by Mike Andrew - SGN Staff Writer

Former Republican Senator Alan Simpson now finds homophobes in his own party 'disgusting,' he said recently.

Simpson made the remark in an April 11 interview with MSNBC's Chris Matthews.

Matthews asked the former senator for his impressions of the field of Republican presidential hopefuls. He got a characteristically blunt response.

Simpson said that Republicans should focus on fiscal issues rather than social issues, pointing to Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie as examples.

'We won a governorship there in New Jersey, one in Virginia, by not talking about social issues,' Simpson said.

Simpson then launched into a blunt discussion of reproductive choice and Gay rights.

'Who the hell is for abortion?' he asked. 'I don't know anybody running around with a sign that says 'Have an abortion, they're wonderful.' They're hideous.

'But they're a deeply intimate and personal decision and I don't think men legislators should even vote on the issue.'

'Then you've got homosexuality - you've got 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' Simpson continued.

'We've got homophobes in our party. That's disgusting to me. We're all human beings, we're all God's children.

'Now if you're going to get off in that stuff, Santorum has said some cruel things - cruel, cruel things about homosexuals. Ask him about it. See if he attributes the cruelness of his remarks years ago. Foul.'

'If that's the kind of guys that are going to be on my ticket,' he continued, 'you know, it makes you sort out hard what Reagan said, 'Stick with your folks,' but I'm not sticking with people who are homophobic, anti-women - moral values, while you're diddling your secretary, while you're giving a speech on moral values. Come on, get off of it.'

Simpson could be referring to many of the leading Republican presidential contenders,

New Republican front-runner Donald Trump ditched his past support for Gay rights and reproductive choice in order to curry favor with the Republican Party's right wing.

Newt Gingrich recently defended his support of the anti-Gay American Family Association. Two of his three marriages ended in divorce after his wives discovered he had been involved in affairs with staffers.

Mike Huckabee recently announced that he 'would love the world to be led by people who have a Biblical worldview.'

Tim Pawlenty also announced that he would never view same-sex relationships as equal to traditional opposite-sex marriage.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), while not a presidential candidate, committed the House to defend DOMA in federal courts, following Attorney General Eric Holder's announcement that the Justice Department would no longer do so.

Boehner also insisted on cutting off all federal funding for Planned Parenthood in the latest round of budget negotiations.

Simpson represented Wyoming in the U.S. Senate from 1979 to 1997. He decided not to run for reelection in 1996 after losing his Republican Whip position to Trent Lott (R-Miss.).

While in the Senate, Simpson had a mixed record on social issues. He was generally pro-choice, but he voted for DOMA in 1996.

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