鈥檚 partner, saying discriminating against them would be tantamount to limiting his own rights because 鈥淚 happen to be 30 pounds overweight.

But his No. 1 fear for the gay community? That Islamic law would become an institution in the United States, a bugaboo of cultural conservatives that has shown little evidence of making inroads at the state or federal level.

Friess said the GOP should be more open to people with differing views on homosexuality. 鈥淚 believe the Republican Party should allow each candidate to say what he wants to say.... But what is somewhat distressing, we are moving our country toward a state religion which says anybody who says homosexuality is biblically untrue is some kind of pariah and a fallback to the Neanderthal days.

The 1 percent 鈥撀�鈥淚f you tax me 10 percent more, am I going to sell my jet plane? No.鈥�

Friess gave an impassioned defense of wealth in America, arguing that great wealth, paired with opportunities for social mobility, helped generate social good.

鈥淚f you tax me 10 percent more, am I going to sell my jet plane? No. Am I going to sell any of my beach houses? No. Am I going to change my lifestyle? No. What does it do to me? It鈥檚 just money that I can no longer give to these various causes I鈥檝e been giving to,鈥� Friess said.

鈥淚鈥檓 not that generous that I鈥檓 going to give up my lifestyle if I don鈥檛 have to,鈥� he continued, 鈥渂ut what I will give up is the ability to give to these other causes that are dear to my heart.鈥�

鈥淚 am part of the 1 percent,鈥� Friess said, 鈥渁nd I have no shame about that.鈥�

The war on women 鈥撀�鈥淚鈥檓 absolutely stunned that Democrats were somehow able to say that the Republicans had a war on women. When President Obama bows to a leader of a country that doesn鈥檛 allow women to vote or drive a car, how he got away with [asserting that Republicans attack women] is just stunning."

Friess was referring to a perception, widespread in conservative circles, that Mr. Obama had been too deferential to the king of Saudi Arabia during a visit there in 2009.聽

Too deferential would not be part of the Friess m.o. Friess, who made national headlines with his aspirin quip just over a year ago, decried the idea of a Republican war on women as a political assault manufactured by liberals that had no basis in reality.

鈥淭hey took advantage of all the low-information women voters out there,鈥� he argued, saying voters 鈥渨ho just follow Joy Behar鈥� conflated the fact 鈥渢hat Rick Santorum, and Mother Teresa, believe that contraception is against Catholic teaching鈥� with a Republican attempt to reduce access to birth control.

鈥�Hugh Hefner even said this guy Friess wants to reverse the sexual revolution,鈥� Friess said.聽鈥淲ell, I鈥檝e got four kids, they are two years apart,鈥� he said, laughing, 鈥渁nd contraception has been very, very good to me.鈥�