Dan Savage is not a liberal comedian, he is an ask abby type of columnist. Unlike ask abby though he is not afraid of advocating things such as premarital sex and multiple partners. His philosophy is do what is safe, inform your partner, and don't hurt anybody if you do these three things why should you do things that make you happy even if they are not what society normally idealize.

Dan Savage created the alternate definition of the name Santorum due to a comment Rick Santorum made. During 03 the Supreme Court says sodomny laws are unconsitutional. Santorum gave an interview to USA today saying that he disagreed with the Supreme Court ruling, that he believes that the state should have the power to limit "individuals' wants and passions" or else the state can't limit things such as man on dog sex (which according to Santorum gay sex is just one step above.)

Dan Savage was offended via this comment and saw Santorum as a douchebag and thus though it was apporpiate to give him a different name, for Dan Savage sees gay people as people, and that love is love, and committed relationships should be idealized.

1) It was debatable for in the US most people don't know of the meaning of the word. He said he didn't know the meaning of the word and was just repeating something his grandma said.
2) The guy he called macca was purposefully following him with electronic equipment trying to get him to make a gaffe so he could use that gaffe against the Senator. The Senator realized this and called him out on it, while the guy was filming him, why would he do something stupid and use a degenerative slur against the guy if he knew the definition of the slur. That is called shooting yourself in the foot.