This strikes me as a lot more insightful. From a reader:

I was stunned by the Brooks column you linked to, in that I had no idea Santorum had done so much to fight poverty. Now, the main reason I’ve heard my liberal friends express for detesting Santorum is his intolerance in regard to gays. That would certainly be Andrew Sullivan’s main problem with him, no? And while I have no brief for homophobia – I think gays should be permitted to marry – it is strikingly ironic that so many of those who root for a Santorum victory on November 7 should have been so tolerant of Democratic intolerance to homosexuals – in that they’ve supported candidates like Harold Ford, a guy who mentions his opposition to gay marriage so often it sounds like he’s the one suffering from Tourette’s. But as Rich Lowry pointed out not long ago, opposition to gay marriage is only bigoted when a Republican does it. When a guy like Ford does it, he’s just a “shrewd tactician.”